From Muppet Wiki

"Of Mice and Men"

John Steinbeck (1902—1968) was an American writer. He wrote the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Grapes of Wrath, published in 1939 and the novella Of Mice and Men, published in 1937. In all, he wrote twenty-five books, including sixteen novels, six non-fiction books and several collections of short stories. In 1962 Steinbeck received the Nobel Prize for Literature.

References

• In Follow That Bird, the Dodos live on Canary Row (a reference to Steinbeck's 1945 novel Cannery Row).

• On Dog City, the character of Bowser, in his mentality and dialogue, is frequently reminiscent of Lennie from Of Mice and Men (especially as played by Lon Chaney, Jr. in the 1939 film). In "Boss Bruiser," the closing dialogue exchange has Bowser asking Bruno to "tell me about the rabbits, boss," ala Lennie.

• Animal spoofed Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men (with a mouse and a man) in an installment of Animal Theatre on Muppets.com.

• A Sesame Street "Theater in the Park" sketch titled "The Grapes of Math" is a parody of Steinbeck's book The Grapes of Wrath.

• The Muppet Babies episode "Of Mice and Muppets" is a nod to Of Mice and Men.

Notes

• A film version of the Rodgers and Hammerstein muscial Pipe Dream, based on Steinbeck's novel Sweet Thursday, was once proposed to star the the Muppets.^[1]

Sources

1. ↑ Mandelbaum, Ken. Not Since Carrie: 40 years of Broadway Musical Flops. New York: St. Martin's Griffin, 1992. p. 99.

From Lostpedia

Of Mice and Men

Author

John Steinbeck

Publisher

Heinemann

Publish Date

1937

ISBN

0140177396

Of Mice and Men is a Depression-era novel written by John Steinbeck, centering around two friends trying to save up enough money to start their own ranch and no longer be under the thumb and employees. George, the more business minded, also watches over Lennie, whose slow wit tends to affect their grand plans.

The book is critical of the American Dream, and all dreams in general, suggesting that they are, quite often, ultimately futile.

In Lost

• Sawyer is seen reading the book while in prison. ("Every Man for Himself")
• He later references the book, and Ben quotes from it (see below). ("Every Man for Himself")
• Sawyer and Hurley are shown playing horseshoes in the Barracks. This game is played often by the characters in this book. ("The Other Woman")

In the Lost Experience

• Steinbeck, the writer of the novel, was one of the passwords to enter the real Retrieversoftruth.com website.

Other Similarities and Shared Themes

• One of the central themes in the novel, and in the show (especially pertaining to Sawyer) is isolation and finding a place to fit in in the world when you are different. Ben emphasizes this point across when he shows Sawyer they are on a smaller isolated island, talks about his suppressed emotions towards Kate, and then quotes the book: "A guy goes nuts if he ain't got nobody. It don't make any difference who the guy is, so long as he's with you. I tell ya...I tell ya, a guy gets too lonely, and he gets sick."
• In the novel, the character Lenny has frequent dreams and visions of rabbits. The episode seems to reference this in Sawyer's psychological torture scene.
• The last line is "Now what the hell ya suppose is eatin' them two guys?" suggesting that compassion is important, as two antagonists in the book speak these lines together. This is used to parallel the episode, where Sawyer (uncharacteristically) shows compassion in both the flashback and the present.
• In the novel, the characters play horse shoes, which is similarly seen in the episode The Other Woman. Hurley appears to beat Sawyer, in a way similar to how Crooks beat the rest of the characters in the novel.

Trivia

• John Steinbeck has written numerous novels, one of which is entitled 'The Pearl'.
• John Terry, who plays Christian Shephard, has the role of Slim in the film adaptation.
• In the 1992 film adaptation actors Gary Sinise and Ray Walston portray George Milton and Candy. They also appear together in the TV miniseries The Stand, based on the Stephen King novel of the same name which has been confirmed as a major influence to Lost.

See also

• Appearances of literary works