In the novel, Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, Lennie Smalls is one of the main characters. He is a very rough, childish, short-tempered, and loyal man. An archetype provides the reader with traits of a character so we can better know them. By using archetypes, the writer attempts to convey realism to their work, which draws the situations and characters from experiences of the world. The ‘Innocent’ archetype is described as a character who is pure, wholesome, and full of virtue. Their innocence makes them a target because it is what makes them so likeable. People could also take advantage of them because of their ability to be accepting and gentle. In the novel, Of Mice and Men, Lennie Smalls portrays the archetype of innocence. Indirect and direct characterization are both two techniques in literature that can describe a character in a novel. Indirect characterization is when the author of a novel does not directly describe a character, but leaves clues through their body language or what they speak to inform us what kind of character they are. Direct characterization is when the writer is direct, and right to the point about how a character acts, and looks like. An example of indirect characterization in the novel, Of Mice and Men is when Lennie speaks. The author, John Steinbeck does not establish that Lennie is slow, however, from his speech, the readers can most likely infer that he is. “Give ‘um to me George. I’ll take ‘um back. I didn’t mean no harm, George.
Lennie did not know much about right from wrong so he did things that some people did not enjoy. An archetype describes a person’s traits and the way they would act throughout a book. George had the archetype as a hero because throughout the whole story he managed to overcome many obstacles while helping Lennie stay out of trouble along the way.
An archetype is a type of character found across multiple books and or movies. John Steinbeck wrote the novel Of Mice and Men. Within this novel, there is a character named Lennie Smalls. Lennie is a unique character because of his mental disability. Lennie has a best friend named George, who promises Lennie’s Aunt Clara that he would take care of Lennie when she passes away. Lennie is very strong and throughout the book it is shown how his disability and strength are used against him. Steinbeck’s character from Of Mice and Men, Lenny, is the typical example of an innocent archetype.
George in the novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck was a very in-depth character. The novel had many several types of characterization including indirect, direct, and even uses literary devices to describe what type of archetype he is. An archetype is a label that wholly describes a character. George falls under the “Hero” archetype. George is a protagonist that is truly a morally good person and gets challenges when morals meet trials that challenge their morals.
Of Mice and Men Archetypes Archetypes are in literature all around the world. All literature has archetype characters and settings. Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, has many archetypes. Two main archetypes are the innocent and the temptress. The author uses the archetypes such as the innocent, portrayed by Lennie, and the embodiment of evil, portrayed by Curley, to support the idea that a person obtains what they give.
The novel written by John Steinbeck called Of Mice and Men is about how two men who are migrant farm workers. Their names are George and Lennie. They are good friends and George takes care of Lennie because he is very incapable of taking her of himself. This novel has many different characters. They are all different in their own ways and all have their own archetype for the kind of characters that they are. The character George has The Hero archetype. One characteristic of this archetype is that they are trying to achieve a certain goal throughout the novel and must overcome obstacles throughout the way. This fits Georges character very well because throughout the entire book he is trying to achieve the goal of owning his own farm and he calls it the dream. The novel Of Mice and Men that was written by John Steinbeck, George is the protagonist and has the archetype of the hero.
In the story Of Mice and Men, it follows a disabled man and his crafty caretaker looking for work on a farm. The few characters that are shown in the book possess very diverse personalities that fit into different archetypes, many of them challenge the stereotypes that surrounded them during the early twentieth century. Archetypes are characteristics that are commonly seen in literature and real life. In the book Of Mice and Men there are seven distinct archetypes that all have different characteristics in them. One thing that all the characters have in common, though, is loneliness. Throughout the book the theme of loneliness is constantly there, and one of the loneliest characters is Crooks. Crooks fits the archetype of an outcast
Indirect characterization is when you learn a character's attributes through speech and interactions; “Two years later, Ben would be sworn in himself, but watching his big brother now was the next best thing”(Asimov,226). Based on the quote, we learn that Ben looks up to his big brother, without the author telling us directly. In the short story “I Am..Am I”, Taylor also uses indirect characterization; “‘I thought you were having dinner with your wife.’ For once, she almost added”(Taylor,29). Through the conversation between Chambers and King, the author has portrayed King as an unthoughtful husband. Both of the authors chose to write this way to show the characters motivations and make the reader have empathy for the
Of Mice and Men is used to convey the stereotypes Steinbeck encountered during his life using social commentary through different characters. These stereotypes help readers better understand the views of people during the 1930’s and how people behaved based off such views. They also show changes overtime in the development of new ideals through different generations. Overall, creating a common opinion on
Characterization refers to the techniques a writer uses to develop characters in the story. In the story ‘A Rose for Emily’, William Faulkner uses characterization to reveal the character of Miss Emily Grierson, the main role. Faulkner’s use of language foreshadows and builds up to the climax of the story. He expresses the content of her character through physical descriptions, through her act, words, and feeling, through the narrator’s direct comments about the character’s nature, and through the actions, words and feelings of the other characters. Faulkner also uses the characterization to examine the theme of the story. His
In all books there is that character that because of how the author describes them and the way they talk or how other characters talk about them you just can’t help but sympathize with them. In John Steinbeck’s novel, Of Mice and Men that character is Lennie Small. The reader can sympathize with Lennie because he has a dream and he doesn’t really have anyone.
In the short story “Lamb to the Slaughter,” written by Roald Dahl, Dahl uses direct and indirect characterization to give us both realistic and improbable portrayals of characters, In addition to showing us the values and perspective of the characters. In this short story the author states, “This was her sixth month expecting a child.” (Dahl, 1). Direct characterization is when the author directly provides information on the personality or background on the character instead of indirectly revealing it through actions and speech. This quote obviously utilizes direct characterization by describing background information on Mary Maloney. Additionally, the fact that it was her sixth month expecting a child is direct characterization because we did not have to assume it through actions and speech, the author directly mentioned it in the first page. Not only does Dahl use direct characterization, but also indirect characterization. In the story the author states, “It’s probably right under our noses. What do you think Jack? And in the other room Mary Maloney began to laugh.” (Dahl 4). Indirect characterization is when the author reveals background and the personality of the character through thoughts and actions. In like manner, so does this quote. In this quote the author reveals the personality of Mary Maloney through her speech instead of directly giving us information. In this quote, Mary Maloney laughs at the death of her husband and we can assume that she is a cruel
John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men uses characterization to express the underlying meaning of the novella. In life, there are mice and there are men, and life is a burden for both of them.
In “The Prologue” of Canterbury Tales, Chaucer uses both direct and indirect characterization to introduce the characters. Direct characterization presents a character’s personalities directly. For example Chaucer’s statement that “the knight followed chivalry, truth/honor…” Indirect characterization uses actions, thoughts, and dialogue to reveal a character’s personality.
We learned that the Prophet is the antagonist of this novel while Kirsten is the protagonist. The author uses indirect characterization to introduce the Prophet. For example, he uses the Prophets mother to show indirect characterization. The prophet’s mother's behavior and attitude affected the Prophet as she was an alcoholic and Prophet is short-tempered. This shows indirect characterization as the audience gets a clue of the Prophets attitude through his mother's attitude.
The novel Of Mice and Men written by John Steinbeck is set in America in the 1930’s and it describes the lives of migrant farmers as they go from farm to farm looking for jobs. It also shows the loneliness of the characters and the hard work that they put in. The main characters of the book are Lennie, a man-child, and George, a small man but very powerful character that takes care of Lennie in their journey. Also when they get to the farm they meet the bosses wife who is very lonely and looks for company in the workers. Steinbeck uses characterization to bring his characters to life using various techniques.