What is the connection between John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men and Robert Burns' " To a Mouse?"

In my mind, the connection to Burns' poem lies with the concept
in it and how the book parallels it. "The title suggests that the best-laid plans of mice and men
often go awry, a reference to Robert Burns's poem 'To a Mouse." I think that this pretty much
brings the connection between both the poem and the story quite evident. One of the fundamental
themes in the novella is how the plans that people have do not materialize, and that there is a
futility present in what is conceived in the mind and what can be brought out in the reality.
These "best laid plans" seem to be constructed with conviction and zeal, but in the end, they
fail to be realized. In this, Steinbeck is making a statement about the ability to dream and how
social orders fail to honor such visions. George and Lennie both share a dream of a farm and
being in control of their own destiny and tending to rabbits. This does not work. Curley held a
vision of being a boxer, but this does not seem to materialize. Curley's wife could have been in
pictures and wanted to be "someone," yet this does not come to pass. In the end, Burns' idea of
"the best laid plans" withering in the harsh conditions of external reality ends up defining many
of the characters in the novella.