Abstract John Steinbeck is one of the greatest writers in the twentieth-century American literature。 His work Of Mice and Men is a profound and serious novella which tells the story of migrant workers like George and Lennie who chase their land dream but end in disillusionment。 This thesis probes into the anxiety of the main characters and illustrates three types of anxiety—material, spiritual and moral anxiety, respectively from the perspectives of land complex, identity and multiple personality。 A further analysis finds out the roots of the anxiety lie in the economic turmoil, material deprivation。81622

Key words: John Steinbeck; Of Mice and Men; material anxiety; spiritual anxiety; moral anxiety

摘要约翰· 斯坦贝克是20世纪美国文坛最伟大的作家之一。其作品《人鼠之间》是一部沉重而蕴意深刻的中篇小说，讲述了佐治伦尼等几个流动农场工人追逐土地梦想却最终希望落空的经历。本文以《人鼠之间》为研究对象，探讨其主要人物的焦虑形态。从土地情结、身份认同和多重人格三个层面阐述物质焦虑、精神焦虑和道德焦虑三种焦虑形态，进而发现经济动荡，物质匮乏是造成这种焦虑形态的根源。

毕业论文关键词：约翰· 斯坦贝克； 《人鼠之间》； 物质焦虑； 精神焦虑； 道德焦虑

Contents

1。 Introduction 1

1。1 The definition of anxiety 2

1。2 Anxiety types 2

2。 Literature Review 3

3。 Existential Anxiety Types in Of Mice and Men 3

3。1 George’s material anxiety about land complex 3

3。2 George’s and Lennie’s and Crooks’ spiritual anxiety about their identity 4

3。3 George’s and Lennie’s and Candy’s moral anxiety 5

4。 Causes For Existential Anxiety in Of Mice and Men 7

4。1 Economic Causes 7

4。2 Material Deprivation 9

5。 Conclusion 11

Works Cited 14

1。 Introduction

John Steinbeck is a great writer in the twentieth-century American literature。 As the winner of the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature, he has been called “a giant of American letters”。 He is widely known for the comic novels Tortilla Flat (1935) and Cannery Row (1945), the multi-generation epic East of Eden (1952), and the novellas Of Mice and Men (1937) and The Red Pony (1937)。 He paid much attention to socioeconomic conditions and human realities in the American West during the 1930s, including the farm’s severe conditions and their miserable sufferings, common people’s lost feeling, class struggles, and racial and gender discrimination。（Lisca, 38）The short novels of which Of Mice and Men was often considered as the best one。 

The whole novella consists of six chapters; each chapter is just like an act of a play。 Of Mice and Men is said to be a play in novella form。 It is an allegory about commitment, loneliness, hope and loss, telling these universal truths in the realistic context of friendship and a shared dream。 The novel sets along the Salinas River, “a few miles south of Soledad”。（John Steinbeck, 1978: 3）It is a moving story of two migrant workers in California。 George and Lennie are friends, owning nothing but drifting about the ranches and villages of the area。 They pick up some odd jobs or do short-time field work and then move on to the next place of employment。 Like all migrant people, they do not want to drift。 But Lennie, a floppy-looking half-wit, always gets them into trouble, losing them jobs, getting them run away from towns because he likes to pet soft thing like mice, rabbits and dresses。 Not conscious of his great power, Lennie is easy to kill what he pets。 In contrast, George is a small, wiry, tough and shrewd guy who travels with Lennie and protects him。 George keeps Lennie in line as well as he can by bawling him out, threatening to abandon him, telling him a beautiful plan about how they two can save enough money to buy a little farm。