Analysis Of John Steinbeck 's ' Of Mice And Men '

Imagine if you had almost no money, only had 1 true friend, and one goal that you will do anything to achieve. That's the life of George and Lennie, two farm hands who are about to start working on a ranch in Salinas, California. It seemed like everything was going well for the two of them, or at least they thought it was. Steinbeck argues, throughout Of Mice and Men, that we as humans need to be able to comprehend the fact that the American dream is impossible, so when we fail at that, we won't fall as hard as we might if we had full faith in it, and he develops this stance using diction choices, imagery, and characterization.

Have you ever dreamed of becoming someone important or doing something exciting and memorable? Would you give up or refuse to let go of your dream until you achieve it? Has that obsessive under-minded your success? Many people have dreams that they want to accomplish, but there are obstacles individuals have to cross over in order to achieve their goals, such as facing reality. In the book of Of Mice and Men, written by John Steinbeck, the story is a tale of two drifters working from farm to farm, trying to make a living, and save some money to have their own place someday, which is their dream during the Great Depression. The characters face the hardships

In his novel Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck uses many characters to show his assertion that man is basically evil. When Curley’s wife confronts Lennie, Crooks, and Candy in Crook’s place, she notes that the others “left all the weak ones here” (77). The “weak” ones that Curley’s wife refer to all attack each other in a vicious circular firing squad. Crooks taunts Lennie about the possibility of George not returning, and takes “pleasure in his torture” as he “[presses] forward for some kind of private victory” (71). Curley’s wife calls Candy and Lennie “a dum-dum and a lousy ol’ sheep” (78) and threatens to get Crooks “strung up on a tree” (81). Meanwhile, all the other characters are the ones that make those Lennie, Candy, Crooks, and Curley’s wife feel “weak” because they are disabled mentally, disabled physically, black, and female, respectively. In this way, Steinbeck shows that all men are basically evil as they do not lend a hand to each other and instead simply attack and prey upon each other.

The hot summer day in South Carolina made Lennie wake up, sweating through the cover sheets protecting his bed. Aunt Clara made Lennie bathe, who reeked of sweat and read the old dusty bible that she had lying around. As Lennie kept reading, he found a quote that read “So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own” (Matthew 6:34), but Lennie could not solve its meaning. After several hours passed by, Lennie could not take the loud, playful noise from outside and looked desperately out the window, where all the kids were hanging around. The hot air of South Carolina made his body feel like a teapot on the stove. Lennie could not take it anymore and finally cracked open the window,

Biases and inequality towards women have been a problem in society since men foolishly decided to give women the stereotype of being housewives and only good for breeding children. Those who refuse to follow the stereotype are considered promiscuous, or unfaithful towards their significant other. This stereotype was highly expected of women during the early twentieth century, and was also exhibited in John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men towards Curley’s wife. Of Mice and Men took place in the 1930s, and the plot follows two best friends trying to achieve their dreams, which lands them in a ranch that will do them nothing but harm. In this ranch, only the strongest may survive, and those who do not follow the usual stereotype were considered weak, and will most likely die. Steinbeck’s theme of death is always feared, but to some it is a way to leave the misery that is the world reveals the social injustices in society causes gender discrimination towards Curley’s wife. The hostility and bitterness towards Curley’s wife did not just lead to her death, but also saved her from the loneliness and isolation she had to go through on the ranch.

In Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, turmoil and difficulties are not a rare occurrence, but the question is what types of difficulties happen to each character and how does it affect them. Hardships are present throughout anyone’s life and come in different forms. Lennie’s portrayal in this novel is being a gigantic man that has a mental disability and is unable to care or depend on himself. To demonstrate, after Lennie says he will go live in a cave and George responds back what he will eat, Lennie replies, “ I’d find things, George. I don’t need no nice food with ketchup.

Another way, Steinbeck shows How Gorge is a true friend to lennie is through how reliable he is to Lennie. An example of this is Lennie was left alone with Curley's wife in the barn and accidently killed her, by him doing this it made all the workers want to kill him. But instead of them killing Lennie George went off and “pulled the trigger. The crash of the shot rolled up the hills and rolled down again, Lennie jarred, and then settled slowly forward to the sand and lay without Quivering,” (106) This quote shows how Gorge is a true reliable friend because A true friend will do whatever they think is good for you. Just like how George went off and killed lennie, so that way he didn’t have to go through even more hell. This shows readers that

In the book Of Mice and Men there are three people I feel sorry for, and their names are George, Lennie, and Crooks. First, I feel sorry for George because of the fact that he always has to be around Lennie to keep an eye on him to make sure he doesn’t do any stupid things. For example when George had to ask Lennie to stop drinking water from the river multiple times. (Steinbeck, 3).

After a quiet and solemn drink with Slim, George dreadfully goes back to the empty bunkhouse. He sits on the bed, and his face falls to his hands. His shoulders move up and down as he sobs. Footsteps sound outside and Candy enters the dark building. George quickly wipes his face, but keeps his head down. Candy turns on the electric light and glances at George with a sympathetic look. George does not move or acknowledge Candy. The room is quiet as a graveyard. Candy seems to be pondering about something to say or do.

Man vs Man : It is Man vs Man when Curley tries to fight Lennie. Although Lennie didn’t want to fight, he was told to. “He slashed at Lennie with his left, and then smashed down his nose with a right.” (30)

Dreams are very important in people’s lives affecting them greatly. The migrant ranch dream motivates George and Lennie to obtain a place where they would belong therefore obtaining independence. The two would often talk about the fact that they’d “have [their] own place”, which shows their extreme desire for their dream ranch (Steinbeck 57). The idea of obtaining it is always on their minds and causes them to work harder to obtain it. They also value it as a chance to be independent. Lennie and George think of it as a place where they will be able to act against people they don’t like by saying “get the hell out” (Steinbeck 58). The people would have to do what they say because George and Lennie wouldn’t be working for them. They would be able to voice their own opinions and not have to suffer the consequences of doing so. They could also choose when they want to work and how long. They would be able to say “ the hell with goin’ to work, and …build up a fire in the stove and set around it an’ listen to the rain comin’ down on the roof “when the weather is really bad(Steinbeck 14-15). They would not have to deal with the harsh conditions and can relax.

In chapter one of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck uses a simile to describe the serenity of the setting, "rabbits sat as quietly as little gray, sculptured stones". As we look at what the rabbits are being compared to, "sculptured stones", it explains that the rabbits were behaving like sculptures and it emphasises the stillness of movement which creates an un disturbed atmosphere. However the sibilance from "sculptured stones" illustrates a sense of mysteriousness and harshness made from the hissing noise being formed as you say the soft consonants before the words. This may present negativity in the imagination which could lead the reader into thinking that the rabbits had their own depression and a lack of liveliness. On the other hand, it

A Lesser of Two Evils Sometimes it can seem that a decision can have a terrible short-term outcome, but it is better to think about the long term. This is shown multiple times in the old novella Of Mice and Men, written by John Steinbeck. Firstly, George promises Aunt Clara that he would protect Lennie, no matter what, and George does that when he ends Lennie’s life. If George did not do it, the outcome would have been bloody and unpleasant. To add on to that, even if Lennie got away from the mob and George, he still would not survive on his own.

I chose to research John Steinbeck for the Mulitgenre Research Project. I chose this American author because he has written many old timey American classics that signify the growth of the Untied States, which is exemplified in his novel, “Of Mice and Men”. This author is important to American literature because “ Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen (Steinbeck)”. This quote signifies Steinbeck’s many novels. He started out with just a few and eventually worked his way to the top of the literary world. Once you learn to handle some criticism and crazy, there is no limit to what you can accomplish.

Of mice and men is a novel written by John Steinbeck, which was published in 1937. This novel is set in the 1930’s America when women’s were being oppressed. This story informs the reader about Steinbeck’s experience in those particular times, as people with different races, disabilities and especially women were treated poorly and below their status.