Of Mice And Men

Of Mice and Men

Of Mice and Men

Of Mice and Men is a novel written by John Steinbeck, an author who is also acclaimed as a Nobel Prize winner. The novel was published in 1937, and is a story about Lennie Small and George Milton, characters that were displaced ranch laborers during the Great Depression in California. The novel was based on the author’s own experiences working as a bindle stiff during the 1920’s, and the title of the book is taken from the poem To a Mouse by Robert Burn, �The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry’. In 1992, the book was transformed to the big screen, and this version directed by Gary Sinise was an acclaimed film that inspired and encouraged film buffs to pick up the novel and see for themselves the relationship that existed between novella and feature film. In most cases, the relationship was strikingly similar, however this essay will explore the manners in which the book differed from the movie.

Due to time constraints and editing concerns, movies made from books and novels are forced to take out details and will contrast sharply with the feel of the book. In fact, it is very difficult for the vision of a director to parallel the vision of the author of any book, and so rarely will we find the same feelings and emotions evoked from watching a movie after having read the book. The phrase �the book is always better than the movie’ is a common layperson expression of how movies can change the effects of a story found in a book, and it is impossible to change this. The primary reason for this is that movies are forced into brevity, and with a few exceptions such as Gone With the Wind, it is very difficult to encapsulate details, vivid depictions and descriptions, and imagery that can be found in a book to the big screen. It is also not fair to compare the vision and talent between a Nobel Prize winning author with the vision and talent of a director and accomplished actor such as Gary Sinise. Just the fact that they are two different individuals with different visions is enough to predict that their final outcomes will be slightly varied, even when one is adapting material into a different form. Nonetheless, despite their varying visions, the film version of Of Mice and Men is still touted as one of the most powerful adaptations that has been created from a novel.

The novel Of Mice and Men offers the reader a gripping plot, a theme and motif, and strong development of characters. Gary Sinise has done an outstanding job of ensuring that all of these qualities were contained in the movie as well. In terms of details and descriptions, the book provides strong character representations well enough for the reader to conjure images in the mind of the feel and look of the character. Sinise understood this character representation very well, and as such, the characters in the movie were well represented and in line with what the book depicted. In fact, the movie made the characters truly come alive on screen. The lead characters provided exceptional performances, and enhanced, rather than replaced the novel’s characterizations. The characters on screen came alive with an undoubtable easy grace that was not a forced adaptation in any respect. Gary Sinise’s interpretation of the characters were dead on, as his interpretations literally breathed life into the characters in the book. The viewer saw these descriptions come alive on screen, almost to the point where we felt we knew them. We’ve met them before, we’ve fished with them, and fought with them, and feel a part of their lives for even just a brief moment. So it was not character representations that the movie lacked in terms of its adaptive capacities from the book.

The book clearly offers more detail, more content, and more violence than the movie does. Is this an issue relative to time constraints? Or did leaving some of these details out effect the final outcome of the movie? It is difficult to assess this as every person has their own interpretation of both the book and the movie. The plots in both the novel and the movie were essentially identical, and the settings the film provides are precisely as the novel depicts them. The story is literally about the quest for the American Dream, and because that dream differs from one person to the next, the interpretation will as well of either the book, the film, or both.

The plot for both the film and the book revolves around George and Lennie searching

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