What characteristics make Of Mice and Men an example of Modernist literature?

One characteristic that makes Of Mice and Men representative of Modernist literature is the relationships that are built in the shadow of the American Dream.

It is important to note that, while Of Mice and Men was published in 1937, the sociological concept of "the American Dream" was born in 1931by James Truslow Adams in a book called The American Epic in which he talked about "a land in which life should be better...

One characteristic that makes Of Mice and Men representative of Modernist literature is the relationships that are built in the shadow of the American Dream.

It is important to note that, while Of Mice and Men was published in 1937, the sociological concept of "the American Dream" was born in 1931 by James Truslow Adams in a book called The American Epic in which he talked about "a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone." Steinbeck was introducing the American in Of Mice and Men, not reshaping it as it was only six years old.

Virginia Woolf defined Modernism as literature which displayed the power of change.  She termed these as "shifts" in all forms of life: “All human relations shifted...and when human relations change there is at the same time a change in religion, conduct, politics, and literature.”  The presence of these shifts and the willingness to explore them are critical to the definition of Modernist literature. Specific characteristics of Modernist literature are:

• a sense of despair


• a changing worldview


• a sense of socio-cultural instability


• meaningless social values


• a confused sense of identity


• futility of meaning


• skepticism


• the absence of clarity and order


• a sense of chaos and confusion ("Modernism," University of Nevada Las Vegas)  

Steinbeck's novella is not concerned with how the American Dream can be achieved. Rather, it focuses on the difficulty of the dream and the pain of not achieving it.  Of Mice and Men represents Modernist literature because its heroes are not successes. Rather, they are two "bindle stiffs" who have nothing to their name and fail to accomplish their modest dreams. One of them is little and wiry while the other one is large and mentally challenged.

In focusing on two transient migrant workers and not on a traditional hero, Steinbeck's work represents an example of Modernist literature because they live in despair in a fragmented social group and experience fragmentation of their personalities: neither George nor Lenny can find and be what they really are.  Through its depiction of how the poor struggle and fail to achieve their dreams, Of Mice and Men represents Modernist literature just as it does in its depiction of political, social, and economic shifts, both of which build the framework of how the characters' relationships are built in the shadow of the American Dream.