How are the mice important in ';of mice and men?';?

its a question for homework on the english book by john steinbeck ';of mice and men'; how are the mice important in the story and how it is shown.How are the mice important in ';of mice and men?';?
Lennie loves to touch soft things and he accidentally kills his pet mouse by stroking it too roughly. You should read the book to understand the significance of this. How are the mice important in ';of mice and men?';?
They symbolize the predatory nature of life (How everyone has to feed of each other in order to survive)


e.g. lennie feeds off the mice and the puppy to make himself feel better (he likes soft things)





This theme appears many times in the book.


e.g. all the characters feed off each other


-George uses lennie to keep him company


-The Boss of the ranch feeds off all the employees


-Curly feeds off other people to make himself more respected to make up for his size


-The heron feeds of the snake





The predatory nature of life is one of the key themes / ideas that Steinbeck was trying to explore through the novel.





They also symbolize the idea that there will always be something bigger than you that will come along and ruin your plans. e.g. The mice may have plans to have a family but Lennie (bigger than them) comes along and kills them.


This theme is also referred to in the title which in itself referrers to a poem called ';to a mouse'; by robert burns which is about the same theme.





Furthermore by being killed by Lennie they help to show how Lennie:


-Can not control himself


-Does not know his own strength (he admits not wanting to kill them)


-Can not understand or predict the consequences of his actions


-Can not make friends very easily and is lonely


-Is childish (Children have soft toys, not adults normally)


-Is animal like (He is friendly with animals) and therefore less human.


These things show that ultimately he can not function in society which is the reason he had to die.





Also they help to build up and foreshadow the deaths of Curlys wife and Lennie in the play. First the mice are killed, then the dogs. The size of the things that are dying escalate throughout the novel and this predicts that at some point something even larger (a human) will be killed.


It also helps foreshadow Curlys wife's death because when Lennie strokes the mice's hair (fur) it dies, so when Lennie strokes Curlys wife's hair the reader can predict that she will also die.
Actually the title of the book comes from an old poem, I don't remember the author, and there is a line, ';The best laid plans of mice and men often goes astray';.
The symbolize the dream Lenny had to have a rabbit farm. And just like his hopes, they always die.