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Analysis of "Of Mice and Men" by John Steinbeck

Decent Essays
Analysis of ‘Of Mice and Men' by John Steinbeck ‘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. In my opinion Steinbeck drew the subject matter from his own experience of working on ranches, he was interested in special kinds of relationships among men working on ranches with him. There are several themes in the novel. The main theme is the careless nature of people caused by weakness. Nearly all the characters, including George, Lennie, Candy, Crooks and Curley's wife feel lonely, isolated and weak and they try to destroy those…show more content…
Women have no place in the author's idealized vision of a world structured around the brotherly bonds of men, because they only cause troubles. Material – the novel takes place in California in the 1930s. Steinbeck describes life of wage labourers without permanent home, who work on ranches. There are also mentioned problems of the American apartheid society. The novel is told from the point of view of a third-person objective narrator. Diction and language style are conformed to the setting of the novel. Steinbeck uses Standard English for the authorial speech, for the direct speech he uses colloquial English, very often with slang and argot spoken among people working on ranches. Using argot and vulgarisms helps to characterize protagonists of the novel. Steinbeck also uses similes, metonymies and metaphors to describe countryside, places and things. The speech of characters predominates over the authorial speech and is realized by direct speech and dialogues. Steinbeck precisely describes places and characters. Inner characterization results from behaviour of characters. All his characters are straight defined. Lennie - a large, childlike migrant worker. Due to his mental disability, Lennie completely depends upon George, his friend and traveling companion. Although he is among the principal characters in the novel, he
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