Of Mice and Men: Mini-Critique John Steinbeck was born in Salinas California on February 27, 1902. His mother was a school teacher in the public school in Salinas. Steinbeck grew up in the beautiful Salinas Valley which furnished most of the material for his novels. His mother read to him, at an early age, famous literature of the world which planted a seed in his imagination. He entered Stanford in 1920, remaining there until 1925 but never graduating. In 1930 Steinbeck married Carol Henning. Steinbeck died in 1968. After college, Steinbeck moved to New York, where he worked briefly for the old New York American newspaper and helped with the construction of Madison Square Garden. His first book, Cup of Gold (1929), appeared two months before the stock market crash and sold about fifteen hundred copies. Steinbeck returned to California, living in migrant worker camps to furnish inspiration for writing novels that described the problems and stresses of the times. Of Mice and Men takes place during the great depression in the Salinas Valley, California. It is a story about two farm-hands, George Milton and his large retarded friend, Lennie Small. George and Lennie are on their way to a farm that has harvesting jobs available. While camped along side a river George and Lennie talk about their dreams of someday owning a farm with rabbits for Lennie to take care of. The next day George convinces the farm boss to hire Lennie and him. Lennie's Love for feeling soft things becomes a problem when he is playing with a puppy and accidentally kills it. The wife of Curley, the boss's son, comes into the barn to talk to Lennie. The climax comes when Curley's wife lets Lennie feel her hair, but he strokes it too hard and she becomes scared. Lennie holds her tightly to keep her from screaming and ends up breaking her neck. The resolution of the story happens when George shoots Lennie through the back of the head. George does this for Lennie's own good. The main theme of the story is that, no matter how lowly on the social scale, everyone has the unalienable right to pursue their individual dreams. While the value of friendship is another strong point that comes through in the book. Magill, Frank N. "Of Mice and Men" Masterpieces of American Literature. Harper Collins Publishers, 1993. "[Of Mice and Men] is perhaps the finest expression of the writers lifelong sympathy for abused common people." Roberts, James L. Cliffs Notes on Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men. Lincon, Nebraska: Cliffs Notes Inc., 1966.
Curley 's wife observes that Lennie is "jus ' like a big baby" (Steinbeck 99) and invites him to stroke her soft hair. Lennie begins to feel her hair and likes it very much indeed, which leads him to pet it too hard. When she started to complain, he panicked and started to try to silence her. He was afraid that George would not let him be part of the dream anymore if Curley 's wife got mad at what he did. So he 's shaking her to try to protect his part in the dream but he kills her and the dream too.
George and Lennie need each other to achieve their dream of their own farm with rabbits to tend. Lennie could not take care of his rabbits or even survive without George.
Disappointment is someone being sad or mad about something they have done or failed to do. Disappointment can be caused by other people’s actions. In the book “Of Mice And Men” by John Steinbeck, the characters of Crooks, Candy, and Curly’s wife all suffer from disappointment of life. Crooks suffer from disappointment from how nobody wants to play or talk to him just because he is black. Also Curly’s Wife suffers because women don’t have that much of rights so she gets treated badly. Candy gets also treated badly because he is old and only has one hand to use so he can’t do that much work. All of the people in the book get treated badly because the book “Of Mice and Men” is made during the time period that the great depression was so there wasn’t that much of rights towards women and black people.
In the novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, first published in 1937, one of the main ideas present is sexism, particularly directed at women. We see many examples of this throughout the text mostly shown through Curley’s wife, such as the idea of objectification and over sexualizing women. The text shows the extremity of this viewpoint in the early 20th century, although this way of thinking still exists in our world today.
He touches the hair of Curley 's wife, but she gets scared. In the result, Lennie accidentally kills her and runs away.
Of Mice and Men is a novel set on a ranch in the Salinas Valley in California during the Great Depression of the 1930s. The title of the book is a reference to Robert Burns's poem To a Mouse. (1759 - 96):
According to the American Association John Steinbeck's novel, Of Mice and Men, is one of the top 10 most challenged books in school during the 1990's. The novel focuses on two migrant workers, George and Lennie, who work, dream, and endure the difficulties of being human. As the novel ends the hopes, dreams, and happiness of George and Lennie are crushed beyond the condition in defeat. This novel paints a horrific portrait of the human experience through profanity, inappropriate language, racism, sexism, adult content and murder. John Steinbeck's novel, Of Mice and Men, should be a banned book.
the way in which he sums up such important parts of life in six short
"A guy goes nuts if he aint got nobody. Don’t matter no difference who the guy is, long’s he’s with you. I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an’ he gets sick." A major theme in Steinbeck’s novella Of Mice and Men is loneliness. The characters Crooks, Candy and Curley’s wife each suffer from this although the severity of their seclusion varied. The old swapper, Candy was victimized by isolation as a result of two main factors, one being his disability and the other being his age. For example, throughout the book we find the farmhands out bucking the barley while Candy is left behind to sweep and clean the ranch. He lost his hand after getting it caught in a piece of machinery and as a result he is forced to stay behind. This being one of the major factors that leads to his loneliness. Furthermore, Candy’s age adds to his feeling of uselessness. Because he thinks that he is old he puts himself in a state of mind that handicaps him more than his missing hand ever will. He looks down on himself as an old worthless man that’s wasting away his last few years. Not only is it the way that others think of him but also the way he thinks of himself that forces him to find solitude. The most evident case of loneliness is Curley’s wife. No matter how hard she tried she couldn’t fit in. For example, when she tried numerous times to talk to George and Lenny she was either ignored or told to leave. Because of her reputation for being a flirt none of the farmhands wanted to talk to her. It was the threat of getting in trouble with Curley that caused many workers to avoid her. In addition, because of Curley’s insecure feelings he neglected her and forced her to seek attention anyway she could, even it meant flirting. She was ignored by both the farmhands and her own husband and because of this she was being forced into loneliness, the one thing she fought so hard against. Crooks is a black man that experiences isolation in terms of racism. For example, he is forced to live alone in the barn. Because the setting of this book takes place during the 1930’s discrimination sadly still existed. The farmhands feel that since he is black he isn’t worthy of living with the rest of them.
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck is a tragedy, based during the 1930s, in Western United States of America. The novel revolves around two ranchmen, George and his “opposite” (Steinbeck, 1937, p.1), Lennie who travel to the “south of Soledad” (Steinbeck, 1937, p.1) to find work, in the midst of the Great Depression. Their efforts to earn enough money and “live off the fatta the lan’” (Steinbeck, 1937, p.15) are greatly ruined due to the repercussions of Lennie’s intellectual disability. The highlights of this novel were undeniably the ingeniously established themes embedded in the novel.
John Steinbeck begins the novel with “description of a riverbed in rural California”. In addition, the two main characters of the story are introduced, George and Lennie. George is described as a small, sharp man; and Lennie is most closely related to the “gentle giant”. In the next scene, George is scolding Lennie for gulping too much water from the pound. As the story continues, the reader can infer that Lennie has a mental disability and George acts as his guardian. Because the bus driver dropped the two a few miles away from their destination, George begins to complain that they will be late for their new job at a ranch. When George notices that Lennie is carrying a dead mouse he immediately takes it away from him. This scene is another example of how George cares for his companion. Lennie continuously insists that he meant no harm and all he wanted to do was pet the mouse. The reader can now see that Lennie is in fact dangerous because he is unaware of his own strength. After this, George reminds Lennie that they are traveling to their new job on a ranch. George warns him to remain silent until the Boss sees his capability because George fears that they will lose the job due to Lennie’s disability. He then tells Lennie that he wants to avoid another “Weed incident”. They decide to spend the night in the clearing George begins to prepare beans for the two of them. When Lennie complains that they don’t have ketchup, George loses his temper and accuses Lennie of being ungrateful. This is the first time in which we see that George thinks of Lennie as a chore rather than a friend. George begins to think of a life without Lennie and how easy his life would be if he wasn’t responsible for him. In order to back up his statement, G...
Of Mice and Men is a novel written by John Steinbeck. It is set in California during the great depression. The story follows two ranch hands who travel together and are very poor. Throughout the novel we witness many different philosophical references. Many different types of characters from this novel are reused in today’s society. Steinbeck also writes eloquently about the many different emotions, aspirations, and dreams of man.
In 1937 Mice and Men became produced on a stage in New York. Steinbeck later then accepted an best play award for writing and producing Mice and Men. In the book, George does everything he can to protect Lennie and keep him out of trouble. George clearly sees Lennie as a little brother to care for and to protect.
On pages 102 and 103, Curley's wife allowed Lennie to stroke her hair because she wants him to feel just how soft it is, but what she doesn't know is that Lennie wouldn't let go just like how he wouldn't let go of some maiden's dress because he was frozen and doesn't know what to do when the maiden started screaming and got accused of rape.
1.) George- A small man who travels with, and takes care of, Lennie. He frequently talks about how much better his life would be without having Lennie to take care of. George's behavior is motivated by the desire to protect Lennie and, eventually, he wants to lead them both to the farm of their dreams.