Of Mice And Men Nature And Animals Essay

The Significance of Animals and Nature

Humans, whether they realize it or not, use animals and nature to represent others and to reveal true emotions. In the book, Of Mice and Men, animals and nature symbolize good, evil, and other people and foreshadow events. By representing many elements, it forces the reader to create connections between people, recent or future events and the nature itself. Steinbeck slowly turns the nature and animals into their own character throughout the book. These figures’ role in the book is to foreshadow events and show how people truly feel about each other. Three figures emerge as being chiefly important: the brush, Candy’s old dog, and Lennie’s puppy. All three of these figures provide the reader with insight into the tragic lives of ranchers.

The importance of the role of nature is evident in the beginning of the story. The brush in which Lennie and George arrive is immediately described as “golden foothill slopes…green with every spring” (Steinbeck 1). Spring is the season of birth and new life. The use of spring shows that Lennie and George are receiving

a new beginning. The brush setting is described as being peaceful, warm, and full of life, similar to that of the biblical Garden of Eden or Garden of God. The Garden of Eden is filled with happiness and innocence and no death occurs in the garden. The fact that Steinbeck describes the brush using similar qualities as the Garden of Eden shows that he want the brush to be a safe place where no one can be harmed, unless one bad decision is made. Later in the book, the brush is described as having, “A silent head and beak lanced down and plucked it [water snake] out by the head, and the beak swallowed the little snake while its tail waived frantically” (Steinbeck 99). The sudden death of the snake in a place where death has never been portrayed proves that now tragedy can occur in the brush. When compared to the Garden of Eden, it is similar to after Eve eats the forbidden apple. In both the brush and Eden, death can occur due to the betrayal of the rules. Also, at the end of the book, Lennie “looked off across the pool and up the darkening slopes of the Gabilans” (Steinbeck 105). This statement further proves that nature foreshadows event in the book. In the beginning of the book, when the garden represented all things good, the mountains were described as golden foothill slopes. Now, when the garden has experienced death, the brush begins to darken, which shows that something tragic is about to happen. This proves that the brush’s role in the book is to foreshadow events.
As previously stated, nature and animals also represent other people and how people feel about each other. In the book, Carlson states, “That dog ain’t no good to himself. I wisht somebody’d shoot me if I got old an’ a cripple” (Steinbeck 45). In this statement, Candy is parallel to the old dog because both of them are old and crippled. This statement shows how the ranchers truly feel about Candy. Carlson thinks that Candy is useless and has no purpose on the ranch, just like the old dog. Carlson even notes that Candy could easily and quickly get a new dog. This shows that life on the ranch is not valued and that ranchers could be quickly and easily replaced. This also shows that the old dog is used to show people’s true emotions towards one another.
Throughout the book, Steinbeck uses dogs as parallels. Lennie’s dead puppy is parallel to Curley’s wife. The puppy’s passing immediately before the wife shows up foreshadows death. Lennie says, “I was just jus’ playin’ with him… an’ he made like he’s gonna bite me… an’ I made like I was gonna smack him … an’ … an I done it. An’ then he was dead” (Steinbeck 87). This quotation proves that Lennie cannot handle being alone with living beings. It shows that he needs constant supervision, and when he does not, he gets into trouble. In both situations, the dogs provide insight to the difficulties of life on the ranch and shows how much other care. The puppy is a parallel to Curley’s wife because both the puppy and the wife had no control over the situation, which is what caused them to die. Also, both the puppy and the wife cause Lennie to become scared, and when Lennie is scared, he does not realize his own strength. The puppy drives the narration forward, further proving that dogs are parallels.
Referring to the previous, animals and nature, specifically the brush, old dog, and puppy, are used to represent good, evil, and other people.

In the beginning of the book, the brush represents the Garden of Eden or the Garden of God. The brush is used as a safe place where no one can get hurt or injured. Towards the end of the book, the brush still represents the Garden of Eden, but it represents the garden after Eve bit the apple. Now, death can occur at any given moment. Further into the book, the puppy parallels the wife and the old dog parallels Candy. The old dog reveals how ranchers truly feel about each other and the puppy foreshadows events. Steinbeck turned the animals and the nature into characters within the book to reveal what people’s emotions and fates. Even the smallest water snake can provide insight into the future, whether it be tragic or

beneficial.

Work Cited
Steinbeck, John. Of Mice and Men. New York: Penguin, 1993. Print.