Analysis Of ' Of Mice And Men ' By John Steinbeck

“Wha’s the matter with me?’ she cried. ‘Ain’t I got a right to talk to nobody? Whatta they think I am, anyways?” (Steinbeck 87) In the novella Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, Curley’s wife is discriminated against because she is a woman living in the 1930s when few females could live economically independent of men. By choosing not to name her, Steinbeck reinforces her insignificance on the ranch and her dependence on Curley. While a misfortunate victim of isolation, Curley’s wife exerts unexpected power attempting to mask her pain.

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.

Do opposites really attract? Can two people, with no similarities, share a close bond? It proves to be so in the novel Of Mice and Men , written by John Steinbeck. A novel which tells the story of two men, George and Lennie, and their journey of a new job working on a ranch. A novel with a different but interesting style of writing. A novel where John Steinbeck utilizes how powerful George is over Lennie, to signify how people believe they are dominant over others, because of their greater intelligence, social standards, or wealth.

His dream was to live on a patch of land with George and tend to rabbits. Lennie’s obstacle is himself really. He is unquestionable dependent on George and is wacky in the head, which makes him accidentally kill small animals. Curley’s wife admired him for demolishing one of Curley’s hand. She offered him to pet her hair since it was soft, but then events turned south and Lennie snapped her neck like a twig. That moment when he found out she wasn’t breathing he knew that George would give him hell and not let him tend to the rabbits. To put it differently, Lennie committed a huge mistake and kissed that dream goodbye.

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.

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

Lennie paced around the room, pounding his fists on any wall he could find. With a sour face, he checked every nook and cranny between the page and the text for something taking on the form of a door. A way to escape.

(Steinbeck, 67) Instead, Lennie has to stay at the farm while everyone else is having fun at the town. Just because Lennie looks like a big and tough guy, Curley always gives Lennie have a hard time (Steinbeck, 25-26). Curley does that just to show how powerful he is over people because he is the boss’s son. Lastly, Lennie get shot by George due to Lennie not being able to control his own body strength for example when Lennie killed mice that were in his pockets only by petting them (Steinbeck, 3-4). Another example would be when Curley’s wife let Lennie feel her soft hair and as a result Lennie couldn’t stop and started petting her harder and harder, so it started hurting Curley’s wife and she started yelling because of how scared she was and Lennie didn’t want any trouble and he closed her mouth in behalf, she couldn’t breathe well and started to try and yell for help and Lennie snapped her neck and she died (Steinbeck,

George raised his gun, his hands shook violently two centimeters from Lennie’s head. “I can’t, Lennie, I can’t.” George dropped the gun.

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.

John Steinbeck, born in February 27, 1902, worked as a manual labor worker before achieving his success as a well renowned American writer. A compassionate understanding of the world 's disinherited was to be Steinbeck 's hallmark. The novel In Dubious Battle (1936) defends striking migrant agricultural workers in the California fields. In the novel Of Mice and Men(1937; later made into a play), Steinbeck again utilizes the hardships of migrant workers, but this time in terms of human worth and integrity. With the country struggling to recover the collapse of the economy and a second world war, the people of the United States needed to know that they were

By: Sophia Mera Title: Of Mice and Men Author: John Steinbeck Genre: Tragedy, Fiction Plot Summary: This book is about two migrant workers, George and Lennie, during the Great Depression. The book opens with the two men making their way to a work camp in California.

‘Of Mice And Men' by John Steinbeck is a classic novel, tragedy, written in a social tone. The authorial attitude is idyllic, however, as the story develops it changes into skeptic. It is evident that Steinbeck knew the setting and places he is writing about.