Of Mice and Men is one of the best known and most beloved novels by John Steinbeck. Steinbeck, who was awarded the Nobel-Prize¹ in 1962, wrote a considerable number of novels and short stories and is without question one of the greatest writers in 20th century American literature.

Of Mice and Men was published in 1937, receiving a positive reception among readers and critics alike. Today Of Mice and Men is required reading in many schools, but it has also caused controversy over the years, and has ended up on lists of banned books in many schools and libraries in the United States². The book was and still is accused of containing offensive language and promoting euthanasia, racism and violence.

In its essence, however, Of Mice and Men is a story with universal themes of loyalty, friendship and the pursuit of one’s dreams. It is a story about George and Lenny, two ranch workers drifting from one job to the next in the Salinas Valley in California during the Great Depression of the 1930s. George is the leader of the twosome, a small wry man who looks after his friend Lenny, a strong but gentle man with the mind of a child.

The characters in the book are uneducated rural workers, and the language they use is far from Standard American English (SAE). The language they use, which contains many nonstandard forms and is usually spoken by lower-status groups, is called 'vernacular dialect' (Wolfram and Schilling-Estes 14, Yule 212). John Steinbeck uses vernacular language convincingly to describe the way George and Lenny and all the other characters in the book speak, thus creating an authentic, 'home-like' atmosphere. But what are the typical features of the vernacular spoken language in the book? In what sense is it 'nonstandard'? How does it differ from Standard American English?

Vernacular Features in Verbs

Many of the vernacular features in Of Mice and Men occur with the use of verbs; according to the linguist Albert Marckwardt, standard and nonstandard English are farthest apart with regard to verb forms (153). In the spoken language sentences are usually fairly short and there are many verbs; accordingly Of Mice and Men presents many examples of typical vernacular verb forms.

Another typical grammatical feature of lower prestige dialects is differences in subject-verb agreement patterns (Wolfram and Schilling-Estes 183). Vernacular dialects have either a tendency to regularize the verb forms by either eliminating the 's'-ending of the singular third person or by extending it to all verb forms (Marckwardt 153). The vernacular dialect in Of Mice and Men follows the latter formula, as can be seen from the following sentences:

Says we was here when we wasn’t. (23)
…so I comes running… (46)
Me an’ him goes ever’ place together. (77)
You wasn’t big enough. (93)

Additionally Of Mice and Men features amalgamation of the past participle (Marckwardt 154). In vernacular speech the auxiliary verb that is connected to the past participle can be totally omitted, with the verb consisting of only the past participle.

I been mean, ain’t I? (14)
Know what he done Christmas? (22)
I seen her give Slim the eye. (31)
I done a bad thing. (100)

Of Mice and Men also includes an example of regularized past tense. Instead of using the irregular form of the verb, vernacular English tends to use analogy and add an ed-ending to the stem of the verb (Wolfram and Schilling-Estes 183). Thus the vernacular dialect does not use the form knew, but the analogical alternative knowed. This is another common feature in the vernacular speech compared with SAE.

I think I knowed from the very first. (103)

Reduction of Words

Of Mice and Men has many examples of words with letters missing either at the beginning, the middle or the end. These phonological features are also characteristic of vernacular language (Wolfram and Schilling-Estes 183). Probably the most common simplification is using -in’ instead of –ing, but reductions of other final consonant clusters are also common (Yule 213).

Of Mice and Men is situated in southern California, where the Spanish influence has always been strong. Wolfram and Schilling-Estes point out that in Chicano English the reduction of consonant clusters at the end of words is more frequent than in other vernacular dialects (198), which might partly explain the amplitude of this feature in the text.

The vernacular dialect used in the book not only reduces consonant clusters, but also vowels and whole syllables with a consonant and a vowel. All these variations are related to the phonology of the words. Vernacular dialects tend to simplify the language and make it easier to pronounce.

Gi’ me that mouse. ( 9)
Won’t ever get canned ‘cause his old man’s the boss. (30)
Bout half an hour ago maybe. (40)
Maybe they’ll lock ‘im up an’ be nice to ‘im. (103)
…you always got half or more’n half. (111)

God a’mighty … (12)
S’pose he don’t want to talk? (28)
…las’ Sat’day night. (57)
It’s on’y about four o’clock. (94)

Might jus’ as well spen’ my time tellin’ you things… (4)
Gi’ me that mouse! (9)
I was only foolin’, George. (13)
An’ if I foun’ a mouse, I could keep it. (13)
Le’s wait till tomorra. (52)

Other Typical Grammatical Features

Many vernacular dialects in the United States use a structure called 'double negative' or 'multiple negation' or 'negative concord' (Wolfram and Schilling-Estes 52). Of Mice and Men has several examples of two negative markers in one sentence. These double negatives are used by all the characters in the book, even the boss at the ranch.

Well, we ain’t got no ketchup. (8)
They don’t belong no place. (15)
It wasn’t nothing. (42)

Vernacular language has a tendency to use regularized forms instead of irregular forms, as described previously in this paper with the regularized past tense form knowed. The same phenomenon can be seen with reflexive pronouns (Marckwardt 152, Wolfram and Schilling-Estes 189). 'Myself', 'yourself' and 'ourselves' all begin with the genitive pronouns 'my', 'your' and 'our', whereas 'himself' and 'themselves' begin with the object forms 'him' and 'them' (Marckwardt 152). Vernacular English can also insert the genitive form into the third person, as in the following sentence from Of Mice and Men.

This ol’ dog jus’ suffers hisself all the time. (49)

Colloquial use of words

The language in Of Mice and Men is rich with colloquial words and expressions. Typically the words combine the main word and the following preposition. The last letter of the compound is usually 'a'. A good example of this is probably the most famous sentence in the book: “An’ live off the fatta the lan’.” (15)³ In Standard English this would be written as fat of the land.

SAE	Of Mice and Men4
going to be sick	gonna be sick (3)
got to tell	gotta tell (23)
we had to walk	we hadda walk (23)
what kind of job	what kinda job (25)
full of Vaseline	fulla Vaseline (30)
look at here	looka here (39)
want to get	wanta get (103)
used to like	usta like (103)
all the time	alla time (111)

Colloquial forms of the words are also used in many other passages.

just	jes’ (4)
tomorrow	tomorra (8)
fellow	fella (20)
God almighty	God awmighty (43)
scared	scairt (46)
pretty soon	purty soon (67)
ask	ast (68)
pictures	pitchers (97)
mess it up	muss it up (99)
family	fambly (119)

John Steinbeck and Vernacular Language

Of Mice and Men is a short novel, only slightly over one hundred pages, yet its literary value is indisputable. As written and spoken language are two different things, it can be challenging for a writer to use vernacular English, at least to the extent it has been used in Of Mice and Men. However in this book the vernacular language is one of the most salient features.

The vernacular dialect used in the book is the common social marker for the men working together. Had the spoken lines been written in Standard English, the book would have lost a great deal of its realism and its authenticity. Throughout his production, John Steinbeck has described ordinary people and their simple everyday life. Thus the vernacular language with all its forms and variations is a necessary and essential element throughout his work. It is what gives his characters their essential authenticity.

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Notes

1. Anders Österling, Permanent Secretary of the Swedish Academy, noted in his prize presentation speech that the prize was awarded to Steinbeck "for his realistic as well as imaginative writings, distinguished by a sympathetic humour and a keen social perception."
2. For example, Of Mice and Men can be found among Top 10 challenged books in 1991 [PDF]. This list has been collected by the American Library Association. On the other hand, Of Mice and Men is among the ten most taught books in both public and parochial schools in the United States. This list was collected by the Education Resources Information Center.
3. The same idiom can also be found on pages 63, 76 and 116.
4. The first column, SAE, presents Standard English form and the second column, Of Mice and Men, the form used in the book.

Works Cited

• Marckwardt, Albert H. American English. Revised by J.L. Dillard. New York: Oxford University Press, 1980.

• Steinbeck, John. Of Mice and Men. New York: Bantam Books, 1967.

• Wolfram, Walt, and Natalie Schilling-Estes. American English: Dialects and Variations. Second edition. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 2006.

• Yule, George. The Study of Language. Third edition. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006.