John Steinbeck s Of Mice And Men - 1117 Words

A Path to Patience Quest stories are generally seen as physical tests of muscle and endurance. In an archetypal quest, the main character goes on a long and painful voyage, and conquers all fears in order to achieve the goal at the end. Literature describes quests in a slightly different way. Thomas Foster’s â€Å"How To Read Literature Like a Professor† describes how a quest has five general parts: a place to go, a person to go there, a reason to go there, challenges along the way, and a deeper meaning to the whole thing. John Steinbeck’s â€Å"Of Mice and Men† relates to Foster’s words. In the novella, George, the main character, is questing towards owning a farm with his mentally disabled friend, Lennie. The two men are a package deal. Lennie†¦show more content†¦The simple wording of this sentence justifies how the beginning of a quest is very basic and should be easy to pick up on. There is no deep, hidden meaning yet. The author is simply setting up the ir character to go on a journey. In â€Å"Of Mice and Men†, it is clear from the first chapter that George is questing towards owning a farm with Lennie. At the end of one of their conversations George says to Lennie â€Å"OK. Someday- we’re gonna get the jack together and we’re gonna have a little house and a couple of acres an’ a cow and some pigs†, to which Lennie responds with â€Å"An live off the fatta the lan!† (14). It is clear that George dreams of having his own land, and him and his partner are anticipating the day that the farm becomes a reality. The quest remains solely physical for now. A book is not a book without conflict, and the same applies to a quest. Challenges, along with trial and error, are necessary for the quester to have a true expedition. Dealing with Lennie’s antics often causes George to lose his patience, and when george loses his patience, everything breaks loose. He verbally abuses Lennie by yelling things like â€Å"Well, we ain’t got any... Whatever we ain’t got, that’s what you want. God a’mighty, if I was alone I could live so easy. I could go get a job an work no trouble† (11). Lennie is dead weight in George’s eyes, although he isn’t the only person who has seen George’s short