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Men Lennie Mice Place Farm Difficult George Understand

Id ESLPod_0899_CN
Episode Id ESLPod 899
Episode Title Purchasing and Using an E-Ticket
Title Of Mice and Men
Text

Of Mice and Men is a 1937 novel by John Steinbeck. It is about two "migrant workers" (people who move from place to place while looking for work, especially doing farm work) who are looking for jobs in California during the "Great Depression" (very difficult economic times before World War II). The title of the novel was "taken" (adapted; borrowed) from a poem called "To a Mouse" by Robert Burns.

The novel is about two men, George and Lennie. Lennie is very big and strong, but he has some "mental problems" (slow or incomplete intellectual and/or emotional development). They are very good friends, and George often protects Lennie. Lennie often gets into trouble, because he does not understand what he is doing or how his actions are "perceived" (observed and interpreted) by others.

The men dream of owning a "ranch" (a large farm that raises many large animals like cows and horses), but they face many "obstacles" (things that make it difficult for one to achieve goals). In the end, Lennie becomes the "pair's" (the two men's) greatest obstacle to fulfilling their dream, but you'll have to read the novel to understand why - no "spoilers" (something that tells a person how a book or movie ends and ruins the story) here!

The novel is often "required reading" (something that all students must read) in American high schools, but it has also been a "target of censorship" (something that people do not want to have be made available, usually because they believe it is wrong) it has some offensive and "racist" (treating people unfairly based on the color of their skin) language.

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