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Of Mice And Men Figurative Language Analysis

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Marco Rubio, a respected politician and the Senator of Florida once said, “The American Dream is a term which is often used but also often misunderstood. It isn’t really about becoming rich or famous. It is about things much simpler and more fundamental than that.” Of Mice and Men revolves around the Great Depression and migrating farmers who are in the search of a better life. Through the use of figurative language, a wide lexical range and varying sentence length, Steinbeck portrays the bunk house as being an allegorical prison and the residents being prisoners because of the harsh realities of the Great Depression and the dying American Dream. His use of these literary devices to portray this idea impels the reader to follow the journey …show more content…

He wrote,“the sun threw a bright dust- laden bar through one of the side windows, and in and out beam flies shot like rushing stars”. Beam flies metaphorically represent the dreams the farmers have of one day owning a ranch, living a peaceful life or achieving the American Dream for themselves. Beam flies also represent the hope that the farmers have of improving their lives. The sun symbolizes that everyday is a fresh start for the migrant workers and another opportunity to accomplish their dreams. The sun also represents the light or hope in the dark and bleak lives of the workers. The “bright dust - laden bar” symbolizes that the hope the farmers have is still ambiguous and dissatisfactory to their increasing anguishes. “ Like rushing stars” represent that the hope or dreams that they have are brief and do not last very long because they are hit with the austere realities of the Great Depression before they can get carried away with their imaginations. “ Like rushing stars” also symbolizes the innocence in a child and how every man possess that innocence in himself. The innocence is connoted through the childish language which Steinbeck uses in this

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