Symbolism In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

Imagine if you had almost no money, only had 1 true friend, and one goal that you will do anything to achieve. That's the life of George and Lennie, two farm hands who are about to start working on a ranch in Salinas, California. It seemed like everything was going well for the two of them, or at least they thought it was. Steinbeck argues, throughout Of Mice and Men, that we as humans need to be able to comprehend the fact that the American dream is impossible, so when we fail at that, we won't fall as hard as we might if we had full faith in it, and he develops this stance using diction choices, imagery, and characterization.

Another symbol that Steinbeck uses is the dream farm combined with George and Lennie’s friendship. Their dream farm is what ties the two together throughout the whole story. It is what keeps them working together, through thick and thin. The two think of their dream farm as their

The idyllic nature of one’s dream compels them forward, albeit an almost impossible one. The continual use of vivid imagery greatly immerses the reader; the reader could see George and Lennie’s “little house and a couple of acres” (14) and smell “the bacon and the hams” (57). Steinbeck appeals to the senses to show the alluring qualities of their dream. George’s repetitive depictions of their own land shows the importance of their dreams; without it, there would be no plot, no story, no desire to progress. It would be a story of two nondescript men, wandering aimlessly across the vast American west. Steinbeck chooses to incorporate imagery throughout the story to emphasize what the fruits of one’s labor will result in. The dreamlike setting of George and Lennie’s farm shows the impossibility of it, as a place that perfect would not be in the mortal world.

John Steinbeck uses many literary devices in Of Mice and Men to make the book more interesting and to keep the reader hooked. Steinbeck uses imagery to show “The flame of the sunset lifted from the mountain-tops and dusk came into the valley, and a half darkness came in among the willows and the sycamores” to demonstrate that sunset is taking place as well as the darkness is starting to take over(Steinbeck 11). In chapter 6 Steinbeck uses imagery again to set the scene, “Already the sun had left the valley to go climbing up the slopes of the Gabilan mountains” set the final scene of the book, also at the beginning of chapter 1 the scene is sunset and in chapter 6 the scene is sunset as well(Steinbeck 109).

“And George raised the gun and steadied it, and he brought the muzzle of it close to the back of Lennie’s head.” In the book, “ Of Mice and Men ,” by John Steinbeck (13), the author uses so many symbols in his characters and in the background throughout the story. In the book, everything represents symbolism whether it is the characters or the setting of the time and place they are in. The time period in “ OF Mice and Men “ is around the 1930s during the Great Depression. The men and women in the story aren’t very educated by how they talk and pronounce words. The setting is in Salinas Valley, California which is located in Northern California just south of San Francisco.

John Steinbeck, an American novelist, is well-known for his familiar themes of depression and loneliness. He uses these themes throughout a majority of his novels. These themes come from his childhood and growing up during the stock market crash. A reader can see his depiction of his childhood era. In Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck shows the prominent themes of loneliness, the need for relationships, and the loss of dreams in the 1930s through the novels’ character.

Throughout the novella, Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck’s use of motif reveals the theme that friendship is an important part to living a fulfilling life . Lennie has just run away due to the fear that he would no longer be able to tend the rabbits. He had this fear because he had just killed Curley’s wife and the young pup. So he ran away to the bushes that George had told him to go to in the case of an emergency. George was talking to Lennie even though he knew he had to kill him.

John Steinbeck’s 1949 novella entitled Of Mice and Men uses many significant symbols to convey meanings about the human condition. Such symbols include hands to represent labour, cards to signify chance and taking a risk, and finally, rabbits to suggest ideas about achieving one’s hopes and dreams. Symbols are a key central device in delivering meaning, as they consistently repeated throughout the narrative and are typically associated with the novella’s many characters.

n the novel, Of Mice and Men, the author John Steinbeck explores many themes. After Lennie and George are chased out of Weed, California they travel to Soledad, California where they try to find a job. Lennie causes the two of them trouble on many occasions because Lennie is developmentally delayed and says the wrong thing at the wrong time. At last, the two get a job on a ranch where they will buck barley. Of Mice and Men explores the effects of systemic oppression on women, African Americans, and people with disabilities.

John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men is a novella full of symbolic elements. Throughout this story, readers can find symbolism for many 1930s American struggles, such as discrimination and economic depression, and many of these representations are still relevant today. The novella also contains symbolic embodiment of multiple opposing ideas, such as peace and violence, life and death, and hope and failure. The symbolism in this story is mainly represented through the settings and characters, as well as through the allegories of several foreshadowing events.

Symbolism in Of Mice and Men Kenzo Tange once said, “There is a powerful need for symbolism, and that means the architecture must have something that appeals to the human heart.” This is especially true in Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. Of Mice and Men is the endearing story of George and Lennie, their dream of one day owning a farm, and their sad ending without achieving this dream. This story has many themes, including the impossibility of the American Dream, man and nature, and innocence which are brought to the audience’s attention by symbols, a literary device that often has a concealed meaning. In Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck uses the farm, the character of Candy’s dog, Lennie’s death, and Lennie’s puppy as symbols to develop

Throughout pieces of literature, whether novels or short stories, symbolism is an important literary device. Without the addition of symbolism, readers would not be able to connect ideas or qualities with a physical being (“Symbolism”). The entertaining story Of Mice and Men, by Jack Steinbeck, contains multiple examples of detailed and unique symbolism, such as Curley’s wife, George and Lennie’s farm, and even the ranch itself. The use of these important symbols allow the reader to have a better understanding of the time period and events that occur throughout the novel.

The writer John Steinbeck wrote this novel based on two main characters Lennie, who has some mental issues, and George, who takes care of Lennie, and then along the way they meet a few more important people, Candy, Curley, who are also in the novel. One of the major symbols described in this novel is the dream farm, which does not exist in reality, but is very much existing in the mind in Lennie and eventually is in George. The dream farm represents their relationship. It's the place where Lennie and George will each have what they want. Another symbol of the novel is hands and it is used to describe the men that work on the farms because it symbolizes that each job has to be done to make the ranch

An Analysis: Of Mice And Men John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men is a classic novella. It is about migrant workers who have a hard and cruel life. The ability to dream relies on other people, for them to be achieved. That statement is a major theme in Steinbeck’s book Of Mice and Men. John Steinbeck uses characters and symbols to incorporate that theme in his book. Through characters and symbols in the book, Steinbeck shows how difficult it is to attain dreams.

The sun climbed up the sky, shining the fields a brilliant golden. The barley stalks waved majestically in the wind. A lush valley filled with green willows and shrubs lied past the fields. On the other side of the field, the ranch was overshadowed by the large and strong Gabilans. A herd of rabbits bounded through the valley, and sat on the fluffy grass, watching a large grey hulk stand lifelessly in the center of the field. A large cloud meandered over the Gabilans, changing the well-defined brown slopes to an ominous black.