Junna Chen
Peterson
Honors English
25 September 2015
Of Mice and Men Analysis “But, I 'm already resigned to this fate / Looking over my life, I recall / If it hadn 't been / for the loneliness / I 'd have no companion at all. ” This stanza from “Loneliness”, by Lora Colon evokes the negative impact a lonely fate has on a person. Words like “resigned” and “loneliness” establish a sense of depression and resignation. During the times of the Great Depression, many people felt similar feelings of melancholy and stoicism. Jobs were hard to come by, and realistic dreams of success were scarce. John Steinbeck’s novel, Of Mice and Men, allows readers to see the life of the Great Depression. The two main characters, George and Lennie, search for jobs, like many other migrant workers. They dream of owning their own land, however, Lennie’s habit of getting in trouble prevents their dream from being reality. After he accidentally causes more trouble at their new job, George is forced to kill him out of mercy. Throughout the novel, Steinbeck shows that even if one meticulously plans out the road to their American Dream, fate will inevitably intervene and lead one to desolation and loneliness. Steinbeck uses extended metaphors and foreshadowing to demonstrate how one plan ahead to ensure their own happiness and success. Throughout the novel, a deck of playing cards, as well as games of solitaire and euchre, are used to illustrate how one searches and draws out a path to their American
Would you like to know where and how loneliness can occur through characters in novels and in reality? Well, in the book Of Mice and Men, by Jerry Steinback a commonly occurring central problem is based off of many forms of loneliness occurring through many, if not every character besides sub characters where we do not get a deep enough of an insight to create ideas or inferences about them. Of Mice and Men, is a story mainly focused on two characters, one named Lennie who’s mentally ill and who’s incapable of anything except the needs of physical strength. And another named George, who is smart but caught in the guilt of Lennie’s needs. Meaning, he was and got stuck with Lennie because Lennie ‘s guardian who was George’s friend died so Lennie had no one except his friend George. They together travel as poor migrant workers, and what makes things worse is that Lennie doesn’t know how to stay out of trouble. George works hard in trying to keep a steady life with Lennie, but it’s literally impossible with a man like Lennie. George can’t always be with Lennie to keep him from doing things he isn’t supposed to do. Eventually they get going on a new ranch after an incident with Lennie, and Lennie 's troubles bring him to killing the Master’s son’s wife of their new ranch, where George is later forced to kill Lennie. Loneliness is displayed throughout the book through certain characters who experience it
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.
In a society of people all in the same situations how can someone feel so alone. When lives fall apart and people have nothing to hold on to people need each other most, yet are pushed so far from others. The novel Of Mice and Men written by John Steinbeck, follows the storyline of two men who are displaced farm workers during the Great Depression; they travel around and stick by each other’s sides no matter the circumstance. After many jobs they end up on a farm,the farm they hope will be their last stop. The time spent on the farm is filled with blooming friendships and careless quarrels, yet with an abundance of characters and entertainment- many people on the farm feel alone and out of place. Characters such as Crooks and Curley’s wife often come to mind when the subject of loneliness is brought up. Throughout the book using characters such as Crooks and Curley's wife, John Steinbeck demonstrates that humans are immensely impacted by separation from society and it will change the way that people will act and show themselves to others.
“Guys like us, that work on ranches are the loneliness guys in the world. They got no family...we got a future. We got somebody to talk to that gives a damn about us” (Steinbeck 14). During the Great Depression, much of society is alienated while survival of the fittest prevails. The power of loneliness affects the individual involved as long as the society it is present in continues to harvest the discriminatory ways. During the 1930’s, the Great Depression was at its peak; The stock markets crashed, and a chain reaction caused the unemployment rates to rise to an all time high. Thus, migrant worker became popular because they were always needed on a farm and it was a way for one to find employment. In of Mice and Men, Candy, Crooks, and Curley’s wife are all victims of the Great Depression. Candy and Crooks work on the farm, while Curley’s wife is the flirtatious nuisance whose dreams were crushed. The pervasive emotion throughout this novella is loneliness. Loneliness is felt by Candy, Crooks, and and Curley’s wife, whether it’s being represented symbolically as the characters are fighting social devastation, learning to make it alone, or through their actions.
What truly is the “American Dream”? Furthermore, during the Great Depression, even the concept of the “American Dream” was not readily available and was no more than a fallacy at the time. For the 2 protagonists in Of Mice And Men, their dream, like many others, was to “live off the fatta the land” and become independent. However, this was not such an easy task at the time, not just because of the rough economic times, but because people of that era still had World War 2 still very fresh in their minds, with the harbored hatred and untrust that came along with it. Nevertheless, for the millions who died in the course of the war, this “American Dream” was not only something worth living for it was something dying for too. However, in the novella Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, the author emphasizes that the dreams and hopes were delusions and has a grim outlook on living life in search of a dream.
In John Steinbeck’s novel, Of Mice and Men, he illustrates the journey George and Lennie have throughout a significant part of their lifetime. Throughout the novel, many characters, including George and Lennie, are facing lonesome and they struggle to deal with it the right way. Most of the men are all alone because they have no family left or they isolate themselves from their peers. Loneliness touches each character at some point in the novel and it really emphasizes the impact it can have on an individual. Steinbeck uses the characters Curley’s wife, Crooks, and Candy to develop the theme that containing loneliness will make someone’s desperation deepen.
Imagine being discriminated against because of your ethnicity; or being the only woman on a ranch, stuck in a loveless marriage, when all you really want is someone to talk to. What about having to kill that friend, and bury all chances of breaking free from the life of the average migrant worker? How would you feel? These scenarios in John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men illustrate the need and desire for companionship in life. There's Crooks, the negro stable buck; Curley's wife, whose marriage to Curley hasn't exactly been lively; and George and Lennie, whose friendship is strong enough to get them to a better life and out of the negetive cycle that the average migrant worker became trapped in during the Great Depression.
The novel, ‘Of Mice and Men’ was written by John Steinback, whom depicts how life was like for men and women in the 1930’s. From the outset, we were shown through the title itself ‘Of Mice and Men’ that the novel wouldn’t end well for George and Lennie. As this title was inspired by a Scottish poet whom said in his famous poem ‘To a Mouse’ ‘…the best laid schemes o’ Mice and Men, Gang aft agley’, conveys how no matter how well we may plan the future, things will often go wrong and obstacles will appear. Additionally, despite the American dream – the lack of hope, violence and harshness surrounding the men; gave a clear view into the lives of migrant workers such as George and Lennie. Portraying how the American dream is deemed unattainable for the men at the ranch, whom are destined to fall prey to a vicious cycle of harshness and violence – unable to escape from the world that they are living in.
In Steinbeck’s ‘of mice and men’ set in 1930’s, both Crooks and Curley’s wife are defenseless victims of social prejudice which leads to their sadness and depression. Crooks, being a black man is discriminated and segregated towards by all the other ranchers “They play cards in there but I can’t play because I’m black- Crooks” whereas Curley’s wife being a woman is expected to stay at home and take care of the house “Why don't she get the hell back in the house where she belongs- Carlson”. Furthermore Steinbeck as well as the ranchers view Curley’s wife as “trouble” in Candy’s words and she is later referred as ‘jail-bait’ and ‘tramp’ by other men. Consequently both Crooks and Curleys wife choose to express their hurt in different ways: Crooks holes up in his room with his books in order to escape the harsh reality where he is treated as an outcast while Curley's wife does so by clamoring for attention and desperately trying to be noticed either by creating ‘trouble’ or flirting with the ranchers.
Of Mice and Men, it is not just a band! Of Mice and Men was originally a short novel written by John Steinbeck in the 1930s. Regardless of the shortness in length, though, it is a rather deep and emotional book with quite a few messages behind the fictional storyline. These messages, however, cannot be discovered right off the bat. To genuinely absorb the messages Steinbeck teaches and actually understand the meaning behind them, one must read the book in its entirety. Steinbeck educates readers about these ideas through various ideas and literary devices, which includes the development of the characters, symbolism within them, and a bit of imagery to completely formulate the plot.
During the Great Depression, it was not uncommon to become morosely secluded while working. Men would go far away from their families in search of any jobs they could get, with only themselves to confide in; colleagues only filling in the void of friends and family partially. Naturally, John Steinbeck’s novel Of Mice and Men, written during this period, would reflect this fact as a major aspect of the story. Loneliness would become the sinew of Of Mice and Men, manifested in some of the story’s main characters: Candy, Crooks, and Curley’s wife. These allusions to loneliness are found throughout the book, mimicking the rampant disease of isolation at the time.
The novella “Of Mice and Men” written by John Steinbeck in 1937 is a novel that juxtaposes hope and dreams against hardships and perseverance. Readers are positioned to accept the unattainability of the American dream during the great depression. The statement “...every damn one of ‘em’s got a little piece of land in his head. And never a God damn one of ‘em ever gets it” (Pg.73) is plausible to a great extent, exemplified through the failure of several characters hoping in achieving their own dreams. This is mainly emphasised with George and Lennie’s goal to own land, Crookes dream of racial equality and Curley’s wife’s wish of being noticed in society.
The title of this book is actually comes from a poem “To a Mouse”, which is written in Scots dialect, by the 18th century Scottish poet Robert Burns. It is about a mouse which carefully builds a winter nest in a wheat field, but it was destroyed by a ploughman. The mouse had dreamed of a safe and warm winter but now it have to face the harsh reality of cold, loneliness and possible death. This is relevant to the novel Of Mice and Men in two ways. First, the characters in the story are seem to be at the mercy of fate, almost as powerless as mice. For example, Lennie can be likened to the mouse in the poem by his harmless, innocent, gentle, and childlike characteristics since he has just as weak as a mouse. Second, it is actually related to one of the major themes in the novel which is the shattered dreams. Lennie and George are migrant farm workers who dream of having their own home and land, but this dream is wrecked, just like the mouse’s nest in the poem. The poem also demonstrates that future is unpredictable, which is related to the story that people cannot control their life and fate is uncertain. Moreover, the "Men" in the title could refer to the common men who work on the ranch such as Slim, Candy, George and Lennie. They are laborers who have simple desires, which is they want to obtain their own land, so that they may work for themselves and obtain independence. The "Mice" in the title are one of the examples of symbolism, it appear in the story for multiple
‘Of mice and men’ is a tale of loneliness and hardship felt by the people living in America during the 1930 's. Written by John Steinbeck and published in 1937, it tells the heartbreaking story of two ranch workers during the depression; George Milton and Lennie Small. At the time America was very poor, with a shortage of jobs so people had to travel in search of new jobs. As many people were constantly moving, lasting friendships or relationships were hard to come across. People became scared to have friendships, scared of each other making them lonely and isolated. Most of the characters lived by ‘every man for himself’; only having to care for themselves, not having to worry about others and therefore
At some point in one’s life there is not only contentment or grief, but a state of loneliness. Loneliness is a part of human life, although some suffer from isolation more than others. Being lonely can lead to depression or create a different persona in oneself. Struggling through isolation can eventually kill one’s soul, expecting no hope or ending up in dangerous situations. The novella Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck portrays the theme of loneliness especially through two characters. Crooks and Curley’s wife experience the state of isolation as they crave for a friend or someone they can talk with. Steinbeck urges readers to feel pathos when analyzing Crooks and Curley’s wife through the nature of their isolation, their actions and