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Revision as of 03:56, 8 October 2006 by Masem (talk | contribs) (→Other fiction)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff) See also: list of fictional miceMice are popular in fiction, usually as anthropomorphic funny animals.
It is perhaps ironic that although they have been regarded by mankind as pests for ages, they are often featured as sympathetic in books and cartoons. Perhaps this may be because, due to their famously small size, they are considered the embodiment of "the little guy". Indeed, in many depictions, such as Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, humans are the enemy and mice are the protagonists.
Misconceptions
In fiction, mice are popularly portrayed as loving cheese, but in reality most mice do not particularly like cheese, and prefer foods in their natural diet. Too much cheese may cause digestive problems and strong-smelling excrement. Cheese probably became linked to mice because its strong smell and sticky texture make it a good bait for mousetraps. Another common stereotype is that elephants are afraid of mice. This is also false; elephants, being large, are naturally unafraid of mice.
Animated mice
Mickey Mouse in particular is recognized throughout the whole world.
Jerry (of Tom and Jerry) is also extremely well known.
Itchy, from The Simpson's Itchy and Scratchy cartoon-in-a-cartoon, is also a mouse. The cartoon is a violent parody of the classic, 'Tom and Jerry'.
Speedy Gonzales is a cartoon mouse from the Looney Tunes. Speedy would often humiliate his adversary Sylvester the cat.
Pinky and The Brain are two cartoon mice who regularly attempt to take over the world
Gadget Hackwrench and Monterey Jack from Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers.
The Secret of NIMH is an animated adaptation of Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH.
Basil, The Great Mouse Detective
DangerMouse had his own secret agent cartoon with his sidekick Penfold.
Stuart Little from the movie and the book.
Mighty Mouse is the murine Superman equivalent from the animated TV series.
Poetry
Robert Burns' famous poem "To a Mouse", written in 1785, gave us the immortal proverb "the best-laid schemes of mice and men often go awry". Burns, who owned a farm for a time, was inspired to write the poem after he had disturbed a field mouse's nest with his plow on a cold November day. The poem could be described as his "apology" to the mouse, and it expresses his apparent longing that man could once again be part of nature's "social union".
Allegory
There is also Franz Kafka's short story, "Josephine the Singer", an allegorical story about the role of the artist in society, where society is represented by a community of mice and the artist is a mouse named Josephine, with a gift of song.
The book Who Moved My Cheese? features mice adapting to change, specifically, running out of cheese. This book is occasionally given to employees facing layoffs.
The graphic novel Maus by Art Spiegelman tells the story of Spiegelman's parents during the holocaust, depicting the Jews as mice.
Other fiction
Flowers for Algernon tells the story of a mouse named Algernon that is given an experimental intelligence-boosting treatment, which only works temporarily, and ends up in the death of the mouse; the story is told by a man that is given the same treatment, though sometime after Algernon's treatment, such that as Algernon reverts from the high intelligence state, the speaker fears for his own fateful return and possible death.
Reepicheep is a bold, courageous mouse from The Chronicles of Narnia. He wields a rapier; his headstrong behavior lends irony to his being a mouse.
The Redwall series by Brian Jacques is a series about an abbey of talking mice confronted by various challenges to their abbey in each book.
The Three Blind Mice have minor roles in the movies Shrek and Shrek 2.
In The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, white mice are pan-dimensional beings who commissioned the construction of a giant computer, the Earth, that would provide for them the question of the meaning of life, the universe, and everything. This is revealed after the earth is destroyed by a Vogon construction crew five minutes before the question is finally calculated. The mice re-appear to commission a second earth and discover Arthur Dent, the sole survivor of earth's destruction, and offer to buy his brain, expecting it to contain the question which they seek. See Races and Species in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.