Of Mice And Men Quote Analysis

1349 Words3 Pages

Humans only do things if they feel it is worthwhile or valuable. Value is defined as the importance, worth, or usefulness of something. It is as individual as people are: One person might value a healthy family while another might value something as simple as a cup of Starbucks. These things are significant to the people who do or own them, therefore they have value. Value can also be found in learning, and even more important to many is education. Books are significant to the readers because of the information they hold. Some books have more value than others, and one book in particular has important concepts. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck provides insight on The Great Depression, meaning in language, and complexity in moral judgement. …show more content…

All life began in Nature; before man, it existed without human disturbance. Steinbeck portrays this relationship by not introducing humans until the third paragraph. The story starts and ends in nature, bringing it full circle into the only thing humans can not conquer, showing that in the end, everything goes back to Nature. In addition, the peace of the setting foreshadows because it is almost too blissful to be true, like the calm before the storm. The readers can infer that tragedy will follow, because most beauty is destroyed through human actions. There is also value in the actual words, not just the meaning. The author uses a verbal phrase (participial phrase) showing action without a whole new clause. Half of the sentence consists of predominantly prepositional phrases providing important information on the setting and showing relationships. This is valuable because it reduces choppy sentences, adding many sentences into one. Contrasting this flow of phrases and clauses to make perfect sentences, there is rough and incorrect grammar in the book as well. While George and Lennie are sitting by the river, talking about their dream, George reprimands Lennie on what they are going to do once they get to the farm. George states “An’ you ain’t gonna do no bad things like you done in Weed neither” (4). This sentence has double negatives and inaccurate verb tenses purposefully showing incorrectness to reflect the …show more content…

Humans constantly make decisions based on moral judgment, making it very valuable to everyday life. There are many different moral conflicts that occur during the book, but the most important one occurs at the end, when George decides to shoot Lennie. George is talking to Lennie about their dream house with rabbits and a garden, and is lifting up the gun behind him. Steinbeck writes, “George raised the gun and his hand shook, and he dropped his hand to the ground again” (52-53). Trying to decide if he is doing the right thing, George pauses and is almost unable to go through with it. This scene has the greatest moral value because it brings many questions about right and wrong. Is it correct to do the wrong thing for the right purposes? Is it okay to harm someone to save others, or themselves? Lennie was innocent, but he was a danger to other innocent people as well. He didn’t deserve to be killed, but he didn’t deserve the pain that Curly would have inflicted upon him for killing his wife. There are no completely correct answers to these questions, as George displays in this scene. This parallels life because humans make difficult moral choices everyday, although maybe not this intense. A similar situation could be putting a dog to sleep. The owner doesn’t want to do it, but they know it will save their pet from experiencing future pain. This is an act done out of love, tearing the heart apart. It is difficult

Open Document