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Symbolism in the novel the by John Steinbeck
Symbolism in the novel the by John Steinbeck
John Steinbeck has extensively used symbolism in his novels, discuss
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In the book, Of Mice and Men, written by John Steinbeck, a mentally unstable character, named Lennie, commits a crime out of fear. This situation presents his closest friend, George, with a moral dilemma as to whether or not he should put his mentally disturbed friend out of his misery while making us think what we would do in a similar situation. Steinbeck presents the moral dilemma and its resolution mainly through characterization, conflict, and foreshadowing. This text deals with the value of life and the moral issue of whether or not a human should be able to take life away from another human due to their suffering. Steinbeck gives very thorough details when describing the two main protagonists, Lennie and George. He describes Lennie as a tall, …show more content…
intimidating character with a child-like mind that gives the readers a hint at his mental disability. Due to this disability, Lennie is always creating unintentional trouble that has them constantly relocating jobs and cities. On the contrary, George is described as a mentally sane person who is the guardian of Lennie. Throughout the story, the author manages to reveal to the readers that George is Lennie’s voice of reason who is consistently getting Lennie out of predicaments. As a matter of fact, this whole story begins with George and Lennie absconding due to the fact that Lennie was an accused sex offender back in the town of Weed. He touched a girl’s dress to feel the material but did not realize how similar that would look to a sex offender's action. After they fled the scene, George was clearly annoyed with Lennie but did not really focus on it too much since he took Lennie’s innocent and gentle nature into account. He just wanted what was best for Lennie’s future which is why he uses the only thing Lennie has going for him: his magnificent physical attributes that make him a competent laborer. After fleeing from Weed, George and Lennie stumble across a ranch in the Salinas Valley.
As they arrive to the ranch, conflict immediately arises when the boss and the boss’ son appear. The main source of the conflict, however, originates from the boss’ son, Curley. Curley is described, by the other men, as someone who dislikes tall, muscular people like Lennie. Lennie, being the gentle, timid giant he is, clearly had absolutely no intention of creating problems with Curley. Curley, however, had other ideas in mind. Later, Curley’s wife appears in the text. Many of the men dislike her because she is described as being a “bitch” and a “tramp.” Additionally, since she is Curley’s wife, many are advised to stay away from her. George even tells Lennie that he has to stay away from her as best as possible because she emits a troublesome personality. Towards the end of the book, however, Curley’s wife tries to become a bit friendly towards Lennie. She tells him to stroke her hair but, unfortunately, he strokes it too hard and ends up snapping her neck out of fear. Lennie escapes the scene but Curley is determined to hunt Lennie down and kill him. However, in a turn of events, it is not Curley who kills Lennie, it is
George. This does not come as a surprise to many readers due to the fact that a brief moment in the middle of the passage foreshadows this moral dilemma that George is faced. In the middle of the passage, one of the workers in the ranch, named Candy, owns an extremely old dog with many health issues that cause it pain. It even whimpers as it walks so this causes another worker, named Carlson, to tell Candy it would be best for him to put his dog out of misery because it seems as though the dog is in an increasing amount of pain every day it lives. Candy reluctantly agrees so he tells Carlson to shoot the dog in the back of its head to put it out of its misery. This situation is extremely similar to the one George was facing when he had the choice to kill Lennie. George must have known it was too late to save him and this would not be the last time Lennie commits an unintentional crime. It also does not help that a huge crowd of men were after Lennie’s life as well. George knew the only option left for Lennie was death. This was the moral dilemma George was faced with: to kill Lennie, or not to kill Lennie. George chose to kill Lennie. This moral dilemma even affects us, the readers. In a similar situation, I probably would have done the same thing George did. Lennie was destined to die regardless of what option George chose. The only difference, however, was that the crowd that was after him probably would have killed him in a harsher and more painful way whereas George ended Lennie with a single bullet shot. Lennie had no other option but to die because who said he would have stopped committing crimes right then? It is clear that Lennie would still keep committing these unintentional crimes and I am positive George realized that which is why he had to terminate one of his closest friends. Regardless if morality comes into play, this literary artwork deals with the value of a life and the morals that come into play when someone is destined to die.
Would you be able to kill your lifelong companion? George Milton had to make that choice in John Steinbeck’s novella, Of Mice and Men. After a whole bunch of misadventures with his mentally handicapped giant, Lennie Small. Lennie accidently murdered a woman out of innocence. While the ranch men search for Lennie, George made the decision to give Lennie a merciful death. I believe that George should have killed Lennie because he would have been put in an institution, Curley would have been cruel to him, and George had to give him a merciful death.
As we journey through life, we must make difficult decisions, even when few options exist and the situation is grim. In John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, the decision George faces after Lennie accidentally kills Curley’s wife is complicated, as none of his choices are good. The importance of his relationship with Lennie forces George to look at the big picture and act in Lennie’s best interests, even though the action he must finally take will result in a weight that he will carry forever.
She flirts with the other characters on the ranch but they pay her no attention either. This essay will go on to look at the character of Curley's wife and how characters perceive her. When first introduced to Curley's wife in the novel she comes into the bunkhouse, when both Lennie and George are in there. She is apparently looking for Curly but she already knows that new men have arrived.
This passage comes from the fourth chapter in Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck. George and the other workers are “gone into town” (69). Lennie, Crooks and Candy are the only men remaining on the ranch. This excerpt characterizes Crooks and promotes the themes of loneliness and dreams. In addition, this passage characterizes Lennie and reinforces the theme of companionship.
Lennie dreams of living on a wide open ranch with George where he tends to the fluffy little rabbits he loves so much. Nevertheless, Lennie sadly never reaches his ultimate goal as his flaw finally becomes his fatal flaw. Lennie kills Curley 's wife by shaking her so hard that her neck breaks. He does not kill her on purpose but Lennie does not know his own strength. He is only shaking her like that because he wants her to stop yelling.
The moment that Curley's wife was introduced, an ill feeling overcomes the atmosphere indicating that Lennie will be getting into a mess with her. George states in the very beginning that he is always getting into mishaps, "You do bad things and I got to get you out," (p.11). The situation in Weed involved a girl and Curley's wife just happened to be the only girl on the ranch. Connecting ends with ends, there is a sense of insecurity between these two people. Later on, there was an intimation that she was going to be killed by Lennie because he killed the mouse and the puppy, leading to bigger deaths such as Curley's wife.
Difficult decisions are made by everyone, in fact, they are a factor of life. Within John Steinbeck’s novella Of Mice and Men one of the characters, George, was pressured to quickly decide on a life changing event. That decision being too kill his friend Lennie or, as a result, let him die at the hands of somebody else, someone who wanted to harm him. As George knew, Lennie’s requisite death was needed in order to protect him. George’s decision was the appropriate decision considering that Lennie was a danger to himself and others; furthermore, George acted out of love.Therefore, by killing his friend George protected his companion as well as numerous others.
Curley’s wife shows her sympathetic side when she comforts Lennie after he kills the dog. She tells Lennie, “Don’t you worry none” (87). This quote demonstrates trying to connect with someone on the ranch; in this case it is Lennie. She tells him he is not a bad person and tries to keep his dream of tending the rabbits alive. She also says, “You can get another one easy” (87). This quote shows that she is a compassionate human being despite the constant judgment of her personality. Because Curley’s wife is comforting Lennie, he calms down and starts listening to her. Moreover, despite ...
"OF MICE AND MEN IS A NOVEL WHICH EXPLORES THE BURDENS OF RESPONSIBILITY AS MUCH
Curley's wife is reprehensible for Lennie's death. For example, if Curley's wife had not bothered Lennie after being told several times that Lennie was not supposed to talk to her and also, if she had not gone ballistic about her hair, she would not have died and neither would have Lennie. For example, when Lennie is alone in the barn with the pups, Curley's wife comes in and Lennie clearly states that he is not allowed to talk to her for the reason that George told him not to and Curley's wife says, “‘Why can't I talk to you? I never get to talk to nobody. I get awful lonely.’ Lennie said, ‘Well I ain't supposed to talk to you or nothing’” (86). This shows how Curley’s wife knew that George was going to get mad, but she talked to Lennie anyway, not caring what would
Furthermore, Lennie is captivated by her alluring beauty and cannot take his eyes off her, constantly mentioning that "she's purty". George, recognising Lennie's intoxication, cautions him to keep his distance from this temptress. Moreover, Curley's wife understands that her magnetising beauty is the main reason control and her authority, and she fully deploys it to seduce the other ranch hands and make her husband jealous of her, which in turn gives her attention. However, she is completely isolated on the ranch and her husband has made it so that no one will talk to her without having a fistfight with the man.
...mass of emotions between the men, the conflict of killing Lennie. And Curley finally showed some caring emotion “I know who done it.” “That big son-of-a-bitch done it” Is when he begins to show the love for his wife. Curley talks about going to kill Lennie, which shows that his wife may have been a big part of his life a nothing is going to replace her.
In the novel Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck brings out the themes of Lonliness and companionship, and strengths and weaknesses through the actions, and quotations of the characters. Irony and foreshadowing play a large roll on how the story ends. Lennie and his habit of killing things not on purpose, but he is a victim of his own strength. George trying to pretend that his feelings for Lennie mean nothing. The entire novel is repetitive in themes and expressed views.
Curley’s wife, is the only one in the story that is given no actual name, she is just known as “Curley’s wife.” She is the only female on the ranch. The book speaks of how she is fare and beautiful, but is a bit of a tease. Throughout the whole novel she is always looking for Curley, all the men on the ranch view her as Curley’s property. Candy describes her to George and Lennie as a tart (Miller).This term “a tart” is just a way of saying that she is unfaithful to her marriage, and has a sexual way about her. She is always seeking for attention from all the other men. Towards the end of the story she sees Lennie in the barn sitting on the ground leaning over what was his puppy, so she goes in and sits next to him; she leans over and begins telling him about how her life would have been if she wasn’t on the ranch. She spoke highly of herself, telling how she would have been in movies and wore nice clothes (Steinbeck 89). Lennie had been mesmerized by her from the start; she began teasing him by describing how soft her hair was, only because she knew that he loved soft things, she takes Lennie’s hand and says “Here, feel right here.”(Steinbeck 90) At this point Lennie got carried away and wouldn’t let go of her hair, she began to scream telling him to let go. Lennie panics, He tries to tell her not to scream but all she does is gets louder; he had no clue what to do at this point, he ends up holding her down and killing her by snapping her neck. George told Lennie at the very beginning of the story that if anything happens and he gets in trouble to go and hide near the bushes at the pond until he arrives. Lennie in fear runs away from the scene to that exact
In the great work, Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck makes clear that George is faced with many struggles. Steinbeck writes of a character that has many internal and external conflicts. Yet, through those conflicts, the reader learns the purpose of the novel; what the true meaning of friendship