Page 1 of 4Symbolism: The entire story can be interpreted as an allegory for the rise and fall of the Soviet Union. You see, George represents Marxist-Leninism and Lennie represents the pseudo-communists in the Soviet Union. In the beginning of the novel Lennie and George have just been driven out of Weed, representing the Communists being driven out of most western nations as the rise of Fascism occur. Lennie, as the Communists had, did something very minor, and was never really given another chance. At that point, Lennie and George are still unified together, even though they have suffered hiccups in the past, just as the Soviet Union had not completely stuck to the Communist ideology. The first person that they interact with is the Candy, who complains to George (Marxism), that he is not letting Lennie talk enough. George doesn’t let Lennie talk at this point as he knows that if Lennie starts talking, he will be forced to leave, just as many Marxists did not let the Soviet Union represent them, for fear that they would be persecuted as they were in the United States. But, George still gives Lennie a chance, as he knows that without Lennie, there will be no chance for him to live his dream. George does know that he can survive without Lennie but he still sticks by him. Slim, representing members of the Warsaw Pact, wasn’t entirely against Communism, but knew that the Soviet Union (Lennie) had to die. Slim did not know what to think of Lennie, but understood why Lennie had to be killed by George. Crooks represents the working class people of the world, who were brought hope by the Soviet Union, but then had all the hope taken away once Curley’s Wife, representing the Capitalist mindset of most people in most countries at the time, enters the room, and reminds him of his place and how she can quite easily silence him. This also ties in with the allegory, because both the Soviet Union and the Allied powers attempted to work together, but in the end, Lennie accidentally Page 1 of 4 Page 2 of 4kills Curley’s wife, as he yells angrily at her “You gonna get me in trouble jus’ like George says you will”(91) , as the Soviet Union was paranoid of being deposed by the United States, and was warned by others not to try to force Communism upon others as Marx had written and spoken about. This action is also symbolic as to the millions that were inadvertently killed under the rule of the Soviet Union. Curley is also an essential member of this allegory, as he symbolizes the Cold War era United States: quick to provoke and quick to blame. During the time of the Cold War, the United States blatantly hated the Soviet Union, and worked tirelessly to destroy it, always spreading the word that the U.S.S.R was going to try to destroy the United States. In truth, the Soviets never even thought of attacking the United States, and only really helped in the conflict in Vietnam, where the people followed a Charismatic leader, Ho Chi Minh, who sought to bring balance in the country. The Soviet Union backed Vietnamese forces only defended against the forces of the United States, who were thrown back just as Lennie was able to defeat Curley. The Cuban Missile crisis also comes to mind when Candy describes Curley’s behavior regarding fighting, stating that, “S’pose Curley jumps a big guy an’ licks. Ever’body says what a game guy Curley is. And s’pose he does the same thing and gets licked. Then ever’body says the big guy oughtta pick somebody his own size, and maybe they gang up on the big guy”(26). This is reminiscent of Cold War era United States policy, as the United States actually started the Cuban Missile crisis by pointing missiles at the Soviet Union from Turkey and then blamed the Soviets for the situation once the event escalated. Then, as Lennie is extremely aggravated by Lennie’s victory, he sets out to kill Lennie, just as the United States sought to destroy the Soviet Union. But, just as in the story, the Soviet Union is destroyed by something quite close to it, and is not destroyed by an outside force. Page 2 of 4 Page 3 of 4Also, as Lennie was a burden on George, he was also better than no one, just as the Communists believed, at some point, that the Soviet Union was better than nothing, and then later realized that he needed to be cast away, as he was suffering and making other people suffer as well. Though, one thing to note is that George and other members of the ranch are definitely not better off after the death of Lennie, just as the people of Russia and the surrounding territories were not better off after the dismantling of the Soviet Union. In fact, most of those countries simply changed back to the same corrupt, conservative and capitalist societies that they were trying to destroy, just as George attempted to not become a lonely person, but ultimately became the thing that he had seen so many others change into. Page 3 of 4