Light May Come but Darkness Always Follows
An elderly, crippled man walks into the bunkhouse, stumbling on his feet. Following him is a smelly, debilitated dog who slows more and more as the darkness creeps in. All the lustrous, shining glow has been stolen from the sky and replaced with the grave, dingy black horizon. In John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, descriptions of darkness reveal future events. Brightness symbolizes happy memories, and darkness foreshadows loss.
Light demonstrates the peak of happiness before the darkness creeps in. Lennie walks into the stable in hopes of seeing his dog. As he enters the stable buck’s home, Lennie assures Crooks, “Just come to look at my puppy. And I seen your light.” (68). All Lennie wanted was a soft animal to take care of. Sun, a symbol of fond memories with the pup, foreshadows the darkness to come when the pup dies. Not forgetting, Lennie whispers about George as he heads back to the Salinas River where “the tops of the mountains seemed to
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Curly’s wife walks into the bunkhouse and “the rectangle of sunshine in the doorway [is] cut off” (31). She is a sign of trouble, and her blocking the light foreshadows a terrible event that will occur with her. Soon, Curly’s wife will get Lennie into trouble when he ends up killing her, which causes a ripple of terrible events to follow. Carlson insists that Candy’s dog is worthless, smelly, and needs to be killed. Confident in his opinion, Carlson “[leads] the dog out into the darkness” (48). He takes Candy’s dog outside to shoot and kill him. Not only does the darkness foreshadow the murder of the dog, it also foreshadows the future murder of Lennie.
After careful consideration of light and dark, one can conclude that light symbolizes pleasurable memories and darkness foreshadows death. The crescent moon is the only light left in the gloomy, dim horizon. Hushed voices calm the minds from the tragedy that is known to
In the novel “Of Mice and Men”, we learned what loneliness is and how people in the 1930’s struggled with while being lonely. A major theme in the novel discusses the idea that people shouldn’t leave someone one out because being lonely can change their personality and their personal emotions. Steinbeck uses foreshadowing and symbolism to effectively express the theme by creating suspenses and an emotional connection to the characters and their dreams. Foreshadowing is used throughout the novel to show that something major is going to happen to someone or something.
Three of which are Candy’s dog, Lennie’s puppy and the rabbits that are often mentioned by Lennie. These three symbols all have a deeper meaning to the story than they perceive to have. John Steinbeck uses Candy’s dog, Lennie’s
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.
Mastery Assignment 2: Literary Analysis Essay Lee Maracle’s “Charlie” goes through multiple shifts in mood over the course of the story. These mood are ones of hope and excitement as Charlie and his classmates escape the residential school to fear of the unknown and melancholy as Charlie sets off alone for home ending with despair and insidiousness when Charlie finally succumbs to the elements . Lee highlights these shifts in mood with the use of imagery and symbolism in her descriptions of nature.
Throughout Steinbeck’s naturalistic novel, Of Mice and Men, He portrays two distinctively different men struggling to persevere and survive in an otherwise cruel world. Two migrant workers, George and Lennie thrive off the company of one another and the impossible dream that one day, they will acquire land and make a contented life for themselves. Through their friendship and constant hope for a better life, George and Lennie learn how to survive and cling to aspiration during the harsh Depression era. Steinbeck uses symbolism, irony, and characterization in his classic novel to illustrate the undying hope found in a desperate situation. Steinbeck uses symbolism to portray how people find hope in the direst situations.
In this chapter, the gloom is relieved by the hopeful planning of the three men — George, Lennie, and Candy — toward their dream. For the first time in his life, George believes the dream can come true with Candy's down payment. He knows of a farm they can buy, and the readers' hopes are lifted as well, as the men plan, in detail, how they will buy the ranch and what they will do once it is theirs. But while Steinbeck includes this story of hope, the preponderance of the chapter is dark. Both the shooting of Candy's dog and the smashing of Curley's hand foreshadow that the men will not be able to realize their
In John Steinbeck's novel, Of Mice and Men there is an ample amount of foreshadowing that is used to foretell upcoming events. Instead of using people's thoughts and dreams as tools of foreshadowing, he uses actual events to foretell future events. Steinbeck uses smaller scale situations to predict the outcomes of much more complex predicaments. The unique way he includes this literary device in the novel causes you to overlook some of the foreshadowing while reading, and then recognize its significance many chapters later.
Martin Luther King stated that “hatred paralyzes life; love releases it. Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life; love illuminates it.” Both love and hatred played a role in John Steinbeck’s novel, but in the end cruelty and hatred brought George and Lennie’s friendship to a tragic ending. Steinbeck wrote Of Mice and Men during the Great Depression of 1930’s.
”I shouldn’t oughtta let no stranger shoot my dog.” It was Candy’s dog like lennie is george's friend. These events show how Steinbeck uses foreshadowing to the event of Lennie’s death in the book Of Mice And
Darkness and music have given unusual prominence that emphasises the awful life in Harlem, and how music brought those two brothers together at the end of the story. Each symbol represents its own unique sign. The light used in many forms such as moonlight, spotlight, or even the light of the car. “There isn’t any other tale to tell, it’s the only light we’ve got in all this darkness” (James). Besides the fear, and despair of society in Harlem, the light seems to be glowing in the darkness, symbolizes a form of salvation and a moral life.
The book Of Mice and Men is full of puzzling examples of the human condition, from Lennie and his mental disability to Curley only caring about his social appearance. With characters like these two, the book exploits the human condition that concerns circumstances life has given you. John Steinbeck brings to life what being a laborer in the American depression meant to the men and one woman who had enough personality to stand out. Steinbeck shows the human condition of men while they survive in the American depression.
Desmond Tutu, a South - African social activist and retired Anglican priest once said “ Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness”. Of Mice and Men is a novel which revolves around the lives of struggling farmers and how they still maintain hope despite their hardships. The symbolic representation of light embodies the hopes and the American Dream, whereas the dark epitomizes the harsh realities and truths of their lives. Steinbeck uses light and dark to foreshadow the upcoming events in the forlorn lives of the migrant workers. He also combines aspects such as the setting and characters with light and dark to paint a vivid picture in the reader’s mind as to how the world of the migrant workers looks like.
The most significant symbol in “night” is the night in many cultures is a symbol of darkness a world without a god. In many cultures, people were not allowed to go out since it was believed that it was a place meant for the death and not for the living. During the day is where the cycle of life takes places and life grows and begins. During the night is a different situation because everything that may need the sun closes to its core making it look as if it were sad or as if it didn 't have a life anymore. The night plays a big role in this poem since it the main point why everything seems so lifeless.
Lonely Characters in Of Mice And Men Imagine a world where people didn’t really care what one said to another, and neither cared enough to ask each other questions. A place where everyone existed in silence, but were together at the same time. As portrayed in the novel, Of Mice And Men by John Steinbeck, in which Steinbeck’s idea of loneliness is isolation in silences. The author teaches the reader that friendship is mostly about conversation, and magnifies the effects of isolation through the eyes of Crooks, Curley’s wife and Candy.
In the end of the poem, to show her acceptance of the storm she uses an image of light in the dark. This is seen when Rich says, "The sky goes black," and, "set a match to candles sheathed in glass." The candle is used to combat the darkness of the two storms. The candle sheathed in glass represents the light inside of her. This light can be interpreted as a symbol of comfort.