Throughout the novella, Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, the readers are introduced to a variety of themes, one of which is summarized in the inquiry question: “How does one cope during hardship?”

The main characters, Lennie and George, are constantly having to move around in search for work because of the fact that Lennie, having a mental disability, can’t tell when he’s doing something wrong and relies strongly on George for help. Because the story takes place during The Great Depression, these characters go through quite a bit of hardship in not only the way that they struggle with finding a job, but also how lonely it is.

The quote, “We’d jus’ live there. We’d belong there. There wouldn’t be no more runnin’ around the country and gettin’ fed by a Jap cook. No, sir, we’d have our own place where we belonged and not sleep in no bunk house,” (Steinbeck, pg. 57) demonstrates how, instead of simply lying around and expecting the worst, George and Lennie go out of their way to create a future goal for themselves. All throughout the book, the author mentions this plan and although it may seem unrealistic, it is was really gets them through the difficulties, or in other words, hardship.

Another character that gets mentioned in the book is Crooks, a black man who is constantly discriminated against for having a different skin colour. He is isolated from the rest of the workers and is often referred to as “the stable buck” (pg. 20) showing the readers how difficult it is for him to cope, as well. In the quote, “…and he had books, too; a tattered dictionary and a mauled copy of the California civil code for 1905. There were battered magazines and a few dirty books on a special shelf over his bunk,” (pg. 67), we find out that, because of the constant isolation that surrounds Crooks, he doesn’t have many people to talk to so therefore, he reads. This helps him to find small distractions in ordinary things, rather than letting the loneliness overpower him.

To summarize, the way one can cope during hardship is by finding distractions, such as reading a book or imagining what life could be like in the future. One will always find a way to have hope because, even though times may be rough, there are always things to do and to look forward to.

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