Of Mice And Men Naturalism Essay

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.

The psychological approach views literature through the lens of psychology. There are multiple approaches to the psychological aspect of literature but the two most recognized are the Freudian and Jungian approach. The best approach to use when critically analyzing the novel Of Mice and Men, written by John Steinbeck, is the Jungian approach. Because the novel’s main theme is a struggle with the idea of “self”, using this approach allows the reader to understand the main character, its influences, and ultimately his actions.

Bernard Malamud was brought up in the mid 1900s, a time period when baseball played a huge role in the lives of many Americans. Americans loved baseball because it gave them a chance to stop working and simply relax while they cheered on their favorite team. It was a time when people played baseball solely for the love of the game and the thrill of hearing the fans cheer for them. Today, however, baseball is much more corrupt, and many athletes are only in it due to their own greed and selfishness. This strong desire for money stems from some important players in the past, such as Babe Ruth and Joe DiMaggio, who were outstanding athletes and grew very overconfident in their abilities. They became so confident that they began to demand

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.

     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.

get Curley but his eyes slipped on past and saw Lennie, Curley got into a fight with

I wake up to see Lennie standing over my bed and staring at me, and poking my arm. He keeps saying my name over, and over again trying waking me up. I get up and push him off of me because he is getting too obsessive. I get out of my burlap sack, and instantly feel A knot in my back. I shake it off, and pull all the ticks off of me. Lennie asks me what we are doing today even though I already told him what we were doing last night. Then I tell him that we are hauling bags of grain to the barn. I put on a rugged pair of denim overalls with a dirty white shirt underneath that stinks. I ignore the smell because I have gotten used to it. We go and get or company brekfast of slop with a side of slop. Lennie digs right in without a second thought, I on the other hand can barely choke it down, but I need the protein. Then after almost regurgitating my food Lennie, and I head off to a long day's work.

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.

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.

John Steinbeck’s book Of Mice and Men is an extraordinary novel with unique characteristics. The novel is about an uncommon friendship between two extremely different individuals who are living and working together. This story belong to the genres tragic realistic fiction, historical fiction and drama. The linking between the novel and The Great Depression emphasizes throughout the story, which makes the novel very realistic and down to earth. The author touches on several themes such as: the unreachable American dream, the economic injustices, loneliness, friendship and people’s propensity for cruelty. In this book review, we will get into a deeper understanding of what the actual story means.

“The greatest writers and the best readers know that literature is not always mere sugar candy;it can sometimes be a strong medicine:sour perhaps-at least to the untrained taste - but necessary for continued health” (1). A statement written by Professor Thomas Scarseth shows how without value in books, a reading life would never reach its intended purpose. By learning to apply knowledge that books provide through characters, we can improve ourselves as individuals. This particular book, Of Mice and Men, has values such as linguistics, sociological value, and historical value. Linguistics are shown through Steinbeck’s use of poetic devices such as imagery and repetition. Sociological value is given through the perspective of Crooks, who shows the struggle of achieving the great American Dream of having a place to call your own. Finally, historical value is provided through racism and how it affected Crooks, or any other black man at the time.

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.

Social realism, according to Kevin Attell’s An Overview of Mice and Men, is the main motive why Steinbeck wrote Of Mice and Men. Most readers would approve of this claim because the evidence Attell conveys to the reader justifies the author’s purpose of creating literary work. Furthermore, Attell brings in themes and concerns that strongly connect to social realism which also ties in with the author’s personal background.