Animal Imagery In John Steinbeck's 'Of Mice And Men'

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Of Mice and Men Essay Draft

“Slowly, like a terrier, who doesn’t bring a ball back to its master. Lennie approached, drew back, approached again” (ch1, p7) wrote the author. John Steinbeck’s novella Of Mice and Men, he uses animal imagery through Lennie Small. He has a mental disability that prevents him from interacting and communicating with humans on a normal level. His inability to communicate effectively has led into dangerous situations for him and his friend George. John Steinbeck uses animal imagery to convey the idea that humans who are outsiders are often treated as animals.

Lennie’s innocence and inability to recognize his own strength is shown through his interaction with the mice. Lennie intends to innocently and affectively …show more content…

Rabbit imagery is used to show the wishful thinking of how the relationship between Lennie and George will end. To illustrate their relationship, John Steinbeck uses rabbits to demonstrate their dreams of having their own piece of land. Occasionally, Lennie will have George tell him about the piece of land they will buy, just to make him feel good about themselves. From the beginning to the end of the novella, the author John Steinbeck has the image of rabbits repeated as a reminder to the readers. “No place for rabbits now, but I could easy build a few hutches and you could feed alfalfa to the rabbits” (ch3, p57). The rabbits are going to have their own place, live peacefully in the hutches George is planning to build. Since Lennie will be the one to take care of the rabbits they would not have anything to do, they will basically be living a peaceful life. Through the rabbits Lennie and George are considered as outsiders by the other farm workers, as they are the only pair of men to travel together and to think they would be able to take possession of their dream land within a month. The use of rabbits is to emphasize the relationship between two

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