How Does Steinbeck Use Characterization In Of Mice And Men

One of the most astounding books Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, took place in one of the darkest time period in American History, the Great Depression. The setting of the book took place in a small country town in Soledad California, near the Salinas River. This book introduces the two main characters, George Milton, and Lennie Small with real life struggles of being migrant farm workers for a ranch. The story opens up with one of the many conflicts that George and Lennie will face throughout the whole story; George and Lennie running away from Weed after feeling a girls red dress. Although Lennie commits certain acts of violence in Of Mice and Men John Steinbeck portrays Lennie Small as having the traits common to the innocent archetype.

Of Mice and Men follows George Milton and Lennie Small in an adventure to get their American Dream. It takes place in 1930’s Soledad, California. The novella, by John Steinbeck, focuses on topics of friendship, masculinity, the American Dream, poverty, loneliness, injustice, and mercy. George and Lennie's’ relationship, has a distinct mentor and protegee dynamic.

George and Lennie are different as they have each other for support, friendship and much more. Lennie is able to give George hope, hope that things will get better by continually talking about the dream of ‘livin’ of the fatta the land’. This in turn brightens George’s spirits and motivates him to keep on working hard and believing that ‘we got a future’. Even though Lennie helps George in many physiological ways, he also helps him physically. Lennie’s pure size and strength is so great that he is often compared to a ‘bear’ by Steinbeck; an animal which has immense power. This strength helps them gain work as ‘man, (Lennie) can work’. Without Lennie, George would have much difficulty finding manual labour jobs due to his small size.

In this novel John Steinbeck used a lot of allusions to help develop characters. The allusion being used to develop Lennie’s character is when Curley and he are fighting. Lennie and Curley are being described as David and Goliath. Lennie is strong and big like Goliath. Curley is small like David. In the end Curley defeats Lennie, just like David defeats Goliath. This allusion showed the character trait of strong and big. Another literary device used in this novel is a simile. “ Slowly, like a terrier who doesn’t want to bring a ball to its master, Lennie approached, drew back, approached again”(Steinbeck 9). This shows that Lennie is very unsure and nervous.

Lennie was a migrant worker always looking for a job, but always would get into trouble and always keep moving. Lennie Small was a strong worker, lacking mental resources, had George to always look out for him. Steinbeck compared a bear to Lennie to represent that he was a large and strong man. Steinbeck describes Lennie, “Behind him walked his opposite, a huge man, shapeless of face, with large, pale eyes, with wide, sloping shoulders; and he walked heavily, dragging his feet a little, the way a bear drags his paws” (Steinbeck 2). Lennie was a large man that always would walk behind George towering over him. Lennie always has George looking after him and making sure he doesn’t get in trouble. As George is looking out for Lennie he comes his aid, “I was jus’ a little bit off, and I heard all the yellin’, so I comes running, an’ by that time Lennie’s so scared all he can think to do is jus’

The long, hard war of human equality in society, has been a war since the beginning of civilization. The Great Depression, a tragic time in America’s history, reflects American determination, but also social inequality. In the fiction novella, Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck uses symbolism and characterization to address ableism and sexism in society. Steinbeck addresses these flaws in society in an attempt to ultimately bring awareness these riffs before society falls.

2. George is a small and thin man with sharp features (Steinbeck 2). He has a quick temper and a wit to match. His temper is shown early in the book on page 4 when he gets mad at Lennie for always forgetting what he’s told him. George plays the role as the caregiver in his relationship with Lennie. A conflict

    George took Lennie in after Lennie’s aunt died. George knew his aunt pretty well. Lennie had nowhere to go afterwards, so George let Lennie come along with him. George wasn’t always nice to Lennie in the beginning. George would tease him and trick him. Lennie didn’t know any better than to listen to George, even if it was a taunt. After an incident happened to Lennie, George stopped tormenting him. He felt bad for Lennie and how he treated him. From this moment on, George actually took into consideration of Lennie’s mindset. In the book, Steinbeck writes,

One internal conflict that George is dealing with is that he has to keep on looking out for Lennie, even though he knows he would be better off without Lennie. For example, George says, God almighty, if I was alone I could live so easy. I could go get a job an’ work, an’ no trouble,” (Steinbeck, page 11). George faces the internal conflict of deciding if it is really worth George to look after Lennie. All Lennie does for George is cause him trouble. George could start a brand new life, way more successful than now, without Lennie. But he decides to stay with Lennie because to Lennie George means everything to him. If Lennie didn't have George, who knows where he would be. This shows George as a complex character because the audience sees the real two sides of George. Outside George may seem as a tough independent person. But really on the inside George is a very caring person that is a father figure for Lennie. The audience sees George’s

Steinbeck first foreshadowed the pivotal events of the book through Lennie’s slight mental disability shown on page 8 where George refers to him as a “crazy bastard”. It can be assumed that Lennie indeed has a disability and therefore impacts on the decisions he makes. An example of the effect Lennie’s disability is on page 13 where George loses his temper and recounts

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck is about two men, George and Lennie who travel from ranch to ranch hoping to make enough money to buy their own land. Buying the land is what George and Lennie talk about constantly, this is in fact their American Dream. They have recently left a town called Weed because of an incident that happened there and are now heading to Soledad to work on another ranch. John Steinbeck was successful in making Lennie a sympathetic character because he portrays Lennie as a big strong muscular man that has basically no brain, so he doesn’t really know his own strength so when he hurts someone or does something bad you can’t really blame him.

We see the interview with the boss, George becomes protective toward Lennie, “I never seen one guy take so much trouble for another guy.”(P43) and when Curley’s wife enters into the attention George is seriously apprehensive about Lennie, “Listen to me… you leave her be.”(P54). Later on, when George finds Lennie in Crook’s, the stable buck’s, room, he looks disapprovingly at Lennie, “George stood framed in the door, and he looked disapprovingly.”(P115), this is very parent like. Steinbeck reinforces the contrast between them and everybody else. Slims says “Ain’t many guys travel around together”(P57)

The greater part of the novel's appeal, George and Lennie's relationship, although far from what one could call a reciprocal friendship, intrigues the reader in the same way many comic duos intrigue. It is easy to identify with the "smart guy" who helplessly tries to cope with and control his irrational, dumb and, yet, spontaneous, child-like partner as they lurch from one self-inflicted crisis to another. Steinbeck uses that classic comic routine so that the reader warmly identifies and recognizes the relationship. Steinbeck's narrator establishes and characterizes George's lording of power and control over Lennie early in the first chapter:

In the novella “Of Mice and Men,” the author John Steinbeck portrays the main idea of how difficult circumstances could potentially cause you to make painful choices for those who you love. During this time, the Great Depression was occurring in America and it was a time where many common people felt an immense amount of humiliation due to poverty, a lack of food and homelessness. John Steinbeck utilizes characterization in the novel, to show that your choices throughout life are an effect of any hard situation you’ve been in. Steinbeck uses George’s character and his caring nature to convey this message.

John Steinbeck wrote ‘Of Mice and Men’ to show how hard life was for migrant ranch workers during the time of the Great Depression and how they were often exploited by their employers. In showing how George and Lennie’s dream of owning their own piece of land did not come true, Steinbeck explores a wider theme, criticising the idea of the American Dream. The American Dream tells people that there is ‘opportunity for each... regardless of the fortuitous circumstance of birth and position. Steinbeck criticises this as these ranch workers were given few opportunities. Settings play a very important part in the novel as they pinpoint clear times and places giving a sense of realism to the story, but they are also used to create atmosphere.