Symbolism In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

“Wha’s the matter with me?’ she cried. ‘Ain’t I got a right to talk to nobody? Whatta they think I am, anyways?” (Steinbeck 87) In the novella Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, Curley’s wife is discriminated against because she is a woman living in the 1930s when few females could live economically independent of men. By choosing not to name her, Steinbeck reinforces her insignificance on the ranch and her dependence on Curley. While a misfortunate victim of isolation, Curley’s wife exerts unexpected power attempting to mask her pain.

Thomas Foster strategically used symbolism in several of his chapters to allow the reader to understand more of why people do certain things rather than the literal

In Of Mice and Men, the author John Steinbeck uses an allusion to a Robert Burns poem. The allusion is meaningful to the novel by being the base for the main idea and adding to the use of foreshadowing. The main idea of the poem that is also conveyed in the novel is that even the most well-thought out plans can fail. The allusion shows parallelism between Lennie to a mouse and George to a farmer. Both Lennie and the mouse are simple minded and do not have to worry about the past, future, or mistakes. While, George and the farmer envy the mouse for their simplicity. The allusion also helps to make the friendship between the main characters more solid, “But you get used to goin’ around with a guy an’ you can’t get rid of him”(41). The allusion deepens the relationship between George and Lennie. The poem does some foreshadowing as well, and gives a hint as to

What does light and dark mean to you in life? In the book, “Of mice and men” by John Steinbeck; it means a lot of things. When Lennie and George arrive at the ranch they are faced with many challenges. They face many light and dark situations and people too. The setting in Of mice and men creates moods of pessimistic and defeatist, supporting the Steinbeck’s theme of the American dream.

The long, hard war of human equality in society, has been a war since the beginning of civilization. The Great Depression, a tragic time in America’s history, reflects American determination, but also social inequality. In the fiction novella, Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck uses symbolism and characterization to address ableism and sexism in society. Steinbeck addresses these flaws in society in an attempt to ultimately bring awareness these riffs before society falls.

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).

In John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck uses a plethora of imagery to discuss the withering despair of the American Dream. To begin his novel, Steinbeck uses imagery to create an analogy towards the Garden of Eden. This is shown through his description of the “golden foothill slopes” and “sycamores with mottled, white, recumbent limbs” (Steinbeck 1). This imagery symbolizes George and Lennie’s American Dream; full of hope and life. However, alike the Garden of Eden, when man comes along, the beautiful, tranquil, perfect environment, becomes scarred.

“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.

In the book, Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck used figurative language, specifically personification and symbolism, as well as diction to develop an apprehensive tone, and later a morose tone, in the euthanization of Candy’s dog. Candy was concerned about Carlson killing his dog because he did not want to lose his companion, which he had for so long. After he received no support from anyone else he inevitably allowed Carlson to do so which left him feeling depressed. Once Carlson introduced the idea of killing the dog to Candy, Candy attempted to reason with him as he “scratched the white stubble whiskers on his cheek nervously”(45). Steinbeck’s use of descriptive diction helps portray that due to Candy’s old age, symbolized by “the white stubble whiskers on his cheek,” he was becoming insecure

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.

Through the novella, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, the authors use of motifs of Lennie getting in trouble reveals the theme of friendship is an important part to living a fulfilling life. Through the whole book George is helping Lennie get out of sticky situations, but the motif of Lennie getting in trouble ends their friendship in a very tragic way. Toward the end of the book, George had to kill Lennie, his best friend, because there isn’t anyway out of the sticky situation that doesn’t involve Lennie dying. After killing Lennie George was in shock of what he had just done. Steinbeck narrates, “But Carlson was standing over George.

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.

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.