Reading Order
SteinbeckJohn Steinbeck Novels Reading Order Reading Order
John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men (1937) is one of the most economical tragic novellas in American literature — the story of George and Lennie, two migrant ranch workers in Depression-era California whose dream of owning their own farm is defeated by the violence of a world indifferent to their friendship and hopes. Brief enough to read in a single sitting, it is the ideal introduction to Steinbeck's compassion for the dispossessed and his ability to make simple characters carry immense moral weight.
Where to start
Of Mice and Men
Complete Steinbeck Book List
- 1Buy
Of Mice and Men
John Steinbeck·1937·Start here — Steinbeck's most economical and perfectly structured work; the friendship between George and Lennie is one of the most affecting relationships in American fiction, and the novella's ending is among the most devastating in the 20th century. - 2Buy
The Grapes of Wrath
John Steinbeck·1939·Steinbeck's masterpiece and the great American novel of the Depression — the Joad family's migration from Oklahoma to California; where Of Mice and Men is intimate and tragic, The Grapes of Wrath is panoramic and angry; the natural next Steinbeck for readers who want to continue. - 3Buy
East of Eden
John Steinbeck·1952·Steinbeck's most ambitious novel — a multigenerational saga in the Salinas Valley organized around the Cain and Abel story; his attempt to write the great American novel and the book he worked hardest on; the culmination of his career. - 4Buy
Cannery Row
John Steinbeck·1945·Steinbeck's most affectionate and comic novel — the marine biologist Doc and the inhabitants of the Monterey waterfront; where Of Mice and Men is tragic, Cannery Row is lyrical and celebratory, showing the other side of Steinbeck's sympathy for the dispossessed. - 5Buy
The Pearl
John Steinbeck·1947·Steinbeck's fable about a poor Mexican diver who finds a great pearl and discovers that good fortune brings only danger — the companion piece to Of Mice and Men in its use of simple characters and parable structure to make a moral argument about how the world destroys the hopes of the poor.
Steinbeck — Frequently Asked Questions
What is the theme of Of Mice and Men?
The novel's central theme is the American Dream and its defeat — specifically the dream of owning one's own land and being 'somebody,' which George and Lennie pursue but which the social and economic system of 1930s California makes systematically impossible for migratory workers. The novel also argues that human beings need companionship — that even the desperate need for a friend to dream with is a fundamental human requirement, and that its satisfaction is a kind of dignity in itself, even when the dream itself is destroyed.
Why does George kill Lennie at the end of Of Mice and Men?
George kills Lennie to prevent him from being captured and lynched or imprisoned — which would mean a death more prolonged and more frightening than the quick, merciful death George gives him. Lennie has accidentally killed Curley's wife; Curley's mob is coming; and Lennie's intellectual disability means he cannot understand the difference between an accident and a crime, or the nature of the punishment coming for him. George's act is an act of love — the only protection he can still offer his friend.
Is Of Mice and Men suitable as a first Steinbeck novel?
Yes — it's the ideal first Steinbeck: short (under 100 pages), immediately emotionally engaging, and the clearest expression of his essential themes (the friendship of the dispossessed, the defeat of the American Dream, the dignity of those the system discards) without the epic scale of The Grapes of Wrath or the moral complexity of East of Eden. Almost every reader who comes to Steinbeck through Of Mice and Men goes on to The Grapes of Wrath.
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