Ambiguity In Of Mice And Men

The character in Of Mice and Men that is most similar to Tom Buchanan in The Great Gatsby is Curley. Curley and Tom Buchanan have many similarities throughout both books. These shared characteristics stem from one thing both men have an abundance of: privilege. Curley and Tom are easily two characters with the least amount of struggle in The Great Gatsby and Of Mice and Men.

 "This is an angry book filled with symbolism which confuses as well as expands its meaning beyond its apparent depth" (Byam 284).

The reader is not left in confusion, but he is rather left with things wrapped up.

John Ernst Steinbeck Jr. was an American author wrote many novels including one of his most famous, Of Mice and Men. Of Mice and Men teaches many lessons about the nature of human existence. Each relationship grows throughout this short story and end with a dramatic experience. All of the characters, including Lennie, George, Crooks, and Curley’s wife, admit, at one time or another, to having a profound sense of isolation, seclusion and loneliness.

In order to make this reflection as honest as I can, I’m going to have to reveal that my beliefs and idea on reading do not synchronize with those of Perrine and thus it is difficult to incorporate her advice and provide an unbiased reflection that does not conflict with the author's analytical interpretations. What is perhaps the punchline of the text states, “Immature readers seek only escape. Even when they think they are reading for interpretation or some useful moral, they insist that what they read return them always some pleasant or exciting image of the world or some flattering image of themselves” (Perrine 2). While the previous quote may not be completely applicable to me because the text was assigned, I can see myself getting lost within the text and with that, my interpretations. Had I perhaps distanced myself and not been allowed to get “lost” in the text then I would have provided an interpretation for the assigned novels with less emotional bias in it. Perrine then goes onto say an immature reader tends to “make fixed demands of every story and feel frustrated and disappointed unless these demands are satisfied. Often they stick to one type of subject matter” (Perrine 3). While I cannot see any educated individual following this, perhaps to some extent I may have allowed an untidy ending to fix my feelings toward a novel to be relatively

example, the author leaves the end of the story open to interpretation, which forces the reader to

    Literature is never interpreted in exactly the same way by two different readers. A prime example of a work of literature that is very ambiguous is Joseph Conrad's, "Heart of Darkness". The Ambiguities that exist in this book are Marlow's relationship to colonialism, Marlow's changing feelings toward Kurtz, and Marlow's lie to the Intended at the end of the story.

This theme of of Mice and Men is that things don't always work out the way you plan, its developed through the characters dialogue and actions the throughout the book. The two main characters ,George and Lennie, despite their differences, form a family like friendship to face the loneliness that comes with being a Ranch workers. Lennie and George both cling to the hope that they can one day buy a small house throughout the course of the book. Their idea is first mentioned in the beginning, but it's clear the this idea was thought of before the book's plot line. "O.K. Someday- we're gonna get the jack together and we're gonna get the jack together and we're gonna have a little house and couple of acres an' a cow and some pig and--" This shows

“He pulled the trigger. The crash of the shot rolled up the hills and rolled down again” (Pg. 106). “Of Mice and Men” is written by John Steinbeck and was published in 1937. The book was written during the Great Depression, which shows in the book the conflict for getting work. In the book the two main characters are Lennie Smalls and George Milton, and they are the best of friends. The only thing off is that Lennie is not all there, he is not normal. Some of the issues Lennie has is what leads them to leave to the farm. Lennie always seems to make things more difficult for George, but George still protects him and cares for him. In “Of Mice and Men” Steinbeck explains how he does not think the American Dream is achievable, that something

Everyone has dreams, big and small. When one dreams, there is a scent of whimsical hope in the air mixed with the powerful drive for success to obtain their luminous goals. But, many times these luscious dreams end up in grief and pain instead of a promised joy due to the hurdles in life, such as the certain circumstances that society professes or the flaws in a person that restrains them from their aspirations. The writer, John Steinbeck, incorporates this ideology in his novella, Of Mice and Men by creating three pivotal characters. Lennie, Crooks, and George all have schemes that go wrong, and yet hope to illustrate their desires of fulfilling their American Dream and to be prosperous for their own independent purposes.

The Power of One's ending is full of irony, and leaves readers with only their imagination and thoughts.

Though authorial purpose is a large part of writing and many assume it is the reader’s responsibility to read the book how the author intended, this is ultimately a selfish request because people have different life experiences, endless imaginations, and interprets subjects differently. Everyone lives in a different reality.

Brain Evenson is an author whose short stories include ambiguous plots. “The ambiguity, is sustained to the very end of the adventure: reality or dream? truth or illusion? (The Fantastic: A Structural Approach To A Literary Genre 110). When reading ambiguous stories, we are often left confused and question ourselves as to whether or not these things are true.

In the 1930`s people who handicapped would be considered metal and would be placed in a mental hospital and would not have the right to do anything. In todays society people who are handicapped are treated with respect and are not thrown into mental hospitals. You cannot judge a person based on something like that

Yet readers who stop to ask themselves exactly why they enjoyed the novel, what makes it work, will find themselves looking at a very complex book that means much