Of Mice and Men

What struck me most in this play performed by the Genevan Drama Society

was the manner in which men destroy their transitional objects the way Lennie

first innocently plays, then kills his live playthings like mice, puppies, and then,

a woman wich, in the end, makes him a murderer to be reprimanded by death.

Steinbeck's message is that as long as we do not treat our transitive objects

with care, we pave our way to destruction and death because these objects

help us grow by narrowing the gap between our deep attachments and our

separation from the comfort that we were given by our mothers as children.

Perhaps, the reason Lenni destroys his transitive objects is precisely because

he lacked the psychological nourishment from his own mother whom George

vainly tries to substitute but fails to replace so that Lennie creates tragedy.