The title of Steinbeck's novel is taken from the poem "To a Mouse" by the Scottish poem Robert Burns in which the speaker describes disturbing a mouse's nest while he is plowing. A verse in the poem, "the best laid plans of mice and men gang aft agley," means that regardless of whether one is a man or a mouse, plans are likely to "go astray."
Lennie and George have plans to buy a farm and "live off the fatta the land," but fate intervenes. No matter how much this pair dreams and hopes for a better life, they are destined to lose. In fact, no one in the novel with a dream manages to achieve his or her dream. Steinbeck as a naturalistic writer pitted characters against forces beyond their control. As Burns's poem states, whether you are a mouse (insignificant creature) or a man (more important), your plans will come to nothing.
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