Cruelty and Innocence in the Opening Scene of Of Mice and Men

Introduction

The English author and historian Edward Gibbon once wrote that "the works of man are impotent to the assaults of nature." Nowhere is this philosophical perspective better captured than in John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men. The novel tells the story of two migrant agricultural workers, George Milton and Lennie Small, during the Great Depression in 1930s California. A central theme in the novel is man's cruelty to one another and how it drives people to hurt other human beings, as in the case of Curley's vicious attack on the mentally handicapped Lennie. In the opening scene of Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck establishes a contrast between innocence and cruelty through the use of expansive descriptions of nature, symbolism, and characterization. This opening dichotomy is vital to an understanding of the theme of cruelty and the larger structure of the novel in light of its violent and disturbing end.

Nature Imagery and the Contrast Between Innocence and Cruelty

In the beginning passages of the novel, the reader encounters dramatic, idyllic imagery of a riverbed in rural California. The scene is described as a winding, tree-lined creek at the foot of "golden foothill slopes" where, "The Salinas River drops in close to the hillside bank and runs deep and green. The water is warm too, for it has slipped twinkling over the yellow sands in the sunlight before reaching the narrow pool." Steinbeck continues to detail the physical beauty of the area and begins to describe nature as if it were an active agent: "The evening of a hot day started the little wind to move among the leaves," and "The shade climbed up the hills toward the top."

Through descriptions such as these, a picture of untouched, innocent nature — free of human intervention — is forged by the author. By focusing on the physical beauty of the natural world, Steinbeck highlights the ugliness of humanity's actions in contrast to the deeds perpetrated later in the novel. To provide a contrasting example from the end of the work, Steinbeck writes in the final scene, "The crash of the shot rolled up the hills and rolled down again." In this sentence there are no flowery adjectives like the opening scene's "golden foothill slopes" or the river running "deep and green," but only a single noun: hills. By the end of the novel, nature has stopped being an actor and has transitioned to being a passive agent, letting the violent actions of mankind roll over it uncontested. This fits into the larger theme of the novel regarding cruelty and how the actions of men not only corrupt themselves but the world around them.

Conclusion

In Of Mice and Men's opening scene, John Steinbeck artfully employs vivid natural imagery, symbolism, and characterization to establish a thematic framework that carries through the remainder of the novel. The author's focus on uncontaminated subjects — the beauty of undeveloped nature, the symbol of George and Lennie's dreamed-of farm, and Lennie's childlike innocence — dovetails with the actions of the other characters who plot, scheme, and ultimately kill in order to survive in the world. This is a powerful message, and one that is not forced upon the reader but is all the more effective for the gradual impression it makes upon further reflection. Of Mice and Men is a timeless work of literature whose enduring power is partially explained by its message of compassion and understanding in the face of cruelty.