Many books today are very controversial because people can't seem to agree on whether a certain book has literary merit or not. "Of Mice and Men" by John Steinbeck, would fall underneath the category of a controversial novel, in the book themes of friendship through hardships, segregation, dreams and despair are all displayed. Although great themes, Steinbeck does not develop his characters well, and we especially don't see any maturity in the actions of the characters. Without growth in characters the novel becomes repetitive and boring, the outcome no longer becomes surprising and scenes get predictable. By all means, Of Mice and Men lacks value, for all of Steinbeck's characters are static and one dimensional.
While it may be true that the story wasn't long enough for the characters to mature and grow; on the other hand, all the characters had the same thoughts and personalities throughout the entire story.
Lennie James
Lennie James
Lennie JamesFor example one static character was Carlson, who stayed
unsympathetic and extremely selfish during the course of the novel. At the end of the book, for example, Carlson questioned George why he was so sad after killing Lennie. Lennie had been George's best friends since birth and had just killed Lennie, when Carlson asked him why he was so sad. No sympathy is shown here from Carlson, after George had killed his best friend. The lack of comfort he gave George was also a very unsympathetic move. In another case Carlson displayed how selfish he is by only thinking of himself and not caring if anyone else's feelings are hurt when he took Candy's dog out and killed it. The smell of the dog was bothering Carlson but was not life threatening at all. The dog was raised by Candy since it was a puppy and Candy and...