Michael W. Shurgot's Of Mice And Men: Criticism

There is only one way an author can get their readers to cry, laugh, and love or just enjoy their master pieces. That one way is through the uses of literary devices such as similes, metaphors and personification. These are the small things that brings the author`s thoughts and ideas alive. The author`s ability to use literary devices through the book helps in direct characterization and lets readers get a better understanding of Lennie and George, the two main characters Of Mice and Men. It also helps in keeping readers thinking on their feet and constantly questioning George and Lennie`s next move while in Salinas, California. John Steinbeck, in his novel Of Mice and Men, makes use of similes and foreshadowing to keep readers in touch

"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/>.

In the beginning of the story, two men named George Milton and Lennie Small are trying to make their way to a small ranch in Salinas Valley, California. George is the leader of their two man tribe, despite Lennie’s intimidating size. George is filled with determination and confidence while Lennie is a simple man with a big heart.

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

John Steinbeck’s landmark novel Of Mice and Men is perhaps best known for its revolutionary telling of two characters that are very different, but have come to rely on each other to survive during the Great Depression. The two characters are men named George and Lenny. George is somewhat of an average fellow who has no real special skills or attributes. Lenny is large and abnormally strong, but unfortunately has the mind of a child. Lennie looks up to George as if he were a role model. This statement is best supported in the book; “Lennie, who had been watching, imitated George exactly. He pushed himself back, drew up his knees, embraced them, looked over to George to see whether he had it just right. He pulled his hat down a little more over his eyes, the way George's hat was” (Steinbeck). Both characters help each other find work and save the money they earn to purchase a farm together. Their plans keep getting delayed due to Lenny’s habit of getting into serious trouble. George and Lenny are forced to flee the towns that Lenny has gotten in trouble in and continually move to other cities to find jobs. Of Mice and Men has been praised by readers everywhere and is hailed as a modern classic. Of Mice and Men’s success is usually said to be a result of the complex and emotional bond between the two main characters. Many readers forget about the supporting characters that help or hurt George and Lenny during their story. The minor characters in the story each have their own

In life we are part of many roles that create dangers we face that may lie beyond our understanding. Even though these roles are hard to understand, they can give meaning to our life. In John 's Steinbeck "Of Mice and Men," we see these men 's day to day lives, the main character; George takes care of his friend Lennie who has difficulties understanding the rules of the world we live in. Through the story there are many ups and downs mostly involving Lennie, who is trying to see through the eyes of George and to do and be as George is. For this reason George is constantly trying to think of what is best for Lennie. Through all of this they face even more dangers and still try to find a way to raise money for a farm to

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

John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men is a short novella whose fast pace means that, by necessity, it brims cover-to-cover with all the makings of a powerful story. It evokes suspense, drama, empathy, and perhaps a touch of confusion and bewilderment in all its readers. The most engaging way Steinbeck engages these emotions is through foreshadowing. He skillfully utilized various literary elements to create this foreshadowing, which serves to increase and highlight the drama and irony of the story.

The first act of the show introduces us to the struggle of our main character. George struggles with something that many artists struggle with: the need to create great work, often at the cost of other things in life. George’s life is consumed by this, as shown in the number “Finishing the Hat,” where George expresses how his view of the world works.”How you watch the rest of the world from a window, while you finish the hat.” George laments on how his art consumes him and how he can only see the world through a “window.” The problem with the first act is that it never resolves this struggle with George. Without the second act, George never is fully resolved, left in this state of imbalance.

John Steinbeck, in Of Mice and Men, conveys to readers that despite the hopes and plans one may have to fulfill their dreams of a secure future, fate can ruin them at a moment’s notice, leaving one disappointed and lonely. Man continues to live on hope, which leads him to create plans in order to make his dreams a reality. This is displayed during the card game George and the rest of the men play. Beginning “to lay out his solitaire hand” (40) is representative of an attempt made to achieve a dream, in this case, winning the game of solitaire. The “scattered cards” (40) are a metaphor for previous failures.

Of Mice and Men Book Report Cristina Young One of the most important quotes in Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck was “ ‘I seen hundreds of men come by on the road an’ on the ranches, with their bindles on their back an’ that same damn thing in their heads . . . every damn one of ’em’s got a little piece of land in his head. An’ never a God damn one of ’em ever gets it.

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):

Motifs, which are repeated in the novel, are loneliness, friendship, strength and weakness. Men like George who migrate from farm to farm are often alone. As the story develops, Candy, Crooks, and Curley's wife all confess their deep loneliness. Each of these characters searches for a friend, someone to help them measure the world, as Crooks says. For George, the hope of such friendship dies with Lennie.

The book was very interesting. I like the fact that it is a graphic novel, because it gives me a visual of what the author intended for the characters to look like, rather than the characters' images slowly developing and constantly changing. The way Spieglman uses animals to represent different races shows the levels of the groups. Jewish people symbolize mice because they tortured by cats which were the Nazis and Polish people symbolize by pigs because they are usually indifferent to both mice and cats. Giving me more of an understanding of how the different races intermixed during the war.

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.