Stereotypes In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

Honore De Balzac once said “Nature makes only dumb animals. We owe the fools to society.” In John Steinbeck’s novella Of Mice and Men, George and Lennie are two migrant farmers who dream of owning a ranch of their own, this is until Lennie, having a child's mind, but being a big strong guy, accidentally kills Curley’s wife, also killing their dream of owning a ranch. Lennie and George are portrayed as rabbits in Of Mice and Men because they follow along with the lower class blindly just like society desires them to, dreaming to change their path but never succeeding in this, like so many others. In Of Mice and Men, the author uses rabbits to symbolize the freedom and happiness George and Lennie hope of gaining. George and Lennie dream of “get[ting] . . . [a] little place an’ live on the fatta the lan’.” (56). This shows their fantasy, and what they are striving to achieve. Although they never achieve their dream, Lennie at his final moments still says, “Le’s do it now. Le’s get that place now.” (106). With George feeding him lies to preserve Lennie's dream saying, “Sure, right now. I gotto. We gotta.” (106). George does this to keep Lennie’s half of their dream alive, even though Lennie killed George’s half of the dream upon killing Curley’s wife.
Steinbeck uses Crooks to convey this to George, when Crooks says, “An’ where’s George now? In town in a whore house. That’s where your money is goin’.”(76). Steinbeck also warns George and Lennie about many others that have tried achieving their dream without any success through Crooks by saying, “I seen it happen too many times. I seen too many guys with land in their head. They never get none under their hand.” (76). This foreshadowing in the novella points to George and Lennie’s dreams demise. And when Lennie messes up he scurries like a rabbit to hide in a