Literary Criticism Of Mice And Men

"Book Review: Of Mice & Men." A Novel Menagerie. Novel Menagerie, 2009. Web. 7 Nov 2011. <http://anovelmenagerie.com/2009/02/18/book-review-of-mice-and-men/>.

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

A few minutes later, Lennie returned to the bunk house from the barn. Then he asked George to repeat their dream as he often did. So George began again. When we get enough money we are going to have a little house, a few acres of land, and a few animals. We will be our own bosses and do what we want to do. Candy was still in the room and got very excited at hearing this that he asked if he could go in on it with them. George hesitated until he heard how much money Candy had saved up and

You can judge a society by its treatment of the old, the weak, the helpless and the needy. Through the narrative conventions of foreshadowing and characterisation, John Steinbeck, in his novel Of Mice And Men, published in 1937, is able to effectively reveal the imperfections of America’s capitalist

Everyone has dreams, big and small. When one dreams, there is a scent of whimsical hope in the air mixed with the powerful drive for success to obtain their luminous goals. But, many times these luscious dreams end up in grief and pain instead of a promised joy due to the hurdles in life, such as the certain circumstances that society professes or the flaws in a person that restrains them from their aspirations. The writer, John Steinbeck, incorporates this ideology in his novella, Of Mice and Men by creating three pivotal characters. Lennie, Crooks, and George all have schemes that go wrong, and yet hope to illustrate their desires of fulfilling their American Dream and to be prosperous for their own independent purposes.

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.

     Of Mice and Men was written during a period of racism. In the 1960's it was important for everyone to get along with eachother because not everyone was equal. George and Lennie showed a great part in friendship throught the whole book. At the ranch in Selinas mostly everyone showed friendship in some way. Friendship was a great factor when the book was published because of all the racism going on at the time.

For instance, George told Lennie if anything ever happens to meet him at the brush by the river. This shows George’s nurturing instincts toward Lennie. Although the act alone was tough, when someone loves someone so much they often do things to protect them even though it hurts. Critics say that if George loves Lennie as much as he said, he could have avoided killing him. His love for Lennie is evident after he witnesses Candy’s reaction to his dog’s death and Candy’s words “I ought to of shot that dog myself, George. I shouldn’t ought to of let no stranger shoot my dog”(Steinbeck 61). George takes it upon himself to make sure Lennie dies with happy thoughts. He makes sure Lennie leaves the earth with happy thoughts by telling him about their dream house with animals and farmland. “An we’ll have maybe a pig an’ chickens… an’ down the flat we’ll have a … little piece alfalfa” (Steinbeck 105). People think that George and Lennie could have escaped from the men on the ranch but, even if they did, deep down George knows the American of which they had dreamt would never come true. George knows in his heart he could not let the men on the ranch kill Lennie. He knows this based on Candy’s experience with his dog. George wants to make sure Lennie does not die alone and in

Friendship and companionship play a big role in people 's life and how they interact with others, and the world in general. How people build relationships is something that will stick with them for the rest of their lives. The less relationships that people build, the more lonely, and self-kept they become. Throughout the book Of Mice and Men, George, and Lennie are examples of the positive effects on building relationships, and Crooks is an example of the negative effects on not building relationships. Crooks represents loneliness, and not building relationships. George and Lennie represent dependence on one another, and an example of how to build a strong bond/relationship. Throughout the book Of Mice and

Through a variety of literary and cinematic techniques respectively, John Steinbeck’s Of Mice And Men and Sean Penn’s Into The Wild illustrate how the fulfilment of one’s life, and their pursuit of happiness, hinge upon friendship, dreams, and one’s attitude towards life and happiness in general. Steinbeck’s 1937 novella Of Mice And Men illustrates the importance of friendship and dreams in a context of hardship and economic downturn. This is done by using George and Lennie and their dream of landownership and material possession to demonstrate how dreams give people the hope required to drive themselves, and how friendship offers them the ability to keep going even if their own spirit should break. Sean Penn’s 2007 film Into The Wild

Of Mice And Men The novel ‘Of Mice and Men’ reveal life in the 1930’s. A time very diverse to ours. Steinback, the author of this novel wrote about various issues such as lifestyle of the travelling ranchmen, loneliness, friendship, the American dream, racism and sexism. The book is about two migrant labourers, George Milton and Lennie Small in California.

Of Mice and Men is a novel set on a ranch in the Salinas Valley in California during the Great Depression of the 1930s. The title of the book is a reference to Robert Burns's poem To a Mouse. (1759 - 96):

The story Of Mice and Men took place during the 1930’s. That time period was very different from today. Race and gender were very important characteristics that determined whether a person had the opportunity to make money. The 1930’s were also a time where people started questioning life and the American culture. Many people like John Steinbeck thought that life was very unfair and questioned whether if life was even worth living. In Of Mice and Men John Steinbeck demonstrates that mans dream is destined to be destroyed by a cruel reality.

While Of Mice and Men may be an incredibly crappy novel, there is one thing that isn´t so bad, being that the reader can somewhat relate to the characters, or at least understand them. In the story, two friends, Lennie and George, decide to work on a ranch for some quick money. However, Lennie, being slow on the draw, accidently kills one of the people on the ranch. George decides to kill his friend before the others do. Lennie, George, and Crooks are the three characters come to mind in terms of affinity.

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.