John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

John Steinbeck uses symbolism to signify ideas and qualities by giving them a meaning. For instance, Candy’s dog. Candy’s dog represent the fate awaiting anyone who has outlived his or her purpose. Candy’s dog is old and weak so he is no longer needed in the world. Although, Carlson promises to kill the dog painlessly, his insistence that the old dog must die supports a cruel natural law that the strong will dispose of the weak. “That dog of Candy's is so God damn old he can't hardly walk. Stinks like hell, too. Ever' time he comes into the bunk house I can smell him for two, three days. Why'n't you get Candy to shoot his old dog and give him one of the pups to raise up? I can smell that dog a mile away. Got no teeth, damn near blind, can't eat. Candy feeds him milk. He can't chew nothing else." Candy knows this lesson, for he fears that he himself is coming to an end when he will no longer be useful at the ranch.

Through the narrative convention of foreshadowing, Steinbeck uses the execution of Candy’s dog to predict what will occur to Candy himself, once his ability to work diminishes completely. Candy’s dog is a metaphor of himself. The dog represents the brutality of life on the land and the inevitability of becoming useless.

Solidifying the theme of John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, the protagonist George expresses his significant loneliness despite a strong kinship with his friend Lennie, “’I ain’t got no people… I seen the guys that go around the ranches alone. That ain’t no good’” (41). Published in 1937, amidst the horrific turmoil of the Great Depression, Steinbeck’s novella struck a sensitive chord with readers. Set in the heart of California’s Central Valley, this story follows two men, George and Lennie, as they run from old shadows to a new farm for work. Clinging to the distant dream of owning their own piece of land, the men imagine life outside their present difficulties. Illustrating that life is varied by emotional complexities beyond black and white, George’s longing for companionship and family seep through in conversations with his new co-worker Slim. Despite Lennie’s sheer physical strength, his mental abilities are limited to that of a naïve, innocent, and very young boy; the result is a relationship akin to an uncle and nephew. Lennie, with primal-like behaviors and a gold-fish memory, struggles to adhere to George’s words of wisdom. In the end, tragedy strikes them both as George is forced to kill Lennie due to an accident with the son of the landowner’s wife – a woman who looks for trouble at the onset. Consequently, George’s state of loneliness is bequeathed to a new level as he begins to imagine life without Lennie in tow.

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.

About half of the United States population owns a dog, but not all dogs have as much meaning as Candy's. In the novel Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck writes about an old dog with a lot of meaning. Candy's dog is old, smelly, and useless. The dog symbolizes Candy's worth and the dogs death symbolizes the death of Lennie. Candy's dog and the killing of Candy's dog represents Candy himself and foreshadowing of Lennie's death.

Candy’s dog was his companion for a very long time and for Candy to let it die made him encounter this emotion of isolation that he never really felt before. A quote that shows this is “I had him since he was a puppy.” This demonstrates to us that Candy has finally realised what life is without his companion by his side, he feels as if his life is isolated and unwanted by the rest. Candy’s dog was his only proper friend who can share his feelings with and now that he is gone, he feels isolated from everyone and as if he cannot share his feelings anymore. Steinbeck uses the relationship between Candy and his dog to help the reader engage with the emotion of isolation among the characters.

The unemployment rate for African Americans during the Great Depression reached upward of 50 percent at its peak. The commonly seen statistic of a 25 percent unemployment rate is primarily only applicable to white males at the time. The Great Depression stressed many societal structures that oppressed peoples based on race, gender ability to work, and socioeconomic standing. Despite the fact that over three quarters of a century has passed since the end of the Great Depression, many of these inequalities still remain (although to a lesser extent). A large number of Discussion about the social problems in the 1930s may still be applicable to today 's society. In his novel Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck outlines many corrupt societal structures intended to exploit and demean individuals based on their perceived value: the inherent exploitative nature of the American Dream, the hierarchy of power in America based on an individual 's ability to work, and the way in which oppressive systems are maintained through a mis-projection of anger of the oppressed.

Steinbeck shows how characterization through many different passages and ways how characterization supports that companionship is a beneficial thing. To begin Steinbeck shows characterization that supports companionship is a beneficial thing is Candy’s relationship with his dog. Steinbeck describes Candys words: “‘No I’m so couldn’t do that. I had him so long’… ‘I'm so used to him”. Candy then explains: “I had him from a pup”(45).

Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck depicts the essential of loneliness, curley’s wife, Crooks, and Candy express feelings composed through broken dreams and loss of realism. Candy is an old man who lost his hand in a farming accident. Due to his loss in a limb, he is no longer suitable for work. Carlson, the ranch boss, says his dog is old, smelly, and needs to get put out of his misery. Candy tells him, “I've had him since from a pup.”

“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.

Wole Soyinka once said, “I have a kind of magnetic attraction to situations of violence.” In John Steinbeck’s novella, Of Mice and Men, Lennie seems to attract violence and tragedy like a moth to a flame. George takes care of Lennie because of Lennie’s mental disability, and Lennie manages to find some trouble in every place George takes them. Lennie’s actions throughout the novella, play a major role in the events that occur, they leave Weed because of him, his new puppy dies because of him, Curley’s wife dies because of him, and their dreams shatter because of him.

Quest stories are generally seen as physical tests of muscle and endurance. In an archetypal quest, the main character goes on a long and painful voyage, and conquers all fears in order to achieve the goal at the end. Literature describes quests in a slightly different way. Thomas Foster’s “How To Read Literature Like a Professor” describes how a quest has five general parts: a place to go, a person to go there, a reason to go there, challenges along the way, and a deeper meaning to the whole thing. John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men” relates to Foster’s words. In the novella, George, the main character, is questing towards owning a farm with his mentally disabled friend, Lennie. The two men are a package deal. Lennie

“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.

Chapter 3: “George half-closed his eyes.”I gotta think about that. We was always gonna do it by ourselves." Candy interrupted him, "I 'd make a will an ' leave my share to you guys in case I kick off, 'cause I ain 't got no relatives or nothing"”

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