Steinbeck portrays those with cognitive disabilities to his audience in a way that makes them seem uncivilized often comparing them to animals. He demonstrates that despite good intentions, those with cognitive disabilities often make mistakes and are forced to live with the consequences. Lennie Small plays a major role in propelling the plot forward. Described as large man with extremely limited cognitive capabilities, he often makes mistakes which from which he has consequences. George, his friend, is always the person he relies on to bail him out of trouble. In the beginning of the novel, Lennie grabs onto a young woman’s dress because he enjoys petting soft things but she becomes flustered yelling “rape”. This leads to a man hunt for Lennie but he and George are able to escape and find a job on a ranch bucking barley. Once there, Lennie falls victim to the harassment of the owners son, Curley, who begins to beat on him. After George prompts him to fight back, Lennie crushes Curley’s hand. Later on, there is a litter of
There is a significance between the poem, "To a Mouse," by Robert Burns and, "Of Mice and Men," by John Steinbeck. The poem," To a Mouse", is about a mouse that builds a nest in the winter, in a wheat field, only for it to be destroyed by a plough. The novel, Of Mice and Men is about two friends, George and Lennie, who are ranch workers during the Great Depression.
John Steinbeck uses meaningful diction to expose the different manners by which vile humans and humble animals benefit from the forest. In the first two paragraphs of Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck describes the magnificent nature before introducing humans to the scenery. The scene takes place in spring right after winter, when nature is blooming again and it is at its best. Then the transition is very contradicting as the author uses adverse diction to display the careless humans.
The initial paragraphs of John Steinbeck’s novella Of Mice and Men introduces Lennie and George, two men living on the road, in search of a job. Both men have dreams of their own and depend on each other in order to achieve them. George takes care of Lennie, who is mentally incapable, while Lennie provides company to George. These men wander around hoping to achieve the American Dream. They continue to go after it, without realizing that they will never be able to obtain it. Motifs such as lightness and darkness, light representing hopes and dreams while darkness representing reality continue to reinforce the theme of this novella: The American Dream is unachievable to people who are discriminated because of racism, sexism and ableism.
Symbols are a literary device used by authors to represent a deeper, complex meaning in their stories. The reader must understand how symbolism enriches and expresses the profound message behind the central theme of the text. In the novel, Of Mice and Men, George, a migrant worker, travels with his friend, Lennie, who is intellectually disabled. The reader follows George and Lennie as they get to know their co-workers including Candy, an old, crippled caretaker, Crooks, an intelligent, negro stable hand, and Curley’s wife, a lady desperate for attention and someone to talk to. These characters all face discrimination present in society. George tries to clean up the problems caused by Lennie and escape the consequences of Lennie’s lack of understanding. As Steinbeck uses setting as a symbolic element in Of Mice and Men, he addresses the societal issues of discrimination and segregation, transforms
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.
In the novel “Of Mice and Men” John Steinbeck portrays the theme of social injustice throughout the story in the lives of several characters that include Lennie, Curley’s Wife, and the stable buck, Crooks. All of these characters are mistreated in some way, shape or form. The hardships that these characters faced help guide us to see the social injustice that is prevalent in the story.
Robert Burns’s poems “To a Mouse” and “To a louse” are about a farmer who talks to a mouse and a man watching a louse in a woman’s hair. By looking at the names of the poems one would assume they might share a theme, a plot, or a style, however these poems share a contrast. In “To a Mouse” the farmer speaks to the Mouse as if they are equals. The farmer even praises the mouse for living such a simple life. However in “To a Louse” the man sitting behind the woman in church talks of the louse with pure disgust. The man expands upon how he could see the louse on some poor person or a homeless man, but not on someone wearing the “fine[st] Lunardi” (“To a Louse” l 35). In the poems “To a Mouse” and “To a Louse” the farmer and the mouse are viewed as equals while the lady and the louse are viewed as not equal by any stretch of the imagination.
Lennie cannot change his mental disability nor can Crooks change his race, but due to these inalterable characteristics, Lennie hurts others unintentionally, and Crooks is hurt by others. “Naturalism does not deal primarily with individuals in themselves, but rather with social groups, settings, or movements…”( ), which relates to the story, because Lennie’s actions not only affect him and his future, but the other characters in the book. In Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, the concept of naturalism is portrayed through the experiences of Lennie, Curley’s wife, and Crooks.
Ultimately, in Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck dehumanizes Lennie to the reader through the use of animal imagery, in order to allow the reader to justify Lennie’s death at the hands of his best friend, George as a warranted act of
John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men is a short novel that packs a punch and really looks back at America’s past and mistakes. Steinbeck paints a picture of the late 1920s and early 1930s through two men, George and Lennie. George looks after the mentally challenged Lennie and must take action by soon ending Lennie’s life. The characters in the novel all struggle with heartbreaking conflicts but, no one else suffers more than Lennie and George. These conflicts are often supported imagery in the text. Along with these elements, imagery supports characterization throughout the novel. These elements help to support the theme that chaos can occur in even the most peaceful places. In his novel, Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck uses conflict, imagery, and characterization to strengthen the story, and develop the theme in the novel.
Of Mice and Men is one of the most widely assigned modern novels in high schools because of both its form and the issues that it raises. John Steinbeck’s reliance on dialogue, as opposed to contextual description, makes the work accessible to young readers, as does his use of foreshadowing and recurrent images. Equally important is the way in which he intertwines the themes of loneliness and friendship and gives dignity to those characters, especially Lennie and Crooks, who are clearly different from their peers. By focusing on a group of lonely drifters, Steinbeck highlights the perceived isolation and sense of “otherness”
Steinbeck uses animal imagery to show how Lennie is helpless. When George and lennie seek out to find another job because of the incident that had happened
Humans and animals are more alike than most people would think. They often act the same way, and do similar things. Animal behaviors are used to describe humans and their actions, especially in literature. In John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, he uses naturalism to get his point across. Steinbeck uses animal imagery to emphasize power, including how Lennie has physical power over other people, George has power over Lennie, and Curley and his wife are seen as weak and helpless.
This essay is about The book Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck. The story is about two men, George and Lennie, who get a new job at a ranch, and how they go about their lives there, taking place in the early 1900s. I think that the author was successful in making Lennie a sympathetic Character.