Banned And Challenged Books I’ve Read: Of Mice and Men

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Read Banned Books

Of Mice and Men

John Steinbeck

Another story I read in HS.

They are an unlikely pair: George is “small and quick and dark of face”; Lennie, a man of tremendous size, has the mind of a young child. Yet they have formed a “family,” clinging together in the face of loneliness and alienation. Laborers in California’s dusty vegetable fields, they hustle work when they can, living a hand-to-mouth existence. But George and Lennie have a plan: to own an acre of land and a shack they can call their own.

Of Mice and Men, creates an intimate portrait of two men facing a world marked by petty tyranny, misunderstanding, jealousy, and callousness. But though the scope is narrow, the theme is universal: a friendship and a shared dream that makes an individual’s existence meaningful.

Of Mice and Men is banned and challenged in schools and libraries due to its racial slurs (particularly the N-word), profanity, vulgarity, and depiction of violence and sexual situations. Some people also object to the novel’s negative themes, its portrayal of marginalized groups like women and the disabled, and an alleged anti-business or anti-American message from the Depression era.