In John Steinbeck’s novel Of Mice and Men there are many themes to be taken away after reading it. The main theme I noticed while reading this book was the theme of innocence and weakness. One of the main characters, Lennie’s character creates the innocence effect, and George represents the weakness of having to take care of Lennie. From the beginning until the very end of the book, those two characters are the biggest representation of these themes. In the beginning of this book, we meet two men walking to a ranch after riding a bus. Within the second page, we see our first sign of weakness. George and Lennie have been walking longer than they wanted because the bus driver dropped them off too early. This is a sign of weakness because they don’t fight back to get the driver to finish the trip. Another immediate struggle we see is that of having to take care of others who weigh you down. He said patiently, “I like ‘em with ketchup.” “Well, we ain’t got any,” George exploded. “Whatever we ain’t got, that’s what you want. God a’mighty, if I was alone I could live so easy. I could go get a job an’ work, an’ no trouble” … And Lennie’s face was drawn with terror. “An’ whatta I got,” George went on furiously “I got you! You can’t keep a job and you lose me ever’ job I get.” (Steinbeck, 12) This is a weakness because with George taking Lennie everywhere with him, he has to share food and supplies therefore not having enough for himself. It isn’t until later on in the book when
John Steinbeck’s novel Of Mice and Men follows the journey of two men, George Milton and Lennie Small, who struggle through the navigation of working on a ranch in California and fulfilling their dreams together during a time of financial depression. The novel begins with George and Lennie traveling through the California wilderness to get to a new ranch just south of Soledad where they are going to begin new work. They had to leave their previous jobs in a town called Weed because Lennie had caused trouble with a girl by holding on to her red dress because he wanted to feel it, and this incident spiraled into rape allegations against Lennie. As George and Lennie make their way to the new ranch, Lennie; who is a large, but simple minded man; found a dead mouse and wanted to keep it to pet because he likes soft things. George, who is more serious and protects Lennie, takes the mouse away from him because even though it’s dead, he should not be messing with it. Lennie often does not realize his strength because of his mental incapabilities and as a result, he causes a lot of trouble and harm. George finds taking care of Lennie to be taxing, but he knows that their friendship is an important bond that he does not want to be without. In order to comfort Lennie in the wilderness, George tells the story of their shared dream to own their own ranch where they can follow their own rules and live as they please. When they finally arrive at the ranch the next day, George and Lennie
“Look, George. Look what I done” (Steinbeck, Pg. 3). Here Steinbeck gives us the idea that Lennie looks up to George in everything he does like a child does to his parents. Lennie can’t take of himself since he is mentally handicapped so we get an idea that even though they are just friends, George is like a father figure to Lennie. Also by the word choice in the dialogue we can see that Lennie communicates in a particular way like if he just learn to speak, therefore he could be compared as a child. “I wasn’t doin’ nothing bad with it, George. Jus’ strokin’ it.” Steinbeck uses dialogue to give us an idea of George’s strong personality. “Don’t let him pull you in-but- if the son of a bitch” This quote gives us the idea that George’s personality is very strong and defensive by the explicit language which shows us anger. Also it gives us a idea that even though he is strong and aggressive he cares about what happens to Lennie. This can relate to the link that he treats him like he is his
Besides the American Dream, the theme of death plays a major role and is recurring in both texts. From the novel ‘Of mice and men’, both Lennie and Curley’s Wife die. From this we can deduce that they both got killed due to their differences and society looking at them in a different way. Both texts also foreshadow the future deaths from the beginning to the end of the texts, there is hints everywhere. The moment that Curley’s Wife was introduced, an ill feeling overcame the atmosphere indicating that Lennie will be getting into a mess with her. At the beginning, George clearly states that Lennie always gets George into trouble. Steinbeck states ‘You do bad things and I got to get you out’. Previously, before George and Lennie arrived at the ranch, Lennie got into trouble by supposedly attacking the only woman in Weed. This also suggests that there will be trouble between Curley’s Wife, who is the only woman on the ranch and Lennie. Connecting ends with ends, this shows that the only two women are insecure. Later on, there was an intimation that she is going to be killed by Lennie as Lennie kills the soft things he likes to ‘pet’ such as the puppy and the mouse. In the novel Curley’s Wife lets him touch her dress, which is soft therefore leading to an inevitable death.
Loneliness is an emotion of isolation and no hope or dreams in life, which is what John Steinbeck achieves by portraying this through the characters in his novella Of Mice and Men. The main characters are affected by loneliness in their own different way throughout the novella. rf
“I want you to stay with me Lennie. Jesus Christ, somebody’d shoot you for a coyote if you was by yourself.” The novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck shows the relationship between two migrant workers in the 1930s, George and Lennie, along with the other members on the new ranch that they began working on. Georgie and Lennie dreamed of following the American Dream and owning their own patch of land and the novel revolves around the dream and the obstacles that stand in their way. Lennie, a strong but mentally ill person, who accompanies George, eventually makes George think about how much easier the dream could be achieved without Lennie, eventually leading to the downfall of their friendship. The novel shows what it means to be human
“Everyone always says that anything is possible, but some things in life just can’t be reached. Sometimes your dreams just can’t be achieved.” (Carl Johnson) All humans living in America have dreams. These could all easily be described as the American Dream. The American Dream can frequently change from time to time due to the time period. It can also change due to the age of the person at hand. Children grow up having these dreams, but who knows how long these dreams will last. Some elderly people develop new dreams or are still chasing to fulfill the dreams they’ve had since they were much younger. These dreams are all things that people want and desire to have. Some of these dreams are unrealistic and could never happen.
Picking up the book “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck holds a different feel then putting it down. Leaving the reader pondering the true theme of the story. A tale among two friends is the mindset most would assume before reading the book but digging deeper you start to realize the dark truth. The story starts with both Lenny who’s large and unaware of his own true strength and George who’s skinny and quick witted. The tale takes both characters and presents them with challenges. Lennie has a mild mental disability which often leads both of them into a lot of trouble. While George must take care of Lennie and always get him out of trouble. Two characters who travel together would be envisioned to be best pals but what awaits them is a rude awakening, George says “Lennie just come along with me out workin '. Got kinda used to each other after a little while” (Steinbeck 3.12).
In chapter one of “Of Mice and Men”, we are introduced to the characters Lennie and George. The book starts with describing a serene scene of a valley with a river running through it. The book then focuses on the two characters that emerge out of the forest. One with sharp features and strong stance and the other looking as though he is still in his pubescent years. As the chapter progresses, the author, John Steinbeck, allows readers to catch a glimpse of the characters’ relationship with each other and see the inner workings of their symbiotic partnership.
“Listen to me, you crazy bastard,” “Don 't you even take a look at the bitch. In this quote, it shines light on how people treat each other during the book and how they act when they are near each other. Instead of saying nice words, they bring people down in Mice and Men. Individuals in the story use mean phrases and words to use against people that are not the same as them or that doesn’t look like them. Why does the author use derogatory terms in his book Mice and Men, what message was he trying to send to his readers? “In John Steinbeck 's novel Of Mice and Men, the author illustrates that people discriminate against one another because they want to feel better about themselves and to gain self-pride.
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.
In this book Lennie usually does not know what is going on. “I don’t want no trouble, I don’t want him to sock me.” (Steinbeck, 19). Lennie and George were getting a job. George did not want Lennie to talk. Lennie of course listened to him. When Lennie did not talk the boss got mad at Lennie. George had to tell Lennie to actually talk. The boss made Lennie talk. George had to kind of cover for Lennie, because the boss thought that George was pulling one on him. He told the boss Lennie is a hardworking man, he just got kicked in the head when he was younger. “George, I wasn't kicked in the head when i was younger, was I, George?” (Steinbeck, 23). This is because lennie is so confused about his life that he asked that.
The characters of mice and men had ups and downs but they always had plans that was too big for them. Steinbeck discovers different types of strength and weakness throughout the book, the most clear is physical strength as the story begins Steinbeck shows how Lennie maintain his physical/mental strength and outside his control an example is when he cannot help killing the mice, he pets them to hard and begins to cry over them as a sign of love. During George and Lennie’s journey they had to deal with more needs such as money, food and, shelter which is a big survival for them in the book. Physical strength is not the only strength that controls the men in the book but also mental strength that defeat Lennie and George in the end. Lennie’s physical size and strength prove that he is helpless which he can’t find for himself which George has to treat him like a
He would yell at Lennie and tell him if he didnt have him he could go and do as he pleased. When in reality George did not want these things. He was greatful to have a friend in Lennie, so he would not have to be alone. With Lennie's simple mind, he could not comprehend what George was talking about most of the time. He believed that George got upset over simple things such as ketchup. He too was very thankful to have George to go along with. Although he did not understand the complexity of things sometimes, he knew that he had a true friend who he trusted wouldnt leave him.
Loneliness is a powerful yet important emotion we experience in our human nature. Without having the need to commit a single action, being on our own reveals our deepest desire to love and to also be loved but whilst the feeling is universality known, not even the strongest of humans can completely avoid which can often bring the feelings of shame and weakness when an individual does admit they are feeling alone and that is what Of Mice and Men showcases as it explores various characters and their paths to adjust to insurmountable loneliness that was faced during The Great Depression. Written by American author, John Steinbeck and inspired by the economic recession during the early 1930’s, Of Mice and Men tells the story two migrant
Explore the ways that Steinbeck creates dislike and sympathy for Curley’s wife in Of Mice and Men.