Symbols In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

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Symbols play a significant role in the development of specific themes in Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. Steinbeck uses objects, characters, figures or colours to represent abstract ideas or concepts. The three symbols that will be further discussed are George and Lennie's farm that is symbolic to the theme of dreams, the development of fate with the representation symbol of Candy's dog, and rabbits that symbolises Lennie's innocence. Both Lennie and George have big dreams to one day have their own farm where Lennie can tend the rabbits, and George is free to do anything. This is a symbol of the paradise they long to have. But in order to do so, they have to work hard on the ranch to make their dreams come true. Their dream is of such …show more content…

The constant reminder of rabbits is what keeps Lennie content as the reminder provides him with a sense of certainty and helps with the development theme of innocence. A rabbit is soft, fluffy and innocent and represents the freedom and George and Lennie's hope for a better life together in the future. However, not only do the rabbits symbolise innocence, but also represents the fact that the rate of achieving success is low as innocence presented in a cruel environment is not beneficial. Instead of the constant reminder of rabbits providing a sense of certainty to Lennie, he hallucinates a 'gigantic rabbit' towards the end of the novel, presenting that being innocent will not benefit him as his hallucination depicts what will actually happen if he owns his own herd of rabbits, "You ain't fit to lick the boots of no rabbit. You'd forget 'em and let 'em go hungry. That's what you'd do." (pg.115). This quote demonstrates that to achieve something, you must work hard for it as being innocent will not help. Instead of dreaming, start to take action to make dreams become a reality. Because Lennie is blameless, his innocence is his defeat because, in contrast with the men working on the ranch, his actions in the environment makes him vulnerable. The theme of the innocence of Lennie is developed from the symbol of rabbits as it represents his vulnerability to the environment because of his inability to control his strength that makes him innocent as he is not able to defend himself. From the imagination of gigantic rabbits, he is able to see the reality of his 'innocent'

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