Of Mice and Men: Burdens of Responsibility "OF MICE AND MEN IS A NOVEL WHICH EXPLORES THE BURDENS OF RESPONSIBILITY AS By evaluating the novel of mice and men carefully I have found that every character in the novel has a facet of life that consists of burdens and responsibilities. The characters in the novel basically have three options in which they can live their lives. They can knuckle down, work hard, keep a positive frame of mind and try earnestly to improve their standard of living. An example of this is would be George Milton and Lennie Small. The other option is to walk around with a chip on their shoulder, not bother to improve one