FREE ESSAY ON OF MICE AND MEN...BOOK VS. MOVIE

OF MICE AND MEN...BOOK VS. MOVIE

Of Mice and Men: Movie Vs. Book
The movie 1992 movie version of Of Mice and Men shows differences along with similarities
to the book written by John Steinbeck. Differences were common mainly within the plot of
the story. The first notable variation was in the beginning. The book started off with
George and Lennie walking on a dirt road near a swamp while the movie started off with
George on a train with a flashback. This shows how the movie differs by starting off in a
different time frame than the book. Another case in point of a small but noticeable plot
change was when Lennie kills the puppy. The book states that Lennie is sitting on the
ground of the barn crying with the puppy lying in front of him. On the contrary, the
movie shows Lennie standing up with the puppy in his hands pacing back and forth while
worried yet not crying. Hence, the movie provides a different picture for the viewer than
Steinbeck gives for the reader. In the last instance, which possibly shows the greatest
contradiction between the two, is the ending. The novel illustrates the ranch workers
coming and finding that George had just killed Lennie. Slim tries to comfort George while
they move away from the scene as Carlton says "Now what do ya 'spose is eatn' them two?"
In sharp contrast to this, the movie ends with George on a train once again, possibly to
make it a traditional denouement, and visualizing him working on the ranch with Lennie
walking off into the sunset. Indeed, two completely dissimilar endings plot wise. Along
with those differences there are aspects in the movie that show a strong resemblance to
those in the book. For example, Lennie's characteristic of being childlike shows in the
movie as well as in the novel. John Malkovich who plays Lennie does a great job at
showing a glimmering expression on his face when he looks at George as well as a playful
expression when he is playing with the puppies. This is parallel to Steinbeck's
description of Lennie's facial expressions. By the same the token, George's character
keeps his characteristic of being a father figure towards Lennie. George, played by Gary
Sinise, does this primarily with his tone of voice by varying it from strict, such as
when he is scolding Lennie about Curley's wife, to more compassionate, for instance when
he is cleaning the blood off Lennie's face after the fight with Curley. The tone
characteristics coincide with those described in the same situations in the book. A
correlation is shown between the book and movie as well with the basic mood of the story.
The dismal ambiance is illustrated through George's look of helplessness and grief from
Lennie's mistakes. The sense of a righteous closure is also felt at the end due to the
fact that even though Lennie had been shot point blank by the only person in the world
that had an ounce of care or affection for him, the feeling that it was the only suitable
action for George to take resides in the movie in an almost equivalent way to Steinbeck's
novel. To recapitulate, John Steinbeck's novel Of Mice and Men possesses aspects of
resemblance as well as discrepancy to the 1992 film version of the classic narrative.