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.
George and Lennie were lifelong friends and had varying personalities even from the start. Lennie thought about how his Aunt Clara said he should have been more like George. At the time when the story took place, the two men were travelling together, and had been for some time, working and then moving on to search for the next job they could find. They were like many other men in search for work, except it was rare for men to travel together. George felt a need to take care of Lennie because he was somewhat slow. George was an average man of the time. He was a good size, nice, but firm, and he had aspirations to be more than just a nomadic laborer. Lennie, on the other hand, had always been a little different. He was big, goofy, clumsy, but sweet. They were also both good workers. George was concerned with working and getting his money before they got into trouble and had to leave camp. Lennie was the one who normally started the trouble. He was a hard worker and lived to appease George, but he got distracted easily which angered George. George told about how they would own a house and a farm together and work for themselves. Lennie loved to hear the story and think about the possibilities, even though nobody knew if any of it was a possibility. George and Lennie's differences in part led to George's inclination to kill Lennie. Despite their dissimilarity, the two men needed each other probably more than they realized.
The sound of the gavel arose in the courtroom. Ranch hands of Tyler barn was sitting behind Candy. "Because you murder a human, according to Penal Code 189 you are sentenced three years in jail and 500 dollar fine." ordered Judge.
As Slim and George arrived at the bar, neither of them said a word. Slim looked at George but George avoided his attempt at making eye contact. They walked in and sat at a round wooden table that looked to be a decade old. George sat down at one end and Slim sat down on the other directly across.
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.
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.
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):
images he leaves the reader with is George and Slim walking off as Curly says “ Now
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.