Wednesday, November 17, 2010

What manner of man are you?

We all should if we don't already have a variety of outlets and one of mine happens to be books. I was working through a bunch of thing yesterday and I decided to take a quick break and so I broke open a book I just bought. I went to a used bookstore and picked up a couple of books by C.S. Lewis and one by John Steinbeck. I bought The Great Divorce, The Problem with Pain, Miracles, and a couple others, one of which was Of Mice and Men. So without warning I dove into Steinbeck's classic and was swallowed up in the mental imagery and beauty until the time passed away and I realized I had read the whole book, cover to cover. It was fantastic...

Steinbeck has a way with words where he can paint the situation and atmosphere for his characters so well that you feel like you are walking into with the characters themselves. But the amazing thing comes that when the characters do enter the scene, Steinbeck paints them with equal skill but as the dialogue begins and relationships develop between you and these characters, the setting fades away as it should. He gives you just enough to suck you in but only just enough so it doesn't become overflowed with unnecessary detail. Wonderful simplicity.

Everyone could connect with these characters. We have all met someone like them, whether it is woman starving for attention because her life is full of empty yesterdays and forgotten dream or the man as large and strong as an ox who wouldn't hurt a fly. The title itself is a wonderful symbol, seen throughout the book. The characters have different attributes of mice (naive to the dangers around them, weak or skittish personalities, or just trying to survive) or men (nobility and honor, the taking advantage of one another's weaknesses to assert dominance, or willingness to listen and ability to see past a person's appearance without passing judgments). The most beautiful portion of the story was the constant presence of death: the mice, the puppy, the old sheep dog, and finally Lennie himself. It was so poetic that the tool that killed the sheep dog who unknowingly and compassionately was lead to slaughter, took Lennie's life in a similar fashion.

All I have to say is that I love Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men. If you have never read it, you should. It helps us see how fragile yet beautiful mortality can be. It is a beautiful gift and many live life in such a way that it can lose its value by becoming lost in the repetition and monotony that society and its needs take upon our time. It only reinforced to me how important it is to have loyalty and trust, relationships based on love, and to live one's life in pursuit of a dream. Who are you? What are your dreams? Whether we eventually reach that dream or not, we at least live a life of purpose and though we may be shooting for something that lies beyond our reach, high among the heavens, we will at least land somewhere among the stars. Are you a mouse or a man?

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