"Of Mice and Men" is based on the major themes of hard reality, dreams, companionship and tragedy; particularly relevant to 1930's America, following the depression and economic poverty it caused. Steinbeck portrays George as a flawed character who doesn't display archetypal heroic qualities, however the reader empathizes with him. Steinbeck therefore ultimately presents him as a anti-hero within the context of the narrative. At the beginning of the novel, Steinbeck portrays George as a flawed character. George and lennie travel to a ranch , indicating the unsettled lifestyle of men during 1930's. Before arriving at the ranch, George loss his temper with lennie : "morosely" implying bad temper and unsociability, and perhaps …show more content…
Even though each character subconsciously knows the dreams a unrealistic goal, they are still "amazed". George spoke "reverently" conveys his deep respects and awe towards the dream, almost as if it was sacred. This could connect to his surname "Milton": reference to paradises lost a 1930's poem about the destruction of a perfect place. here, Steinbeck heightens his human attributes. perhaps another perspective could be that George allowed the character to dream falsely as he knew the dream wasn't achievable. in the context of 1930's economic situation, maybe he knew "they'd never do her" and he agreed as Lennie "usta like to hear about it". on the other hand, the dream may have been created for Georges benefit and selfishness. Therefore, through George’s dream Steinbeck highlights both heroic and potentially villainous attributes of his character. In the last scene, George murders lennie not through an evil intention but a mercy killing. Steinbeck creates a paradox as George intends to kill lennie however George portrays being cruel to be kind. Steinbeck's presentation of Georges internal conflict is finally resolved. The reader observes that the Curley will punish lennie brutally and slowly; "shoot for his guts". Therefore the reader empathises with George, as he makes a conflicted decision between two actions. In contrast to George, Steinbeck portrays Curley as an archetypal villain. Curley is described as "terrier".
“I'm going for my shotgun. I’ll kill the son-of-a-bitch myself.” (Steinbeck 96). In the book, Of Mice and Men, Curley shows that he is a very truculent person. He wants to diminish Lennie, Lennie doesn't realize there is a complication because he can not develop things in his mind as easily as the other men. At the end of the story, Lennie makes a very bad mistake and in response he gets killed because he becomes a danger to other men. Mercy killing in Lennie's situation was the better decision because his friend George shot him. George was putting him out of his , if George wouldn't have killed Lennie then Curley would have. Through the whole book Curley talks about his hatred for Lennie, and at the end he shows it by threatening Lennie's
George eventually finds out about the death of Curley’s wife so he sets out and kills Lennie by the river. Lennie dies a gentle death, thinking only the happiest thoughts. The moment before he died, his mind is filled with their farm and there rabbits and there dream. Steinbeck reminds you that Lennie is still as gentle as he ever is, despite the fact that he killed
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.
Finally, John Steinbeck shows off the bullying and meanness as intentional and contrasts it to Lennie’s unintentional meanness, such as when he hurts the puppy (pg 85), the mouse (pg 5), and kills Curley’s wife (pg 91). When Curley wants to fight it is intentional and violent. George explains Lennie’s violence when he says that Lennie "never done it in meanness" (pg 104). Lennie kills because he does not know his own strength – he cuddles or loves to hard. Also, he panics and reacts without thought, such as when he pulled the woman’s dress. (pg 41) Also, showing a contrast in motive is that Lennie is so upset by what he has done, especially to Curley’s wife. He is the only one who shows real remorse.
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.
In Of mice and men, John Steinbeck uses symbolism, foreshadowing, and a sympathetic tone to demonstrate the world of limited sources, poverty, human intolerance, limiting social roles, wealth, and freedom.
American journalist David Grann once said, “You want the story to be about something, have some deeper meaning, but there is also an emotional, almost instinctual element, which is, does this story seize some part of you and compel you to get to the bottom of it?” Every piece of text has a meaning that goes deeper than the page it is printed on. Of Mice and Men is an example of this. Of Mice and Men was written by John Steinbeck in 1937. The story takes place in California during the Great Depression, a time where it was laborious to be anything close to successful. Everyone believed that with a minimal amount of hard work and money saved up, the American Dream could be at their fingertips. The two main characters George and Lennie struggle to get land to call their own. Lennie is driven by his dream of tending rabbits, but he makes it challenging when he is the main reason of their setbacks and complications as they move from job to job. Fortunately, George is always there to clean up the mess. Of Mice and Men is studied as an allegory because the characters symbolize problems more substantial than the ones Steinbeck clearly writes about. John Steinbeck zooms in on other problems that America struggles with besides the enticing desire for just materialistic things. Steinbeck criticizes racism, the mistreatment of those who are disabled, and the disrespect of women.
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.
The most important dream in this novel is that of the two main characters Lennie and George. They
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
In this work of literature, George Milton 's faced with a situation of what is right and wrong and which inner sense to listen to. George 's long time friend and mentally handicapped friend Lennie Smalls has just killed Curley 's wife, inside of a barnyard accidentally. Lennie attempts to run away from the whole situation, but George knows exactly where he will be, and that is at the exact spot he told him to go to if there was trouble. As George arrives at the river Lennie was instructed to go to, George realizes he has a great problem, should he kill his long time best friend and save him from the swarming angry mob of ranchers, or turn him in and let them have there way. As George 's inner senses battle, he realizes what he must do and that is to put Lennie out of his misery and self entrapment and set him free once and for all. George makes Lennies death quick and painless as any good friend would, but he can not seem to shake the sense of guilt and anguish he is experiencing. As George lovingly kills Lennie he portrays his bravery and sense of what is right and wrong all by listening to what his inner senses and consciousness led him towards. John Steinbecks use of literary terms enhances the sense of bravery and drama that this scene of a friend killing another brings. The mood that John Steinbeck sets for George 's attitude towards Lennie is
George was the most important character in Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck; if he was not in the book Lennie would not have had anyone to guide him in the right direction. George also changed the most throughout the duration of the book. He went from a determined working man, whose only worries were caring for Lennie and finding a job, to a man whose end goal was completing his dream of living on a small farm with Lennie and Candy, owning rabbits and other livestock so they could “.. live off the fatta the lan’” (Steinbeck 14)
John Steinbeck, an American novelist, is well-known for his familiar themes of depression and loneliness. He uses these themes throughout a majority of his novels. These themes come from his childhood and growing up during the stock market crash. A reader can see his depiction of his childhood era. In Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck shows the prominent themes of loneliness, the need for relationships, and the loss of dreams in the 1930s through the novels’ character.
Curley is introduced as a very angry character; he ‘glanced coldly at George and then at Lennie’. He then tenses up and Steinbeck describes him in a fighter’s stance, Steinbeck foreshadows
Even from the very start of John Steinbeck's novel, Of Mice and Men, the uniqueness of George, as a character, is already noticeable. He is described as "small and quick, dark of face, with restless eyes and sharp strong features" and has an obvious dominance over the relationship between Lennie and himself. This lets the reader know from a very early stage in the book that George is different, and probably the essential character. George's character seems to be used by Steinbeck to reflect the major themes of the novel: loneliness, prejudice, the importance of companionship, the danger of devoted companionships, and the harshness of Californian ranch life.