Of Mice and Men Essay - Fate or Choice?
Choice is defined by the ‘Shorter Oxford Dictionary’ as; “The act of choosing; preferential determination between things proposed.”
It also states the definition for fate; “The principle, power, or agency by which events are unalterably predetermined from eternity.”
Is our life choice, can we determine our fate by choosing our path or is our destiny determined for us?
John Steinbeck puts forward this question in his novella Of Mice and Men. George and Lennie are two completely juxtaposed men that John Steinbeck portrays to his readers to show fate, using foreshadowing.
A different approach to this question is that our life’s destiny is predetermined for us, but based on the
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This happens in Of Mice and Men, the fact that Lennie dies signals to George and Candy that the Dream was never real, just something to keep them going, to make life worth living.
It was, always from the beginning, inevitable that Lennie was going to die at some stage near the end. This was shown with the use of foreshadowing.
John Steinbeck uses imagery to represent characters, in nature, to foreshadow coming events. The river, the water-snake, the sunset and the heron. The water-snake – temptation and downfall, the heron – one being tempted, the river – journey/cyclic, sunset- end of something, start of a new beginning.
It was also inevitable that Curley’s wife would die. The lead up to the death is quite obvious. The attraction Lennie has to her and the way she talks to him. Also at the scene where she dies there is some back-tracking. In Weed Lennie felt that girl’s soft red dress, this led to trouble, and George and Lennie had to leave. In the barn he felt her soft hair. This led to his vice-like grip not letting go and a dreadful end for her.
This simple quote perfectly explains Lennie’s actions, and why he does the things he does:
“The fly is attracted to the light” (scribd.com)
Lennie takes the old, “think before you act” way. He does not know what he is really doing until it is done.
Is Of Mice and Men a story about choice or fate? We can never really and truly decide because it is made up of a little bit of both.
The choices we decide to make build our path in life. If we make the right choices, then your life will be the life you want to live. I believe that we were all destined with some kind of purpose. However, the choices we make will determine whether we fulfill that purpose or not. Thus, our choices will ultimately decide our fate. Through the years, we have been taught about choices and their impact on our actions. We have free will in the sense that we can either go on one road or the other. We decide what we do on a daily basis, moment by moment, and we decide what path we want to go on. In the novel, Fahrenheit 451, Guy Montag was a fireman who had his life entirely changed when he met a 17 year old girl named Clarisse, and an old woman who
Lennie’s inability to think for himself and know the difference between right and wrong is most apparent in his actions when he talks. Even though Lennie’s physical strength makes him appear to be a person of power, his physical strength is the only form of power that he possesses. Lennie is constantly powerless against his mind’s perception that limits him to behave in a child-like manner against the consequences of his actions. For example, he knows that he needs to act correctly and does not want to do bad things, however he lacks the mental capability of an adult that lets him differentiate what’s right from wrong causing him to rely on George for protection and guidance.
He does this to make Lennie realise how lucky he is to have some on that he could rely on. But as Lennie is so vulnerable he gets angry and scares off Crooks. Lennie is a person who likes to touch soft things and is vulnerable to Curley’s wife as well as she knows she can talk to someone who won’t take advantage of him. Lennie being dumb is a harsh reality but as an innocent person causes bad things to happen.
Part of Lennie’s character is being uneducated, and slow. Lennie is always forgetting important information. “Lenny looked timidly over to him.” “George?” Yeah, what ya want?” “Where we goin’, George?” “The little man jerked down the brim of his hat and scowled over at Lennie.” “So you forgot that awready, did you?” “I gotta tell you again do I? “Jesus Christ you’re a crazy bastard!” “I forgot,” Lennie said softly.(Page 4 of Mice and Men). As you can see this conversation of quotes proves many different points. First, it shows Lennie forgetting where him and George were
Lennie is treated differently because the other men don’t understand him as little was known
Another one of Lennie's character traits is that he is reliant. Lennie demonstrates this trait various times in the book because he relies too much on George. One of the times when Lennie is reliant is when he relies on George to tell him what to say. George tells Lennie what to say because they think if their employer knows about what Lennie did in the other town he might not want them around. In this case Lennie relies on George to tell him what to say because George and Lennie want the job, so in case Lennie messes up George can cover for him. Lennie is also reliant when he and George are by the Salinas River and they are camping out. “Lennie just stood there while George gathered the food and fire wood” (page 12). This is important because Lennie relies on George to provide food and warmth. A final example of why Lennie is reliant is when George tells Lennie that he can’t ever talk or make any contact with Curley’s wife. “She said
Lennie is mentally disabled and so always ‘does bad things’, because of this, he constantly depends on George to protect him and get him out of trouble. For example, in Weed, Lennie constantly ‘wants to touch
In the novel Of Mice and Men, Lennie is constantly battling himself. throughout the story, Lennie must learn and remember to fit in with the other characters who are much brighter than he is. In addition, he must learn how to follow rules he can 't remember. After Lennie killed Curley 's wife, Lennie begins to argue with himself saying “ “I done a real bad thing,” he said. “I shouldn’t of did that. George’ll be mad.An’…he said…an’ hide in the brush till he come. He’s gonna be mad. In the brush, till he comes and runs to the brush”. When Lennie goes to the bush. He yells at himself from an imaginary of Aunt Clara “I tried, Aunt Clara, ma’am. I tried and tried. I couldn’ help it.”, “You never give a thought to George,” she went on in Lennie 's Voice. “He been doin’ nice things for you alla time. When he got a piece a pie you always got half or more’n half. An’ if they was any
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
How does steinbeck use foreshadowing? By seth springs Often the best laid schemes of mice and men go astray. In the story of mice and men the two main characters george and lennie are migrant workers looking for a job they go to this ranch and work as farm hands they meet carlson candy slim crooks and curley's wife. Curly doesn't like lennie because he’s tall eventually he gets into a fight with lennie and lennie crushes his hand.
In the book, John Steinbeck foreshadowed the death of Curley's wife death in many pages before she was introduced. One point being how Lennie doesn’t know what to do when he is scared and doesn’t let go. George explains this to Slim around page 41, when talking about what happened in Weed. This shows that it very well happen again. Lennie is unpredictable
Steinbeck foreshadows the death of Lennie many ways throughout the novel. Lennie has a tendency to mess up. For example, George said in the beginning of the novel if he ever got in trouble to go by the brush and wait for him to arrive. When Lennie killed the pup and Curley's wife he went to the brush and waited for George. Lennie also had trouble with pets or feeling soft things. For example, he killed the mice he always held or played with. This foreshadows that Lennie has the strength and ability to kill someone or something without trying or wanting to. When Candy's dog was was old and suffering, Carlson grabbed his Luger and shot the dog in the back of the head. This foreshadows that someone is going to die. For example, George grabbed
Lennie is not very smart. Lennie isn’t very smart because he does things that lead to a bigger problem. He also forgets things quickly. In the book Of Mice and Men pg. 87 Lennie said “He was so little,” said Lennie. “I was jus’ playin’ with him . . . an’ he made like he’s gonna bite me . . . an’ I made like I was gonna smack him
Though Lennie is often characterized as sweet and caring, his lack of common sense and control makes him a dangerous person. Living in a community of civilized people, Lennie needs to be able to restrain himself from becoming irate or panicked. Lennie must learn to suppress his animal-like urges, rather than capitulating to their outrageous demands, such as seizing a dress off a woman. He must control these instincts in order to prevent simple situations from escalating to a level of murder and violence. Moreover, Lennie needs to realize the extent of his own strength, and understand that most circumstances do not require violence, otherwise chaos will ensue wherever he goes. In the past, his inability to ignore his impulses or comprehend the
Lennie isn´t the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree, and right off the bat, I know plenty of people who aren´t very bright. Heś clueless, reckless, and slow in understanding. It is a shame, as he can not really help it because it is just