Comparing Bestial Imagery In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

The novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck is about two men's struggles to find a way to make a living in California during the 1930s. One of the characters, George, helps take care of his mentally disabled friend, Lennie, as they work on a ranch to get enough money to buy their own plot of land. One theme that emerged from the story is that lacking resources often leave a persons desires unfulfilled because George and Lennie lack stability and wealth. Also George lacks the resources to teach Lennie how to control himself.

This relates back to naturalism, because Lennie gets himself into a situation that he cannot control. He does not understand that he has to be very careful with the puppy because it is so small, and he does not know his own strength. “What is clear is that Lennie’s body wins out over his mind repeatedly,- in the end with tragic consequences”(Keener 1215). Lennie is very kind- hearted, and never wants to hurt anyone. This quote explains that Lennie’s strength wins over his intentions.

Starting in chapter one, Lennie was always a handful. George would get angry at Lennie sometimes, and lash out. George believes his life would be better without Lennie sometimes. He once told Lennie, “I could get along so easily and so nice if I didn’t have you on my tail” (Steinbeck 7). In other words, George tells

Lennie doesn't know his own strength, in the book he is holding a mouse and crushes it in his hand by accident. He didn't mean to crush the mouse he was trying to pet it but doesn't know his own strength.

Just because he was George’s best friend did not give him any reason to shoot him. Lennie is a person that is childish, a little slow, and irresponsible adult. George is his caretaker that is responsible, caring, and a wiry person.

Lennie has made some poor decisions throughout this story which leads to his death by the hands his own best friend, George. Throughout the story these two farmers realize that events in life can conspire against the realization of one’s dreams George killed Lennie, because he felt as if it was his job to kill his best friend rather than watching him suffer. George was right to kill

Of mice and men (final) Johns Steinbeck’s 1937 masterpiece “of mice and men” gives insight to the lives of ordinary people affected by the great depression in America, during the 1930s. In the novella the themes of loyalty and disloyalty are a key part of the plot. Steinbeck explores the seminal themes of loyalty and disloyalty by careful use of setting, structure and development of complex character constructs. Also the use of language and imagery in the novella depict the reality of the great depression for many people and the challenges they faced everyday. At the beginning of the novella author John Steinbeck opens with a description of the idyllic natural setting, where “the Salinas River drops in close to the hillside bank and runs deep and green.

Steinbeck’s introduction of Lennie infers he has animalistic characteristics that he’s ‘a huge man, shapeless of face, with large, pale eyes, with wide, sloping shoulders: and he walked heavily, dragging his feet a little, the way a bear drags his paws.’ Steinbeck’s vocabulary in this phrase teaches us a lot about Lennie, for example we can understand he is a physically big person from the adjectives like ‘huge’, ‘large’, and ‘wide’. Also describing his eyes as ‘pale’ could be indicative of the knowledge behind them, or more accurately the lack thereof. It suggests that in reality he has a tendency to be absent-minded. Within this description of Lennie, we come across the first piece of animal imagery, where Steinbeck presents Lennie as a bear who ‘drags his paws’.

The novella ‘of Mice and Men’ was written by John Steinbeck in the 1930s. It is set in a difficult period of time when America was sunk in deep depression. However, themes of loyalty shine brightly throughout the novella. He shows that even though Americas economy is in tatters, loyalty can still be as prominent. There were also distinct themes of disloyalty, mainly between characters.

Although described as a rather large man, Lennie’s role between the two men is very childlike. Lennie is treated like a child by George because Lennie does not have the maturity or mental capability to make decisions for himself. For example, George must continuously remind Lennie of the spot he must come to if in trouble because Lennie cannot focus long enough to process this information. Lennie is also fairly unintelligent and blindly loyal to George. This loyalty is seen when George tells Lennie to jump into a river, and Lennie obeys even though he is unable to swim.

While the rabbits for Lennie represent such a positive feature in his life, ironically, they also act as a parallel too. Lennie admires the rabbits and often ponders of taking care of them, but his inability to be gentle around other animals in general reflects the downfall of his fondness for them in the

Animal imagery shows to represent valuable meaning to Steinbeck’s work through brutality, foreshadowing of death, and misery. Of Mice and Men is a novel published by John Steinbeck in 1937. Animal imagery goes on to play a key role in a small town in California, as Lennie Smalls and George Milton dive into the hardest times of the great depression. Situations will be to be hard, but animal imagery must facilitate the reader’s views about the life. Brutality is the definition of acting or being compared to an animal or beast, consequently acting with little intelligence and a high altitude of violence.

After all the anger that George has shown towards Lennie, he utters these words now so Lennie can die with a sense of peace. George does not want to pull the trigger, but he knows that the further consequences of Lennie’s actions will only worsen. To save Lennie from Curley’s wrath, possible imprisonment, and perhaps years of suffering, George takes Lennie’s

Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, is a novella about the American Dream two friends have. The novel describes the lifestyle of two poor workers who have long-term plans to live a happy and successful life on a farm ranch. Steinbeck demonstrates in this novella that sometimes to get to the ultimate destination, there can always be a bumpy road along the way. In the novel, there were several examples of actions with good intentions giving tragic outcomes. Those are examples of bumps on the road.

With such a title, one might expect that this story will express the metamorphosis of a caterpillar to a beautiful butterfly, but with Kafka’s troubled upbringing, abuse and feelings of being devalued for most of his life, it’s easy to see how Kafka felt the need to symbolically dehumanize himself. Kafka’s choice of human-to-insect transformation exudes self-loathing because there’s nothing lower than a cockroach. While Gregor is the one who took on the grotesque transformation, it’s actually his family’s behavior towards his change which conveys complete hostility. Grete, for one, had enough near the end when she said, “If it were Gregor, he would have realized long ago that it isn't possible for human beings to live with such a creature, and he would have gone away of his own free will” (Kafka). It’s very disheartening knowing that his own family couldn’t handle his transformation when his first thought in the morning was getting to work on time for their