Of Mice and Men Compare and Contrast

The book, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, is about two men named George and Lennie who are living in the time of the Great Depression. They travel together and after they get themselves into trouble in the city of Weed, they moved to work on a ranch. There is also a movie, â€Å"Of Mice and Men,† that is based off of the book. There are many themes in the story, one of them being power. The movie differs slightly from the book in the fact that it has fewer examples showing the importance of power, unlike the book where there are many instances of power. First off, power is shown, or in some instances not shown, in the characters. In both the book and the movie, George has a certain power over Lennie. He acts as his father: reprimanding him, protecting him, and telling him what to do for his own good like a normal father would have. A second character that supports the theme of power in the book and movie is Lennie. Although he doesn’t have a lot of logical power, he is a very physically powerful person in the movie and book. He’s tall, strong built, and just all around a big guy that can do a tremendous amount of physical labor. Another similarity between the book and movie relating to power is Curly, the boss’s son. He’s a very small man that likes to order people around and has the reputation of beating up bigger guys. Even though there are multiple examples of characters showing power in both the book and movie, there is an example of when the movie makes the theme less relevant to the story. In the book, Lennie has the power to remember to go to the brush, where George told him to go if he got into any trouble. But, in the movie, it was so that Lennie was lost and couldn’t find the brush. It made Lennie seem more vulnerable and with less logical power than in the book where he proved himself, aside from his challenges. The second subject that the theme is shown in is events. The events are both alike and different within the book and movie. In both the book and movie, George talks for Lennie in front of the boss when they first arrive at the ranch. He’s worried that Lennie will say something to reveal that he isn’t the smartest person and that it might prevent them from working there. A similarity is also the fact that when George and Lennie were ran out of Weed, they were being chased for no reason other than the word of the girl that Lennie accidentally scared. He had no intension of hurting her and never did, yet she still had the power to manipulate everyone to think that she was assaulted by Him. The last similarity of events that illustrate power is when Lennie accidentally kills the mice, the puppy, and Curly’s wife. He had so much physical power and didn’t know his own strength that he would kill living things before even realizing what was happening. This got him into a lot of trouble eventually. A significant difference in events that proves the importance power is that in the book, Curly’s wife who was originally looked at as a feeble, vulnerable woman with no power over anyone, all of a sudden demonstrated a great deal of authority over one of the black workers, Crooks. This was a very sudden turnaround in authority and changed the reader’s view about her. This happening never occurred in the movie and tremendously changed the outlook of power from the book. The last topic that displays the value of power is the details of the story. The first thing is that in both the movie and book Curly’s wife does not have a name. This may have been to imply that her name had little importance or power over the story. Her impact of getting Lennie killed from him accidentally killing her had nothing to do with her name. Another detail is that the stable keeper was African-American. This shows a lack of power in the movie and book because he was forced to live by himself and had no impact on the decisions or thoughts of the other men simply because of his race. A third detail is that George was much smaller than Lennie in both portrayals of the story, yet he had power over Lennie as if he was his father. This shows that even though one may be very powerful in a certain way like Lennie, they can still be controlled by someone that possibly had more confidence. All in all, the movie weighs the importance of power to some extent less than the book does. Both the book and movie’s characters are generally the same, except the book shows Lennie with more logical power than the movie does for when Lennie runs back to the brush to meet George. The events are very much alike also. But, the movie is lacking the event of Curly’s wife showing power over Crooks in his own cabin, which dramatically impacts the atmosphere of the story. The book and movie also have similar details showing power like Curly’s wife not having a name, Crooks not having a lot of power because of his race, and little George having power over Lennie. All these subjects help communicate how the movie and book relate to each other for showing power.