Tonal Analysis for of Mice and Men

There is only one way an author can get their readers to cry, laugh, and love or just enjoy their master pieces. That one way is through the uses of literary devices such as similes, metaphors and personification. These are the small things that brings the author`s thoughts and ideas alive. The author`s ability to use literary devices through the book helps in direct characterization and lets readers get a better understanding of Lennie and George, the two main characters Of Mice and Men. It also helps in keeping readers thinking on their feet and constantly questioning George and Lennie`s next move while in Salinas, California. John Steinbeck, in his novel Of Mice and Men, makes use of similes and foreshadowing to keep readers in touch

John Ernst Steinbeck Jr. was an American author wrote many novels including one of his most famous, Of Mice and Men. Of Mice and Men teaches many lessons about the nature of human existence. Each relationship grows throughout this short story and end with a dramatic experience. All of the characters, including Lennie, George, Crooks, and Curley’s wife, admit, at one time or another, to having a profound sense of isolation, seclusion and loneliness.

The novel Of Mice and Men written by John Steinbeck is set in America in the 1930’s and it describes the lives of migrant farmers as they go from farm to farm looking for jobs. It also shows the loneliness of the characters and the hard work that they put in. The main characters of the book are Lennie, a man-child, and George, a small man but very powerful character that takes care of Lennie in their journey. Also when they get to the farm they meet the bosses wife who is very lonely and looks for company in the workers. Steinbeck uses characterization to bring his characters to life using various techniques.

In Of mice and men, John Steinbeck uses symbolism, foreshadowing, and a sympathetic tone to demonstrate the world of limited sources, poverty, human intolerance, limiting social roles, wealth, and freedom.

John Ernst Steinbeck has written many award winning novels, some of which has even been produced as plays that captured audiences everywhere. Steinbeck wrote about real life experiences using realism, characterization, and dreams to emphasize his points and make an impact on his readers in order to reform or change society. The realism used in Steinbeck's works is not only effective in informing the reader of circumstances that should be changed, but this nineteenth century literary style also creates great feelings of empathy toward the characters and their dreams. Steinbeck used realism to convey his points for a purpose, and his main purpose was that he wanted something to be made known to the public. Of Mice and Men and The Grapes of

He uses foreshadowing to prepare his readers for a potential danger eventually leading to Lennie’s final crime. He also emotionally prepares his audience for Lennie’s final crime of killing Curley's Wife using a crescendo effect on all the other crimes Lennie commits. Lastly, Steinbeck directly prepares his readers for Lennie’s death using the symbolism of Candy’s dog and the way it dies. By the end of the book, Steinbeck prepares his readers very well for Lennie’s final crime and subsequent

“‘Ain’t gonna be no more trouble. Nobody gonna hurt nobody nor steal from ‘em.’ ‘Le’s do it now. Let’s get that place now’” (106). These are the last words that filled the air between George and Lennie, their last exchange preceding a pivotal moment in both of their lives. They conversation calms and soothes Lennie, who hopes to finally get the farm that he and George dreamed about for so many years. Yet unbeknownst to him, Lennie would soon be set free from his earthly bonds by his long-time friend; a bullet, shot from the barrel of George’s gun, would enter Lennie’s head and kill him instantly. That bullet was not one of self-gain and moral disrepute, but one of freedom and liberation from worldly restraints. While this remains a hotly contested topic in classrooms reading Of Mice and Men, George’s intentions in killing Lennie were overwhelmingly good-natured.

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.

The act of helping Lennie comes from George’s thoughtfulness that aids Lennie in certain situations. Moreover, George’s care makes others question the compassion he feels for Lennie, for instance, Crooks says “” Well, I never seen one guy take so much so much trouble for another guy”” (Steinbeck 22). Other characters such as Crooks share the pain of loneliness. Crooks race places a part of why he is alone as well as Candy’s relationship with his dog. The deep connection in which George and Lennie have is rare in the novella’s time period and location. The protection that Lennie receives from George demonstrates the sacrifice for life and brotherhood.

At the beginning of the novel when the reader is first introduced to George and Lennie, they are first described as in “The first man was small and quick, dark of face, with restless eyes and sharp, strong features. Behind him walked his opposite, a huge man, shapeless of face, with large pale eyes, with wide, sloping shoulders; and he walked heavily, dragging his feet a little, the way a bear drags his paws”(Steinbeck 2). Together they sat at a bank and drank some water from the not moving green pool. For a long while together they walked four miles from where there bus dropped them off. Lennie's aunt Clara passed away and since he wasn’t smart enough to live in the world they lived in George said “Your Aunt Clara wouldn’t want you running off by yourself, even if she is dead”(Steinbeck 13). When candy got his dog put down he regretted not doing it himself. After Lennie killed Curley’s wife and ran off, George knew that moment, when he saw her dead, that he was going to kill Lennie himself because he was his best friend. George came quickly out of a bush to find

Like Candy, Candy’s dog is faced with the ultimate punishment for his age and disability. Candy’s dog is old and said to smell bad and isn’t worth anything, the dog is shot because of its disabilities. This event foreshadows Lennie’s fate at the hand of George. Both of these characters’ euthanasia is rationalized to put them out of their misery and to prevent future suffering from happening due to their disabilities. Which is almost a mirror image of George and Lennie’s relationship where George has known Lennie for a considerable amount of time and George knows that he is completely responsible of Lennie’s well-being and when that well-being is in jeopardy George feels a moral obligation just like Candy did when he gave permission to Carlson to shoot his dog. The euthanizing of Candy’s dog is a “foreshadowing of what will happen with Lennie and George” (Thomas Scarseth) because both Candy and George’s relationship to those dependent to them end with them killing them in order to save them from suffering.

Lennie, for example, becomes fixated on the dream of having a farm with George. George tells him, "we're gonna get the jack together and we're gonna have a little house and a couple of acres an' a cow and some pigs and....a big vegetable patch and a rabbit hutch and chickens" (Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men 13,14). Lennie, because of his lower than normal mentality, takes George's story to be fact and just dreams of when it will happen. George's dream is essentially the same, but is based on if it will happen not when it will happen. George has to dream more realistically than Lennie. Lennie wants to "live off the fatta the lan'", but George has to determine whether they could survive or would starve. George, who looks after Lennie through the whole story, fulfills, at least in a way, Lennie's dream. At the end of the book, George describes the happy place he and Lennie will have. George seems to be describing their heaven. So, he sends Lennie to heaven -- with a gun shot to the back of the head -- to live off the fat of the land. George knows that shooting Lennie is the best thing he can do. He seems to follow Candy's words: "I ought to of shot that dog myself, George. I shouldn't ought to have let no stranger shoot my dog." George knows that Curly will shoot Lennie when he finds him, so, by taking his life quickly and essentially painlessly, George fulfills Lennie's dream and shows one last instant of companionship toward his friend

but has a mind of a child. They are the main characters and are two

The parallels between Lennie and George’s relationship and the relationship that their workmate, Candy had with his dog reaffirm the power dynamic between George and Lennie. In the novella, Candy must kill his dog because it is old and weak. Candy felt such extreme regret when it came time to kill his dog, that instead of doing

‘Of Mice And Men' by John Steinbeck is a classic novel, tragedy, written in a social tone. The authorial attitude is idyllic, however, as the story develops it changes into skeptic. It is evident that Steinbeck knew the setting and places he is writing about.