John Steinbeck 's novel Of Mice and Men is a famous Naturalist work in American literature. Various elements of Naturalism is exhibited in this novel through its character types and story plot. Charles Darwin, an English Naturalist proposed a theory called natural selection, meaning that nature selects the best adapted varieties to survive and reproduce. Darwin also identified this theory as survival of the fittest. Steinbeck incorporated this belief of natural selection in many instances throughout Of Mice and Men using characters and their circumstances. One character named Candy has an injury and is old in age. They were leading factors in his fear of being unemployed. His dog’s old age and uselessness also resulted in its death. …show more content…
Another example of Naturalism is the death of Candy 's dog. Candy 's dog was old and sick with rheumatism. All the men recommended to shoot the dog because it would not be beneficial to anybody. "‘He ain 't no good to you, Candy. An ' he ain 't no good to himself. Why 'n 't you shoot him, Candy?...You wouldn 't think it to look at him now, but he was the best damn sheep dog I ever seen’" (Steinbeck 44). Candy 's dog was useful in the past when he was a sheep herder. He was young and energetic, but he started to age and was infected by disease. Candy 's dog depicts natural selection because as his effectiveness on the ranch declines, the need for him decreases as well, resulting in a different dog to take his place. Candy’s dog was not able to endure the competition because he did not have the best adapted varieties to survive.
In this novel, Darwin 's speculation of natural selection is demonstrated through Lennie 's mental condition. His condition was a catalyst for all the predicaments he caused for himself and George. Although Lennie has an abundance of physical power, he lacks knowledge and common sense. "’Maybe he ain’t bright, but I never seen such a worker. He damn near killed his partner buckin’ barley. There ain’t nobody can keep up with him...Sure he’s jes’ like a kid. There ain’t no more harm in him than a kid neither, except he’s so strong’" (Steinbeck 39-43). Lennie being mentally handicapped illustrates survival of the fittest because
Regardless of how intensely the characters of this novel hope and dream, their plans do not find fulfillment. Due to the lack of fulfillment of their dream, the characters face loneliness setting each apart from the other. Unlike George and Lennie, the other character of Crooks has no one to support him and be there for him as Lennie and George have each other. In the story, Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck contrasts the loneliness and isolation experienced by Crooks, whom life has made abandon his dream of equality, with the closeness of Lennie and George, establishing a false sense of hope for the achievement of their dream, making the ending tragic because they lose both the dream and their unique friendship no
George who travels with Lennie doesn’t really know why he intellectually limited, so when other people ask why he is, George just says he was kicked in the head by a horse as a child but he makes up for it in strength. John Steinbeck writes it like this because even though it is putting Lennie down because he is intellectually limited he then contradicts it by saying that he makes up for it in strength. Lennie’s strength is so helpful because he can buck barley extremely well. During the “interview” with the boss, George says, “No he ain’t, but he’s sure a hell of a good worker. Strong as a bull” (Page 22). This explains how Lennie has an immense amount of strength. When George said, “No he ain’t” he was referring to that Lennie was not much of a talker, because he couldn’t think quickly. That is why George
Imagine running through the woods to find your best friend,and you tell him a story to calm him down. After a while you end up shooting them in the head.Candy the old swamper who has had many experiences that brought him down,he has had a dog who had been with Candy for a long time.George on the other hand has been best friends with Lennie since they were children and has been like a parent to a child.Both Candy and George had someone they cared about get killed.
John Ernst Steinbeck was born in Salinas, California on February 27, 1902. He worked as a farm labourer on ranches from 1919 to 1926. This experience has influenced the setting of the novella Of Mice and Men. Steinbeck met someone like Lennie Small which obviously provided Lennie’s character. I am going to compare the events in which Candy’s dog and Lennie die in the novella. I will also talk about how John Steinbeck made the events effective for the reader. There are several themes in the novella Of Mice and Men. These are loyalty, friendship, loneliness and isolation, dreams of something
In John Steinbeck's “Of Mice and Men” he portrays strength and weakness through his character Lennie by putting his mental disabilities on display. Some people tend to find other people with disabilities feeble, or delicate. They put a mentally stable person right by his side as well. Causing an audience to feel bad for Lennie, and feel proud of George for taking care of him.
There are different types of conflict, the conflict such as Man .vs. Nature, Man.vs. Man, and Person .vs. Self these types of conflicts show the struggle people have to go succeed a goal, dream or just to survive. In the poem “Ode to a Mouse” by Robert Burns and the novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, both authors use the literary element, Conflict to show the struggles of the characters.
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck Steinbecks novel, Of Mice and Men portrays the
The novel titled, Of Mice and Men, written by John Steinbeck, derives from the poem, To a Mouse, written by Robert Burns in the 18th century. Of Mice and Men echoes the famous lines, 'The best laid plans of mice and men often go astray, and leave us only grief and pain for promised joy!' The famous lines written by the Scottish poet is about a mouse who carefully constructs a winter nest in a field of wheat. Its dreams to be sheltered and comfortable through the winter is eventually destroyed by a ploughman, leaving the mouse nothing but 'grief and pain'.
Naturalism is a very intense style of literature that an author can use. With naturalism, the author is trying to convey knowledge acquired through the senses and experiences they them selves have been through. In the novel of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, he portrays elements of naturalism through his very own sights and experiences. During the depression John Steinbeck got a first hand dose of what it meant to deal with sordid aspects of life. Just like his book, he portrays his accounts using highly realistic settings, and brutal characters with foul mouths that deal with depressing issues of life. In the real world things happen, but in the world of Mice and Men, nothing ever seems to happen the way the characters hope.
Lennie is rejected by everyone at the ranch, except George, because of his mental disability (“Of Mice and Men” 248). People with a mental disability are often looked down upon in society. Lennie is a very large, strong man, however, people on the ranch don't believe he is a good worker because of his disability. Although Lennie has a mental disability, he has the strength to do a lot of the ranch work and is a very good worker. The men on the ranch do not realize the strength that Lennie has until he breaks Curley’s hand and ends up killing Curley’s wife. Having a disability does not imply that the individuals aren’t skilled in different areas. Handicapped by his lack of adult intelligence, Lennie is doomed in the world of a migrant worker (“Of Mice and Men” 246). He is not able to think as highly as an average adult and often times does not make the best decisions. In the novel, we are able to see the strength that Lennie has and how he is not able to control it when Steinbeck talks about how Lennie killed the mouse, the puppy, Curley’s wife and crushed Curley’s hand. Curley is a small man who tends to pick fights with the bigger men to show his strength. Curley knows about Lennie's lack of intelligence and decides to start hitting him. Lennie doesn’t do anything back until George tells him to fight back. The next punch Curley threw, Lennie caught it and squeezed Curley's hand
One of the major themes of John Steinbeck’s novel Of Mice and Men is that having a dream creates hope, friendship, and determination, enabling one to strive onward in life with a sense of importance. Three major examples show this idea. The first example is Candy’s loss of his dog and his joining George and Lennie 's dream of owning land. A second example is Crook’s memory of his father’s
Challenging the strict deterministic confines of literary naturalism, which hold that "the human being is merely one phenomenon in a universe of material phenomena" (Gerard 418), Edith Wharton creates in The House of Mirth a novel which irrefutably presents the human creature as being subject to a naturalistic fate but which conveys a looming sense of hope that one may triumph over environment and circumstance if one possesses a certain strength of will or a simple faith in human possibility.
The daily struggle of the working class, fear of loneliness and the reality of putting all your energy into plans that fail are the different themes relating to John Steinbeck 's novel, "Of Mice and Men". The characters depicted by the author are individuals who are constantly facing one obstacle after another. The book illustrates different conflicts such as man versus society, man versus man, man versus himself and idealism versus reality. The book 's backdrop is set in the Salinas, California during the depression. The two main characters include two men, George and Lennie. Supportive characters include a few ranch hands, Candy, Crooks, Curly, Slim and Carlson.
Steinbeck introduces Lennie by physical description and it gives us an idea of how powerful he is compared to George. “a huge man, shapeless of face, with large, pale eyes, with wide, sloping shoulders” (Steinbeck, Pg. 2) In this quote, the author is trying to make the reader
John Ernst Steinbeck Jr. was an American author wrote many novels including one of his most famous, Of Mice and Men. Of Mice and Men teaches many lessons about the nature of human existence. Each relationship grows throughout this short story and end with a dramatic experience. All of the characters, including Lennie, George, Crooks, and Curley’s wife, admit, at one time or another, to having a profound sense of isolation, seclusion and loneliness.