How can the poem in the 'Moon on the tides' anthology be seen to provide a meaningful insight into george and lennie's relationship.

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In steinbeck's novel of mice and men, the main characters ,george and lennie, are described as itinerant workers. Since the great depression in 1929 there were many itinerant workers travelling around the country looking for work. George and Lennie have a symbotic relationship which is shown throughout the novel.

The poem 'Nettles' was written by Vernon Scannell, this poem displays a typical father son relationship.There is a feelimg of war and revenge with links to the military. This poem explores the impulse for a parent to protect their child, just like george is trying to protect lennie from the outside world but lennie gets hurt. The poet tries and fails to protect his son just like george tries and fails to protect lennie. The line 'My son would often feel sharp wounds again' creats a strong image, even though george killed lennie his wounds will always be there, Life is an endless battle you cannot protect chilldren from hurt.Just like life at the ranch it was a never ending battle in the poem the nettle bed was a symbol for dangers of war , the ranch was a symbol of life. 'And then i took my hook and honed the blade, ans it went outside and slashed in fury with it' This line contains alliteration,hyperbole, and repition. The line represents when george protects lennie and stands up for him , george had to resort in dreadful measures in order to save lennie. 'Stood upright anymore, next task, i lit a funeral pyre to burn the falling dead' This line contains personification, it reoresents when lennie dies, he was saved from burning, which was a common punishment at the time, it shows how George tried to deliver something nice in a terrible way.

The poem Brothers is about two brothers and a friend, one is nine and the o...

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...ink. Last chance saloon is a cliché and it refers to the last place your going to drink, this suggests illegal drinking, just like where george used to go. Silver bullets represent kisses. 'And this is love,high noin,calamity, hard liqor in the old last chance saloon' , this is a cliché, everything george does for lennie is out of love , the sun is at its peak and the whole thing is a calamity. 'Take this,and this, and this, and this, and this' reoresents geirge giving something horrible in a loving way, this shows underlined bitterness and motifs of a western genre and slim is the mediator in the poem. 'Like guns slung from the pockets of my hips,im all alone' this line contains similies, and extended metaphor, george is all alone after he kills lennie, when george steals the gun he conceals it which shows he wants to kill lennie himself rather than curley doing it.

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