Book of a lifetime: Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

From The Independent archive: Graham Joyce on a biblical revelation with Steinbeck’s classic

John Steinbeck’s book carries echoes of Cain and Abel (Getty)

A shambling sixth-former returning a copy of John Steinbeck’s classic to the school library, I had to squeeze past two teachers. “What’s the next stage Joyce?” said one. He was a grizzled old Welshman and he disapproved of the long hair growing way below my collar. “A spear and a bone through the nose?” The second teacher moved in and grabbed my book. He was new: younger, hipper, sympathetic. I was ready for more withering sarcasm but instead he said: “Steinbeck. The man. Cain and Abel, right?”

I’d enjoyed reading the book. I liked its mix of compassion, anguish and political edge, and I admired its accessible language. About Cain and Abel I hadn’t got a clue. But because I was 17, I stroked an imaginary beard and nodded sagely, as if the younger teacher and I shared a secret from which the grizzled old Housemaster was excluded. “Cain and Abel. Right.” I knew vaguely that Cain had killed Abel, but I had no biblical context for this scrap of knowledge. That chance remark by the young teacher sent me away to find out more.

I found out Cain was a crop farmer and Abel a shepherd. The murder had happened (depending on which version you read) because God had given the prettiest wife to Abel simply because he favoured Abel’s work. Thus sexual jealousy came into the equation, not to mention arbitrary injustice. I found that a mark had been put on Cain and that he would wander the Earth and that the earth would never again reward him with a fair crop.