Of Mice And Men Rhetorical Analysis

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. Although George and Lennie
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One instance is when Lennie kills the mouse at the beginning of the story merely by stroking it too hard. He is gentle at heart and states that he simply enjoys to, “pet it with my thumb while we walked along” (Steinbeck 7). Although, because of Lennie’s strength, the mouse dies as a result of his affection for it. Furthermore, the mouse is similar to Lennie’s fascination with tending the rabbits in the dream farm. He clings to the hope that he will one day be able to tend to some rabbits of his own, but his innocence and obsession with soft things is what results in his death in the end. Another instance when Steinbeck uses dramatic irony in the novel is when George kills Lennie because of their friendship. He knows that if he does not do it himself, then Lennie will face a much worse death by the hand of someone who does not care how much pain he feels. Although, George only realizes how much Lennie means to him after he is dead, and Lennie’s death releases him of responsibility as he states, “If I was alone I could live so easy”, and “I could get a job an’ not have no mess” (Steinbeck 101). Although George is finally free, he is lonely, and the dream of the farm dies along with Lennie. It is the one thing that solidifies their friendship, but without the other, the dream loses its purpose. Steinbeck illustrates the hopefulness found in a harsh reality and
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George and Lennie share an unbreakable bond, despite their contrasting appearances and personalities with George being “small and quick”, while Lennie is “a huge man, shapeless of face, with large pale eyes and sloping shoulders” (Steinbeck 2). Even though they are so different, their personalities complement each other, and their undying friendship gives them hope and companionship in their desperate situations as migrant workers. Furthermore, throughout the novel, it is apparent that George takes care of Lennie through every obstacle he finds himself in, even though he is incapable of doing the same for George. Steinbeck also characterizes Lennie as innocent and animalistic to connect him to nature. He compares Lennie to animals in the barn describing the way he drinks water as, “snorting into the water like a horse”, and saying he “dabbled his big paw in the water” (Steinbeck 4-5). By giving Lennie these childish and animalistic qualities, Steinbeck is illustrating how his immaturity causes him to get into trouble and distances him from the other workers. Although, through all of Lennie’s mistakes, George stays with him because he needs his companionship as much as Lennie does as it brings them both hope and strength in their desperate situations as migrant workers during the