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Differences and similarities in the movie and book of the mice and men
Steinbeck's techniques of mice and men
Differences and similarities in the movie and book of the mice and men
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Instead of the story starting on George and Lennie’s walk from the bus to the ranch, the movie starts in Weed, showing how Lennie grabbed the woman’s dress and they were soon after chased into hiding. Whereas, in the book the story of their escape from Weed came up when Slim asks why they left. Also, the bus did not go by again to drop people off down the road. Later in the film adaptation, Curley’s wife does not go into the barn during Lennie’s and Crooks’s conversation, nor do they bring up Lennie and George’s dream farm. At the end of the movie, when George shoots Lennie there is no hesitation, but in the book Lennie went through the whole story before George shot him. Although the time in which Lennie talks about their dream before he
In the beginning, the farm and the bond between George and Lennie presented to us is so beautiful yet strong. Foreshadowing already appears constantly in the first section of the book and Steinbeck stresses the doom that awaits the pair. The rabbits ran for cover immediately after the footsteps, hinting their American dream is getting away from them. We learn about Lennie’s deadly desire to stroke for soft things, and the dead mouse explains to us that the weak, innocent will not survive. The innocent soft things from mice to Lennie’s puppy all dies because of Lennie’s incapability to control his immense strength, which he has completely no idea how to control which makes him no less helpless than the animals he kills. George recounts the reason why they had to flee from the previous weed and we are made aware that similar ending will fall upon the one and only woman in the ranch-Curley’s wife.
George realizes in the end of the book Lennie has done too much harm and needs to essentially go away. George then shoots Lennie in the back of the head because Lennie couldn't live on his own if he were to run away from Curly and the rest of the gang of workers coming after him. George did the right thing
The moment that Curley's wife was introduced, an ill feeling overcomes the atmosphere indicating that Lennie will be getting into a mess with her. George states in the very beginning that he is always getting into mishaps, "You do bad things and I got to get you out," (p.11). The situation in Weed involved a girl and Curley's wife just happened to be the only girl on the ranch. Connecting ends with ends, there is a sense of insecurity between these two people. Later on, there was an intimation that she was going to be killed by Lennie because he killed the mouse and the puppy, leading to bigger deaths such as Curley's wife.
“I shouldn't of did that. George’ll be mad. An’ . . . . he said . . . . an’ hide in the brush till he come. He’s gonna be mad. In the brush till he come. That's what he said.” Lennie went back and looked at the dead girl. The puppy lay close to her.” Page 45. George has to decide on what to do. In that moment he decides that the best decision is to kill him and he does. In the book it said, “The voices came close now. george raised the gun and listened to the voices.” He didn't want Curley to get to him and make him suffer so he readied himself to shoot Lennie. “And George raised the gun and steadied it, and he brought the muzzle of it close to the back of Lennie's head. The hand shook violently, but his face set and his hand steadied. He pulled the trigger.” “Lennie jarred, and then settled slowly forward to the sand, and he lay without quivering.” Page 52. they were so close to there dreams but in the end they didn't make it. but the stories shows that have a hope and dream drives you to do what most
What truly led up to this, and how would the story have gone differently if George had not killed Lennie? As aforementioned, they lived in the Great Depression, a time where achieving the American Dream was almost impossible to do, especially with all the farms being lost in Oklahoma. Most of the character's perspective of Lennie was that he was most simply a passive aggressive retard. Later in the novel the reader notices that he is incredibly strong which serves to positive and negative effects in the story.
John Steinbeck's agricultural upbringing in the California area vibrantly shines through in the settings and story lines of the majority of his works. Steinbeck's novel, Of Mice and Men, takes place in the Salinas Valley of California. The drama is centered around two itinerant farm workers, George Milton and Lennie Small, with a dream of someday owning a place of their own. Lennie Small is a simple-minded, slow moving, shapeless hulk with pale eyes whose enormous physical strength often causes him to get into trouble. George Milton on the other hand is small in stature, clever, dark of face and eyes, and acts as Lennie's guardian and calming force.
When asked about John Steinbeck’s career, people often refer to Steinbeck as a playwright, journalist, and a well-known novelist. The book Of Mice and Men is a popular novel by John Steinbeck and a required read for most high school students. Most of Steinbeck 's novels have a central theme focusing on the relationship between man and his environment. The American dream for George and Lennie, two of the main characters in Of Mice and Men, is to have a place of their own, to be respected, and to work hard for everything they earn and deserve. In Steinbeck’s novel Of Mice and Men, the land and a hope of a better life becomes the talisman of an American dream for Lennie and George that is left unfulfilled.
Firstly, George never told Lennie to not say anything when they confronted with the boss at the ranch. “What you gonna say tomorrow when the boss asks you questions?” Lennie stopped chewing and swallowed. His face was concentrated. “I...I ain’t gonna… say a word.” (Steinbeck,15) At this point of the story, George showed that he cared for Lennie. For example, he would speak for them both during an important meeting to both get them their jobs. Shortly afterwards, George made sure to double check that Lennie would know where to go if any fiascos went down when at the ranch. “Hide in the bush,” said Lennie slowly “Hide in the bush till I come for you. Can you remember that?” “Sure I can, George. Hide in the bush till you come.” ( Steinbeck, 15-16) Both of these lines were cut out or modified and shows George acting harsher towards Lennie, which wasn’t the design of George that Steinbeck wanted to accomplish with his novel. Towards the end of the film, George pulled a pistol and shot Lennie in the back of the head so quickly that it ruined the feeling of empathy. The novel’s details gave the reader the chills as they read it and felt the sympathy that George had in his mind. “And George raised the gun and steadied it, and he brought the muzzle of it close to the back of Lennie’s head. The hand shook violently, but his face set and his hand steadied. He pulled the trigger. The crash of the shot rolled up the hills and rolled down again. Lennie jarred, and then settled slowly forward to the sand, and he lay without quivering.” (Steinbeck,106) The moment was completely ruined with the lack of remorse that George had in the film. To summarize, George is seen as caring little for Lennie in the film. That said in the novel, George is seen as hovering parent over Lennie caring for him and making sure he doesn’t get in a
At the very beginning of the novel, Lennie and George was walking to their new workplace. Lennie hadn't committed any serious crimes. He was a hardworking man, he listened and followed what George told him to. They both had a dream of owning a pice of land together. Lennie would repeat himself
George discovers Lennie in the spot that he told Lennie to run to when trouble comes about on the farm. George and Lennie talk and Lennie tells George to not be anger at him for he meant no trouble. George says he understands and Lennie asks if he could still care for the rabbits on the new farm. George agrees and begins to describe the dream farm to Lennie. While talking, George shots Lennie in the head. The lynch party hears the shot and finds George with Lennie’s dead body. When the other men arrive, George lets them think that he was forced to kill Lennie because Lennie attack him. Slim consoles George, understanding that Lennie’s attack on George never happened, knowing that George killed his friend out of mercy. Slim and George leave while the other man stand looking at Lennie’s body.
The last major difference was that George never hesitated to shoot Lennie in the movie and in the book it was very hard for him. After George shot Lennie, Slim came to comfort George and take him out for a drink.The characters in the novel and the movie had many differences. In the book George was shown to hate Curley with a passion. In the movie George didn’t seem to like Curley too much but he definitely didn’t hate him like in the book. In the movie Curley's wife seemed to be attracted to Lennie and enjoyed his presence because he was nice. In the book she talked to him only because she was amused by Lennie's stupidity.
Both the police and ranch workers were after him as well as the men from Weed. “The guys in Weed start a party out to lynch Lennie” George reveals to Slim (Steinbeck 42). When Candy showed Curley’s wife’s body to the workers Curley elicits “When you see ‘um, don’t give ‘im no chance. Shoot for his guts. That’ll double ‘im over” (Steinbeck 97). Curley also sends Whit to “go in Soledad an’ get a cop” to keep Lennie from getting away. Lennie won’t survive in jail because he’s “Jus’ like a big baby” and will probably end up dead. Compared to the outcome of getting caught George did Lennie a favor of giving him a peaceful
When Lennie died, he was thinking about the dream. This made Lennie happy because he was "gonna tend the rabbits". That means his last thoughts before he died were happy ones of a farm, a little shack and rabbits eating the alfalfa. If Lennie didn't shoot George and Curley did, George would be thinking about how he killed Curley's wife and that Curley was really mad at him. That thought wouldn't make Lennie happy and Lennie knew that so he shoot him.
The connection between George and Lennie illustrates the adversity during their course towards achieving the American dream. Things Lennie did, either on accident or purpose, foreshadowed what was going to happen in the book and the way people acted impacted this. Like millions of other people, George and Lennie were affected during the great depression heavily, and dreamt of owning land of their own. They worked from place to place making barely any money, and didn’t have a real home. To add to this, Lennie got in trouble a lot and in the end George had to make the crucial decision to shoot Lennie so he wouldn’t have to deal with any more difficulty. George knew he had to do what was best for Lennie and himself.
The duo dreams of owning a barn of their own and do what they desire with it. They believe they are different than most workers because they have a future (Steinbeck 14). The duo’s pursuit only becomes more of a reality as Candy offers money to purchase the barn (59). George and Lennie’s future couldn’t be brighter, until Lennie does the unthinkable and accidently kills Curley’s Wife. As soon as the last breath left Curley’s Wife’s body, their dream died (91). No longer could they run off and buy the land they dreamed off, they now had to deal with the consequences of Lennie’s actions. George decides the best for the duo is for Lennie to die, so he doesn’t die a cruel death and he doesn’t hurt anyone else. The effects of a dream’s death take the biggest toll on George and Lennie, who were so close to achieve it.