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Symbolism of mice and men
Characterization of George and Lennie
Characterization of George and Lennie
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Of Mice and Men: Chapter 1: Lennie and George went to work on a farm to be a rancher. They started off in Weed. While traveling they decided to spend a night in the woods. Lennie went off to collect wood so they could start a fire to cook their 3 cans of beans for there supper. They were traveling so they didn’t carry much with him and they also probably didn’t have a lot of money because they never could keep a job. George told Lennie it was because of him. When Lennie returned he did not return with firewood but a dead mouse. George wasn’t very happy so he took the mouse from Lennie and threw it out into the woods. He is portraying the setting—sensory/imagery Chapter 2: The next day, Lennie and George make their way to the ranch bunkhouse, where they are greeted by Candy, an aging “swamper,” or handyman, who has lost his right hand. The bunkhouse is an unadorned building where the men sleep on “burlap ticking” and keep their few possessions in apple boxes that have been nailed to the walls. George is dismayed to find a can of lice powder in his bunk, but Candy assures him that he’s in no danger of being infested, since the man who slept there before George was remarkably clean. George asks about the boss, and Candy reports that although the boss was angry that George and Lennie did not arrive the previous night as he had expected them to, he can be a “pretty nice fella.” Candy relates how the boss gave the men a gallon of whiskey for Christmas, which immediately impresses George. Chapter 3: At the end of the workday, Slim and George return to the bunkhouse. Slim has agreed to give one of the pups to Lennie, and George thanks him for his kindness, insisting that Lennie is “dumb as hell,” but is neither crazy nor mean. Slim a... ... middle of paper ... ...zed than whites/ Both black & white are civilized. Bernice bobs her hair: 11-22-13 A lot of women would go to this club and they would dance. Once people saw them dance they had the opportunity to buy them. The relation between Bernice and Marjorie was Marjorie thought she was so pretty. She decided to try to help Bernice come the same way. She was jealous of everything that Marjorie had. Marjorie was the one that all boys wanted. Marjorie didn’t really think about anyone else’s feelings. She knew one thing and one thing only (popularity). She wasn’t use to being social with people that “weren’t like her”. Honestly I don’t think any one person should be like someone else. Being yourself is being unique in your own way. That’s what defines you to make you. For the most part I think though that they were nice to one another and that they understood one another.
This passage comes from the fourth chapter in Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck. George and the other workers are “gone into town” (69). Lennie, Crooks and Candy are the only men remaining on the ranch. This excerpt characterizes Crooks and promotes the themes of loneliness and dreams. In addition, this passage characterizes Lennie and reinforces the theme of companionship.
When Lennie and George encounter Slim, another ranch hand, they automatically respect him and react positively towards him. “This was Slim, the jerkline skinner. His hatchet face was ageless. He might have been thirty-five or fifty. His ear heard more than was said to him, and his slow speech had overtones not of thought, but of understanding beyond thought.
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.
"Of Mice and Men" is a novel by John Steinbeck, written in the 1930s, a period known as the Great Depression. The novel, which takes place in Salinas, California, is about two workers, George and Lennie. The two men travel together and work on different ranches, with a dream of one day having their own farm. Steinbeck explores the themes of loneliness friendship, and hopes and dreams through the various characters and events. This extract takes place after George and Lennie arrives to a new ranch to work. John Steinbeck uses foreshadowing to prepare the reader for future events. This is done by the use of repetition, symbols, and metaphors. In this extract, the author foreshadows the events to come through the introduction of Curley's wife and through the reaction of George and Lennie. This extract is significant to the rest of the novel as it introduces the main antagonist, Curley's wife, and also influences what the reader thinks and feels about Curley's wife, as well as the danger the character poses.
‘Of Mice and Men’ is based on the experiences of a migrant farmer, set in 1930’s America. The characters are also symbolized as realistic people, but influenced by the issues and circumstances based on the Wall Street crash, the American Dream and being set after WWI. I empathies for these characters for the consequences of these historical events are what to have made ‘Of Mice and Men’ a tragedy in relation to loneliness.
It’s clear that killing Lennie is the right thing to do, and George is manning up by pulling the trigger. We know this because Steinbeck gives a contrasting example of Candy, who says that he "shouldn't ought to of let no stranger shoot [his] dog" (39). Second, Slim says, "You hadda, George. " I swear you hadda" (107), and Slim is the novel's ideal man. His struggles against society carry on even after Lennie’s death.
images he leaves the reader with is George and Slim walking off as Curly says “ Now
"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.
The title of the story is Of Mice and Men. The date of it's original publication was in 1937
Written in 1937, Of Mice and Men, by John Adolf Steinbeck Jr., American author and Pulitzer Prize winner, follows the lives of downtrodden farmhands, George and Lennie. As with many of Steinbeck's books, the themes in Of Mice and Men include his favored themes of class warfare and oppression of the working class. Steinbeck also focuses his literature on the power of friendship and the corrupt nature of mankind. In 1993, Professor Thomas Scarseth wrote a critical analysis of the novella analyzing many aspects of Steinbeck’s work including the presentation, themes, and writing style. In his essay, Scarseth explains the key themes of the Novella. He noted that the corrupted nature of man, the injustice of life, and the power of friendship were three important themes of the book. Much of Scarseth’s analysis contained numerous thoughtful insights. Were his insights and opinions valid, or were his, and Steinbeck’s, perspectives on these issues flawed?
The psychological approach views literature through the lens of psychology. There are multiple approaches to the psychological aspect of literature but the two most recognized are the Freudian and Jungian approach. The best approach to use when critically analyzing the novel Of Mice and Men, written by John Steinbeck, is the Jungian approach. Because the novel’s main theme is a struggle with the idea of “self”, using this approach allows the reader to understand the main character, its influences, and ultimately his actions.
Ambrose Bierce once said “Prejudice is a vagrant opinion without visible means of support.” (This quote goes along with exactly what Steinbeck portrays throughout his well-known novel “Of Mice and Men.” As Steinbeck is writing the story he has many different goals, trying to show just how difficult it was for workers and people during the Great Depression era, and also help the reader better understand and connect with each character (Attell). He uses the many different character personalities to present major themes throughout, two of the major themes being powerlessness and prejudice towards many of the characters. During this time it was extremely difficult for individuals to find and have a set place to
George: George is a small man with restless eyes, strong hands, slender arms, and a thin nose. Although he expresses a tense and grumpy attitude most of the time, he never backs away from his duty of protecting his friend, Lennie.
George and Lennie’s struggle for their tiny piece of the American Dream is best summed up by Crooks when he said that he’s “seen hundreds of men come by on the road an’ on the ranches, with their bindles on their back an’ that same damn thing in their hands. Hundreds of them. They come, an’ they quit an’ go on; an’ every damn one of ‘em’s got a little piece of land in his head.