While reading Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, the phrase “image of God” was
constantly in my mind. I have long been
curious about what it means that women and men are created with this image. It is this curiosity that pushed me to
seminary to learn about poverty reduction rather than attending a more
traditional social service graduate studies program. My foundation of this belief is the first
creation account in Genesis, which plainly states that people were created in
God’s image. People are the only piece
of creation that receive this honour.
Despite not holding to creation as a six-day event, I contend the
designation is true.
This
essay is best read after reading the novel and will reveal significant plot points.
“He’s all stiff with rheumatism. He ain’t no good to you, Candy. An’ he ain’t no good to himself. Why’n’t you shoot him, Candy?” The old man squirmed uncomfortably. “Well – hell! I had him so long. Had him since he was a pup. I herded sheep with him. You wouldn’t think it to look at him now, but he was the best damn sheep dog I ever seen.” (from Chapter 3)
In this short novel we see the sorts of
creatures that bear the image of God.
Steinbeck provides seemingly honest descriptions of humanity and these
descriptions are not always flattering.
Nonetheless, each creature – the racist and his victim, the maimed
worker and his boss, the lonely wife and her neglectful husband, the leader and
his followers, and George and Lennie – are all created in God’s image. Frankly, this confuses me. Where is their commonality?
It is not odd to begin an essay about the
image of God with a dog being shot. The
dog is old, blind, deaf, and can hardly walk.
Nonetheless, it is loved by Candy, its master. We might say the dog bears Candy’s
image. Candy is himself injured so
severely that he cannot work as the other men do. Candy consents reluctantly after his
co-workers pester him into putting the dog down. He quickly regrets the decision. The life was easily extinguished and the
master feels this loss deeply.
When Candy sees his dog he sees himself
– someone who worked hard throughout his life and the reward is having everyone
see him as useless because of it.
Of
Mice and Men
is a story about how a living man becomes a dead man. The killing of the dog was said to be
merciful. So was the killing of the
man.
Lennie is large, has an in intellectual
disability, and does not know his own strength.
We see him kill animals throughout the book. The killings are accidental. Lennie loves soft fur and pets the
critters. He sadly and unintentionally
crushes a mouse and then a new born puppy.
George, his friend and guide, tells Lennie to be more gentle and to
leave the animals be. It makes no
difference. Lennie reaches out, loves,
and kills.
Lennie’s inability to be gentle becomes
more acute when he interacts with other people.
As Lennie and Curley’s wife talk in secret she invites him to feel her
soft hair. She takes his hand and puts
it on her head. Lennie is inevitably too
rough, she screams, and he panics.
Lennie’s attempt to quiet Curley’s wife is also too rough. Although unintentional, Lennie kills
her.
George knows the inevitable. Curley will kill Lennie, painfully and
humiliatingly. Curley and his friends
will hunt Lennie down and lynch him.
George, believing that he is acting out of compassion, decides to make
sure Curley cannot hurt Lennie. He picks
up a gun and follows after him.
George sees killing Lennie as the only humane choice. He responds in the same way that Candy responded to the killing of his dog. George does whatever he can to make Lennie happy before the execution and tells Lennie that he isn’t angry. He is telling the truth. George is heartbroken. He is hesitant but raises the gun as he hears the approaching mob and shoots Lennie in the back of the head.
Like Candy and the dog, George pleads
for Lennie’s life, “Couldn’ we maybe
bring him in an’ they’ll lock him up?
He’s nuts Slim. He never done
this to be mean.”
Like killing the dog, killing Lennie is
presented as the only choice. “If we could keep Curley in, we might. But Curley’s gonna want to shoot ‘im… An’
s’pose they lock him up an’ strap hum down and put him in a cage. That ain’t no good, George.” The image of Candy is snuffed out. The image of God is snuffed out.
Of
Mice and Men
is an illustration of what it is to be human and I think this is where the
shared nature of the characters begins.
Goodness and love have to be at the centre of a person. Curley is the villain of the novel. He is a neglectful husband and an abusive
boss. He gets a charge out of tormenting
people. He is hell-bent on revenge. It is arguable that Curley looks at the death
of his wife as an opportunity to kill Lennie as revenge for a broken hand. George and Slim mourn the death of
Lennie. Curley and his friends see this
morning and are perplexed, “Now, what the
hell ya suppose is eatin’ them two guys?”
Even further, Of Mice and Men is an argument for the value of a human life. The death of the dog is sad but it is only a
shadow of what is coming. We know much
more about Lennie – about his life, death, and friends – than the dog. Throughout the book, George and Lennie
fantasize about owning their own farm and Candy joins this fantasy. After Curley’s wife dies, Candy sulks that he
won’t be able to go to the farm. George instead
mourns that he won’t be able to show the farm to Lennie. Lennie – in spite of being violent, in spite
of being disabled, in spite of being a nuisance – is loved. George loves him.
Image of God.
In spite of Lennie’s shortfalls he is a
better representation of a human than Curley.
Lennie loves and is loved. Curley
has neither. When the book ends,
George’s life is less than it was at the beginning. It is impossible to not mourn with George. This mourning is the start of a treatise
about the image of God.
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