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The Barn In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

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Although outside, the atmosphere is happy and filled with life, inside the barn is deeply contrasted with calmness. The quiet barn emphasizes the life and energy that fills the outside, and the stillness and death that encompases the barn. From inside the barn, sounds of the outside can be hear, like the “clang of horseshoes on the playing peg and the shouts of men, playing, encouraging, jeering.”(84). This highly contrasts the “quiet and humming and lazy” (84) atmosphere of the barn. The life outside versus the stillness inside emphasizes the horror of the upcoming murders. The barn is not only quite calm, but lonely as well. There is a “buzz of flies in the air”(84) as Lennie is sitting alone stroking a dead puppy, making the scene much strange

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