In the 1930’s John Steinbeck wrote the novel Of Men and Mice. He wrote the book in the middle of the great American depression. During this great time of loss over 15 million people lost there jobs. OF MEN AND MICE In the 1930’s John Steinbeck wrote the novel “Of Men and Mice”. He wrote the book in the middle of the great American depression. During this great time of loss over 15 million people lost there jobs and were made redundant. All these people were left to find whatever work they could, all with no income or government support such as benefits or social security. The health service was no longer on a work plan so people were suffering in their masses because they could not afford to pay the service costs. California at that time was quite a rich state so many flocked there to find work. “Of Men and Mice” is set in Salinas in California. Salinas is on the coast of California and is quite a fruitful county and a lot of people will have gone to work on the ranches there like Lennie and George. John Steinbeck wrote “Of Men and Mice” in a socialistic point of view to capture what was going on in these times. He captured what was going on around him and turned it into a novel of two men doing exactly what millions of others were doing at that time going from place to place, ranch to ranch. This is how millions lived for many years to come. John Steinbeck felt that the government had let the public down buy not supporting them in their time of need. Lennie is described as “a huge man, shapeless of face with large pale eyes.” Just from this you can tell that he is abnormally big for these times. However George is described as “small, quick and dark of face with restless eyes and sharp, strong features.” This tells us that the man is smaller and skinnier than Lennie with more defined features. Lennie is said to be big and clumsy, so big even he is described as a bear “dragging his feet a little, the way a bear drags its paws.” Steinbeck then refers him to again “Lennie dabbled his big paw in the water….” This then emphasise just how big he is being compared to a bear again. But whilst being like a bear he is also like a child “I forgot, Lennie said softly, I tried not to forget, honest I did George.” This makes Lennie sound like a child not only because of the language
John Steinbeck, an American novelist, is well-known for his familiar themes of depression and loneliness. He uses these themes throughout a majority of his novels. These themes come from his childhood and growing up during the stock market crash. A reader can see his depiction of his childhood era. In Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck shows the prominent themes of loneliness, the need for relationships, and the loss of dreams in the 1930s through the novels’ character.
work, he states that Lennie is "…strong as a bull" and is "…a god damn
In Of Mice and Men the character Lennie is big and has a diminished mental capacity. Lennie is s...
Lennie is broken and incomplete in many ways. He has a mental disability which differentiates him from the others. He depends on George for everything and cannot do things on his own even though he is a grown man.
A Comparison of John Steinbeck's novel Of Mice and Men and the 1939 Film Version of the Novel
Lennie’s uncontrolled strength is by far one of the strongest plot point in Of Mice and Men, as his strength quickly became his downfall. Either way, this may be seen in quotes such as “Jus’ wanted to feel that girl’s dress - jus’ wanted to pet it like a mouse” (I)...Or, “...and he shook her, and her body flopped like a fish” (5)... Quotes like this show that Lennie is unable to control his own strength and desires - he’s mentally and physically unstable in situations where general brain power must be put into effect. Again, revealing Lennie’s great strength suggests that this will be his - among many other people’s -
The quote that inspired John Steinbeck was the best laid schemes often go off track can be seen in the novel of Mice and Men. When Curley's wife met a man in her childhood that offered her to be an actress but the chance went away and she later died. Then Curley wanted to be a professional boxer but the dream never happened and he became a farmer then got his hand broken for trying to be tough. George and Lennie were going to buy a farm to live off the fat of the land then Lennie had to get in trouble and George had to give up the dream and kill Lennie for what he had done.
Lennie is a big guy. Curely dosn't like big guys so he singles out Lennie and
John Steinbeck was inspired by the line "The best schemes o' mice an' men [often go awry]" by Robert Burns in one of his poems. This line refers to ambitions that went off track during the process. There are multiple examples in the novel that refers to the line in the poem, that inspired John Steinbeck. Those examples are Curley's boxing career coming to an end, Curley's wife not becoming a actress, and Lennie's plans of tending the rabbits, but messed everything up.
In the beginning he was forgetful and made many mistakes and by the end he was about the same. Throughout the entire book Lennie doesn’t learn from his mistakes as he keeps getting in trouble. At the beginning of the book, he was forgetful and he continues not to remember anything as the story goes on, this got him into trouble multiple times throughout the book. Sometimes he doesn’t even know what to do on his own. An example of this was when Curley was punching him, he needed instructions on what to do. Lennie never grows throughout the book, and this affects him because he needed to change for the better to begin with and he didn’t which lead him to many
Lennie relies on others to think for him. He won’t act or react unless he’s told to. When he’s getting punched in the face by Curley, Lennie doesn’t even flinch until George tells him to:
This is a novella written by John Steinbeck in 1937, about two men that lived during the depression. They were migrant workers, who wanted to buy a farm. ()
Man needs companionship and has difficulty maintaining it because no humans think the exact same or have the exact same beliefs. To maintain a companion you must have things in common, you must be able to disagree with a sort of respectful understanding, and finally you must care legitimately about that person. These three requirements to preserve a companionship are at times arduous to keep true. Some people do not have the time, concern, or the ability to sustain a veritable friendship with a companion or companions.
There is only one way an author can get their readers to cry, laugh, and love or just enjoy their master pieces. That one way is through the uses of literary devices such as similes, metaphors and personification. These are the small things that brings the author`s thoughts and ideas alive. The author`s ability to use literary devices through the book helps in direct characterization and lets readers get a better understanding of Lennie and George, the two main characters Of Mice and Men. It also helps in keeping readers thinking on their feet and constantly questioning George and Lennie`s next move while in Salinas, California. John Steinbeck, in his novel Of Mice and Men, makes use of similes and foreshadowing to keep readers in touch with the characters and at the edge of their seats throughout the story.
Even though Lennie's last name is Small, he is, physically, just the opposite: a large man with great strength. This strength is represented numerous times throughout the novel. We first read about Lennie's strength in the opening scene, when Lennie accidentally kills the pet mouse in his pocket by petting it too hard. We also learn that, in fact, Lennie has killed other pets in the same manner in the past.