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.
This novel’s title originates from Robert Burn’s poem “To a Mouse” written in 1785. Steinbeck’s book shows comparisons to this poem. One way it shows this is through the powerless and doomed fate of the mouse that has no control over what could happen to it based on its condition (“Reith”).
Steinbeck had originally titled the book Something That Happened. It was originally intended to be a children’s book. This was mainly because of the childlike innocence given from the characters. It was however proven to be much more complex and adult themed than originally intended ("The Making").
In Robert Burn’s poem he wrote about how the plans and ideas of man can and do often go astray. This gave the inspiration for the theme and title to Steinbeck’s book. This shows that the best plans and thoughts can be thwarted. These plans can be destroyed by many innocent distractions. Even if the best intentions were meant, it still ends in an unpredictable way (Scarseth).
Steinbeck got the inspiration to write this book in the summer of 1922 through his experience at Spreckels Sugar Company Ranch. He worked there with Filipino and Mexican labor. The landscape of the book was familiar to where he worked. He worked in an oasis type river and renamed the location to a place called Soledad which meant solitude (Hays)...
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...elist John Steinbeck Has Sometimes Been Criticised as a Sentimentalist. Duncan Reith Uncovers the Bleak Political Pessimism Behind His Novel of Ranch Life During the Great Depression, Of Mice and Men." The English Review Nov. 2004: 6+. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 11 Jan. 2012.
Scarseth, Thomas. "A Teachable Good Book: Of Mice and Men." Censored Books: Critical Viewpoints. Ed. Nicholas J. Karolides, Lee Burress, and John M. Kean. Scarecrow Press, 1993. 388-394. Rpt. in Novels for Students. Ed. Diane Telgen. Vol. 1. Detroit: Gale, 1998. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 11 Jan. 2012.
"Stage and Screen." Of Mice and Men: A Kinship of Powerlessness. Charlotte Cook Hadella. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1995. 64-81. Twayne's Masterwork Studies 147. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 11 Jan. 2012.
Steinbeck, John. Of Mice and Men. New York: Penguin, 1993.
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck is a novel about loneliness and the American Dream. This book takes place during the Great Depression. It was very difficult for people to survive during this time period. A lot of people hardly survived let alone had the necessities they needed to keep relationships healthy. Of Mice of Men has a common theme of disappointment. All the characters struggle with their unaccomplished dreams. The migrant workers, stable buck, swamper, and the other men on the ranch had an unsettled disappointment of where they were at in their lives. George and Lennie, two newcomers to the ranch, aren’t like the other guys. They have each other and they are the not loneliest people in the world. Lennie has a dream though he wants to own a farm with plenty of crops and animals one day. The only problem is his blind curiosity of people and things around him. George wasn’t justified for killing Lennie because Lennie was innocent and never got the chance to find out what he did wrong.
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.
John Steinbeck is a brilliant storyteller capable of crafting such vibrant and captivating literary works that one can effortlessly exit their own life and enter another. John Steinbeck has a passion for divulging the flaws of human nature and he is not afraid to write about the raw and tragic misfortune that plagued the lives of people like the Okies in the Grapes of Wrath and residents of Cannery Row. He was also a brilliant commentator who contributed brilliant opinions on the political and social systems in our world. In heart wrenching words he tells us the story of peoples lives, which were full of love, corruption, faith and growth. However in the novels of Cannery Row and The Grapes of Wrath John Steinbeck specifically attempts to convey the thematic elements of socialism, survival and the role of women to blatantly present the lifestyle of down trodden migrant workers and the diverse ecosystem of prostitutes, marine biologists, store owners and drunks in a way that is unapologetic and mentally stimulating.
To the average reader, “To a Mouse” by Robert Burns and Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck may initially look very similar, but after carefully critiquing and comparing their abundance of differences, their opinion will change. Steinbeck found his inspiration for writing the novel after reading that poem. His novel is set in Salinas, CA during the 1900s and is about migrant farm wrokers while the poem is about the guilt felt by one man after he inadvertently ruins the “home” of a field mouse with his plow. Even though they are two different genres of literature, they share a similar intent. The poem is written in first person, while the novel is written in third person omniscient. The vocabulary used to provide imagery is also another subtle different. Being two different genres of literature, they are destined to have both differences and similarities, but the amount of differences outweighs the aspects that are the same.
One of John Steinbeck’s most famous works tells the tale of the continuing troubles of George and Lennie, two opposite personalities who form an unexpected relationship. The book takes place on a southern farm in the 1930’s where the two friends plan to save enough money to buy their dream—a piece of land for themselves. In the story, there are several characters with “disabilities,” both physical and figurative in the meaning of the word. Lennie is an ignorant, overweight gentleman, Crooks is black in a predominately white environment, Candy is crippled due to an accident on the farm, and Curly’s wife is accused of being overly provocative. Curly, the boss’ son, often quarantines his wife in their home because he wants to keep her his own; she is a very attractive young female on a farm with mostly male workers. In John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, the characters in Chapter 4 are brought together in Crook’s room by the fact that they are all outcasts, but instead of taking the opportunity to become friends, they begin to take advantage of each other’s handicaps and hurl insults at one another.
Disappointment is someone being sad or mad about something they have done or failed to do. Disappointment can be caused by other people’s actions. In the book “Of Mice And Men” by John Steinbeck, the characters of Crooks, Candy, and Curly’s wife all suffer from disappointment of life. Crooks suffer from disappointment from how nobody wants to play or talk to him just because he is black. Also Curly’s Wife suffers because women don’t have that much of rights so she gets treated badly. Candy gets also treated badly because he is old and only has one hand to use so he can’t do that much work. All of the people in the book get treated badly because the book “Of Mice and Men” is made during the time period that the great depression was so there wasn’t that much of rights towards women and black people.
In the novel Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck brings out the themes of Lonliness and companionship, and strengths and weaknesses through the actions, and quotations of the characters. Irony and foreshadowing play a large roll on how the story ends. Lennie and his habit of killing things not on purpose, but he is a victim of his own strength. George trying to pretend that his feelings for Lennie mean nothing. The entire novel is repetitive in themes and expressed views.
The daily struggle of the working class, fear of loneliness and the reality of putting all your energy into plans that fail are the different themes relating to John Steinbeck's novel, "Of Mice and Men". The characters depicted by the author are individuals who are constantly facing one obstacle after another. The book illustrates different conflicts such as man versus society, man versus man, man versus himself and idealism versus reality. The book's backdrop is set in the Salinas, California during the depression. The two main characters include two men, George and Lennie. Supportive characters include a few ranch hands, Candy, Crooks, Curly, Slim and Carlson.
I have been analysing the novella ‘Of Mice and men’ by John Steinbeck, which was published in 1937. Steinbeck wrote the novel based on his own experiences as a bindle stiff in the 1920’s, around the same time when the great Wall Street crash happened, causing an immense depression in America. Throughout the novel he uses a recurring theme of loneliness in his writing, which may have reflected his own experiences at this time. This is evident in his writing by the way he describes the characters, setting and language in the novel.
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):
Steinbeck's Choice of Language in Of Mice and Men Introduction = == == == ==
Before the book is even opened Steinbeck is immediately portending the reader for the denouement of the novella through the potent choice of title. Foremostly, the title, Of Mice and Men, is an allusion. Of Mice and Men takes its title from a famous lyric by the 18th century Scottish poet, Robert Burns, entitled ‘To A Mouse’. Burns’ poem is about a mouse which carefully builds a winter nest in a wheat field, only for it to be destroyed by a ploughman. The mouse had dreamed of a safe, warm winter and is now faced with the harsh reality of cold, loneliness and possible death.
... read and his beautiful and descriptive style allow me to say with absolute certainty that Steinbeck has developed into being my favorite author over the past few months. Yet, as I bring this paper to a close, I know that I have barely skimmed the surface of who this man was and why he wrote what he did the way he did.
In Aristotelian times logos, ethos, pathos, kairos, and telos were used to explain rhetoric functions. These rhetoric modes were used in a variety of different ways to describe speeches and plays. I will be using these modes to evaluate the movie Of Mice and Men, a movie about two men who travel together yet always seem to be getting into trouble because one of the men’s lack of common sense and intelligence.
...usions and ideas, however, are not a mere regurgitation of Judeo-Christian values and mores, but rather a powerful commentary about the time following the Great Depression that sees the collapse of traditional social structures in the face of economic hardship. Specifically, through the character of George, his relationship to Lennie and the salient allusions to Christ, Steinbeck reevaluates the classic ideas of brotherhood and sacrifice and notes how these ideals have become underappreciated in the era of Of Mice and Men. Additionally, Steinbeck’s allusions to heaven through the rabbit dream are a literary manifestation in his belief in the power of hope and compassion in a cruel world. Thus, Of Mice and Men, built on its’ framework of Biblical allusions, is ultimately both a celebration of “gallantry in defeat” () and a criticism of the judgments of man’s peers.