Of Mice And Men Symbolism Essay

Slim gives one of his puppies to Lennie to make him happy and helps Lennie after he crushed Curley’s hand. Slim helps Lennie in order to not get him in trouble and tells Curley what to do with his hand “I think you get your han' caught in a machine. If you don’t tell nobody what happened, we ain’t going to” (P. 64). Slim tells a white lie to avoid Lennie getting in trouble. Also, Slim shows his compassion and understanding of George’s pain at the end of the story when George killed Lennie. Slim is the only person that understand George’s lie and says “You hadda, George. I swear you hadda. Come on with me” (P. 107). Slim understand why George has to kill Lennie himself and his feeling. Slim’s action demonstrates that he is a hero; trying to help and be kind to

In the novel, ‘Of mice and Men’, John Steinbeck uses allegory to represent different themes and messages. An allegory is a story, poem or a picture which can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning. While reading Steinbeck’s book I noticed different metaphors such as the usage of animals and Curley’s wife. Throughout the whole book the reader can notice many animals mentioned such as rabbits, mice, the puppy and the old dog. Curley’s wife is also a sort of symbol. She represents the way in which the women were treated and looked upon in those days. The animals and Curley’s wife all symbolize different things in life in the 1930’s USA. They all symbolize the hopes and the dreams that the characters share which motivates and drives them

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.

Songtai Liu English Essay Symbols in Of Mice and Men Of Mice and Men is a novella that was written by John Steinbeck. It was published in the 1930s and it basically tells a story during the Great Depression period about of two migrant workers, George and Lennie, traveled around and look for new job opportunities; they arrived at a ranch in California and started to work at there. In fact, I found that Steinbeck used the technique of symbolism very constantly throughout the story.

Although Of Mice and Men definitely teaches young students about how the setting was set up back then, the themes of abuse and death included could be found highly inappropriate or offensive to young students today. These themes arise from the multiple abusive and gory deaths of characters throughout the novel. For example, the novel included a reoccurring scene of murder of innocent animals by Lennie including mice and puppies. Some readers are not able to handle such grimness, therefore finding it repugnant or simply unacceptable. Readers with their own pets may also feel a terrible sense of guilt and repulsiveness by simply reading the novel. Another example is portrayed when Lennie violently kills Curley’s wife by shaking her to death.

At this point in time George is still acting as if everything is fine and that their friendship is as strong as ever. George having the gun tries to shoot Lennie many times before he actually does so, “George raised the gun and his hand shook, and he dropped his hand to the round again.” He cannot bring himself to do it as they’ve been friends for so long. Loneliness rules the end of the novel as George had been a character with support throughout the novel but now he has murdered Lennie and therefore he doesn’t have someone he can properly trust. When the workers find George they assume that he got the gun off Lennie and shot him in self-defense so only Slim really knows what has happened. Slim is the only one that really understands the friendship between George and Lennie and this is significant at the novels ending, “Never you mind. A guy got to sometimes.”

“Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck was a very unique book to say the least. I believe that’s why it drew me in. I found myself gasping, “awwing”, and even getting slightly teary-eyed at the end. Many different factors of the book stood out to me.

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.

American journalist David Grann once said, “You want the story to be about something, have some deeper meaning, but there is also an emotional, almost instinctual element, which is, does this story seize some part of you and compel you to get to the bottom of it?” Every piece of text has a meaning that goes deeper than the page it is printed on. Of Mice and Men is an example of this. Of Mice and Men was written by John Steinbeck in 1937. The story takes place in California during the Great Depression, a time where it was laborious to be anything close to successful. Everyone believed that with a minimal amount of hard work and money saved up, the American Dream could be at their fingertips. The two main characters George and Lennie struggle to get land to call their own. Lennie is driven by his dream of tending rabbits, but he makes it challenging when he is the main reason of their setbacks and complications as they move from job to job. Fortunately, George is always there to clean up the mess. Of Mice and Men is studied as an allegory because the characters symbolize problems more substantial than the ones Steinbeck clearly writes about. John Steinbeck zooms in on other problems that America struggles with besides the enticing desire for just materialistic things. Steinbeck criticizes racism, the mistreatment of those who are disabled, and the disrespect of women.

     Many conflicts start to pull George and Lennie apart throughout the whole book. George gets tired of dealing with all the bad thing Lennie does, therefore he ends up killing his best friend as much as he did not want to. When Lennie killed Curley’s wife George knew it was over so George decided to put a end to his missery before someone else killed him. George is forced to shoot Lennie in the back of the head because of the incident that occured. The men do not understand why a best friend would kill another best friend so they all leave in confusion. The only person who understands is Slim. Slim knows what George goes through and understands why he did it. Friendship has to end somewhere no matter how deep the friendship is.

John Steinback’s Of Mice and Men is a book that describes the chase of the American Dream. Although achieving the American Dream is a great desire for all, seldom does it actually come true. George and Lennie, the two main characters in the book, have a goal of pursuing their version of the American Dream, as do many other characters. However, due to relationships and other conflicts, that dream is not achieved.

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):

My illustration depicts the sun setting behind the Gabilan Mountains near a farm with two figures watching the sunset behind a fence. The two figures represent Lennie and George, the taller being Lennie and the latter being George. They are standing behind a fence watching the sunset over a small independent farm. This symbolises how their dream of their own few acres is quickly setting. The fence adds to this symbolism by barring them from obtaining their dream, the American Dream.

He is a large and gentle giant. He has a mental disability that makes him not able to understand social situations, so George must take care of him. Him and George both share a dream of owning a farm. Lennie tends to underestimate his own strength.