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In the novella “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck tells the story of two bestfriends who rely on one another to achieve their dreams. George and Lennie are in search of work during the 1930’s, and it’s not easy with Lennie’s mental illness. Throughout the story Lennie causes trouble for most of the characters, such as the time where he ended up killing Curley’s wife. In the novella Steinbeck expresses themes of visions of America, dreams,hopes, and plans,man and the natural world, friendship and justice. These themes are introduced through symbols like the dream farm,the characters such as George , and through the settings like the pool by the river.
Since the beginning of the story the dream farm has been introduced time and time again. The dream farm was a representation of dreams, hopes and
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plans, and visions of America. To George and Lennie the farm was their version of heaven. Crooks once said, “ Everybody wants a little piece of lan; I read plenty of books out here. Nobody everybody gets to heaven, and nobody gets no land. It’s just in their head”(Steinbeck 74). This supports the themes that owning land is a dream that almost every person wants and hopes for. Although there were doubters Lennie would always like to hear how they would,”..live off the fatta the lan”(14). Nevertheless like many others, George and Lennie still continued to work in order to accomplish their dreams. Like the dream farm the characters also represented something to.
George Milton was a representation of dreams, hopes and plans, visions of America, friendship,man and the natural world,isolation and justice. George believes in the ideal and learns that the strong takes advantage of the weak. George protects Lennie from those who take advantage of him, just like when they were in the bunkhouse George protected him from Curley and said, “Lennie ain't handy, but this Curley punk is gonna get hurt if he messes around with Lennie”(26).This shows how George believes in justice and his friendship with Lennie. As a result those in the bunkhouse at the time gained a greater respect for George for not backing down and standing up to Curley. Conclusion!!!
The setting introduced throughout the story, the pool by the river represents the theme of man and the natural world. The pool by the river is a safe sanctuary for our two main characters to get away and prepare for what is coming next. Before heading to the barn George tells Lennie, “Well, look Lennie-of you jus’ happen to get in trouble like you always done before, I want you to come right here an’ hide in the
brush”(15).
Many characters have hopes and dreams which they wish to accomplish. Of Mice and Men has two main characters that go through obstacles to get what they want. In the beginning it is George and Lennie running away trying to get a job. Once both George and Lennie have a job they try to accomplish their dreams. Unfortunately they both can't get their dreams to come true since lennie does the worst and George has to shoot Lennie. Steinbeck uses characterization, foreshadowing, and symbol as rhetorical strategies to make George's actions justified.
As George becomes aware of the situation he begins to ponder what will happen if Lennie gets away. George understands that Lennie would not be capable of providing for himself out in the wild. As George contemplates allowing Lennie to be free of all the men, he “[is] a long time in answering” (94). George is one of the few men who understands Lennie’s mental limitations, he knows Lennie would not remember how to survive and “the poor bastard’d starve” (94). He
Firsty, we can see that George represents the harshness of 1930s American society. This is shown mainly towards the end of the novella, when he is forced to end Lennie's life after Lennie killed Curley's
This is the farm that Geore and Lennie hope to own someday. Even though this
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.
The daily struggle of the working class, fear of loneliness and the reality of putting all your energy into plans that fail are the different themes relating to John Steinbeck's novel, "Of Mice and Men". The characters depicted by the author are individuals who are constantly facing one obstacle after another. The book illustrates different conflicts such as man versus society, man versus man, man versus himself and idealism versus reality. The book's backdrop is set in the Salinas, California during the depression. The two main characters include two men, George and Lennie. Supportive characters include a few ranch hands, Candy, Crooks, Curly, Slim and Carlson.
"A guy needs somebody--to be near him. A guy goes nuts if he ain’t got nobody. Don’t make no difference who the guy is, long’s he’s with you. I tell ya, I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an’ he gets sick." (Steinbeck 72-3). Being alone is one of the worst things I can possible think of. One of the themes in the book Of Mice and Men exemplifies this as the quote describes. Crooks, and the black stable buck, say this quote. He describes to Lennie the pain he goes through to live his life without anyone to talk to and to just be with. The other workers on the farm would not socialize with Crooks besides the horseshoes game the men would play in the evening. Otherwise Crooks would occupy his time alone, reading books. This does not make Crooks happy his books did not fulfill his needs socially. He needed another person to talk to, or just be with. It didn’t even matter whom, just a person. Lennie just happened to have been there for Crooks at that moment. Everyday people do not give enough consideration to those who live their lives without someone. Humans are social beings that need some kind of connection with others to function properly. Without a social bond a depressed state can overwhelmingly "down" a person. People also need the opportunity to brag to others a little. Curly’s wife in the same novel states the following, "Well I ain’t told this to nobody before. Maybe I ought’n to. I don’t like Curly. He ain’t a nice fella. Coulda been in the movies, an’ had nice clothes—all them nice clothes they wear" (Steinbeck 89). She feels the need to tell others how great she could have been and the hopes and dreams she may someday have. She shows her feelings of hope in life. This can relate to everyday students. College guys love to tell stories from the long weekends in college. It makes a person feel good when they can tell a story filled with sarcasm and excitement to make others get a feeling of admiration. Humans live for this type of self-fulfillment.
George started this novel with a dream of living an ideal life with Lennie. “We’re gonna live off the fatta the land,” he’d say. He wanted to go somewhere off the grid with Lennie so that they’d both be safe and not have to worry about other people or Lennie getting in trouble. He wants to escape the harshness of the world that the two live in so that they can both be safe and happy. “I’d be bringin’ in my own crops ‘stead of doing all the work and not getting what comes outta the ground,” he hopes to leave the life of the migrant worker and own his own ranch and be his own boss. As the novel goes on he realises that any of this is probably not possible. No matter how much he saves up he will never be able to get enough money to buy and sustain his dream farm and Lennie is going to keep getting in trouble.
First, George makes sure that his fellow traveler does not get caught by the law. For example, George must keep Lennie and himself from getting caught after Lennie was accused of rape. When Lennie spots a girl in a red velvet dress he wants to touch it because he loves to touch soft things. When he touches the soft dress the girl screams and screams which makes Lennie become petrified. Since Lennie isn't the brightest bulb he can only think to hold on. When George comes over he smacks Lennie over the head with a fence picket. Then that girl goes blabbin to the law about how she has been raped so the law comes after George and Lennie. George then runs away with lennie and they hide in an irrigation ditch all day to keep away from the authorities.(Steinbeck 41-42) Second, George tries to stand up for Lennie the best he can against people who could mess with Lennie. For instance, Curley comes strolling into the bunkhouse on the very first day Lennie and George arrive. Curley asks if anyone had seen his father. Candy responds saying that Curleys dad was here just a minute ago. Before Curley goes he scans George and Lennie and stops on Lennie. Curley clenches his fists and lowers his stance, Curley asks if Lennie and George were the new guys. Obviously George answers, but Curley wants Lennie to speak. George won't let that happen and steps up and says “what if he doesn't want to talk”. Curley whirls around and exclaims that Lennie has
In the 1930's, the drought across the US forced many people to travel west to find jobs, and save up money to buy a piece of land to rebuild their lives. They travel from place to place seeking jobs and acceptance during the depression. This is how it was for George and Lennie in the novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck because they travel around looking for work and land, and hoping to find a place where they're accepted. In Of Mice and Men, George and Lennie have a dream, and already have a plan ready, but as the story continues, things quickly go wrong. First, Lennie accidentally breaks Curley's hand, then kills both his puppy and Curley's wife. Because George attempts to cover up Lennie's actions, things fall apart for him too. In the story Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck uses Characterization, foreshadowing, and irony to prove that dreams grow out of being true to oneself at all times. First,
George and Lennie were never lonely. “Guys like us...are the loneliest guys in the world...With us it ain’t like that.”(Steinbeck 13-14) George and Lennie are always together. George stays with Lennie, even through the hardest times. Being a farmhand was a very solitary job. It was impossible to maintain relationships, but George and Lennie never leave each other's side. They were true friends to be able to travel together. Their love and friendship kept them together, even in circumstances where that was a rare occurrence. Lennie needed George, and in a way, George needed Lennie. Neither could live the same life without the other. Lennie always gave George trouble, but he stayed. “You do bad things...You keep me in hot water all the time,”(Steinbeck 11). George knew he could have left at any time, but he loved Lennie, so he stayed. Lennie did things that got him in trouble, and George felt he needed to protect Lennie, so he risked life and limb to keep Lennie safe. George was always watching out for things Lennie might do wrong, and always trying to teach him what he should and shouldn’t do. Lennie didn’t understand, so George was always in a dangerous situation as long as he was around Lennie. But he always stuck by him, up until the gruesome end. George could have lived a normal life without Lennie. “...if I was alone I could live so easy,”(Steinbeck 11). George lived a very different life to anything he could
In the novel, “Of Mice and Men” John Steinbeck examines the relationship between the two main characters, George Milton and Lennie Small. He described them as displaced migrant ranch workers, aspirating to obtain a piece of the American Dream. Steinbeck defines the American Dream as, owning a piece of land, obtaining financial stability and breaking the cycle of Lennie’s destructive behavior. Therefore, the contributing factors that led to George killing Lennie are, as follows: a) Lennie was mentally handicapped, who could not control his desires to touch soft things (i.e. either dead or alive); b) Lennie’s acts of violence progressively worsen; c). Lastly, the climactic event of the novel proved Lennie was out-of-control. He violently attacked Curley’s wife, breaking her neck that
Although people may have the best intentions and carefully-laid plans, factors outside their control can prohibit their dreams from becoming reality. Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck introduces main characters George and Lennie, who are put through a journey together leading to meet Curley’s wife and a few others. As time on the ranch continues both men experience ups and downs affecting most of the characters they meet. Tensions are built, lies are spread, and dreams get crushed and Curley's Wife is involved with all of them . Through the character(s) of Curly Wife, Steinbeck shows that issues outside the control of an individual often limit the achievement of an individual’s dreams.
The connection between George and Lennie illustrates the adversity during their course towards achieving the American dream. Things Lennie did, either on accident or purpose, foreshadowed what was going to happen in the book and the way people acted impacted this. Like millions of other people, George and Lennie were affected during the great depression heavily, and dreamt of owning land of their own. They worked from place to place making barely any money, and didn’t have a real home. To add to this, Lennie got in trouble a lot and in the end George had to make the crucial decision to shoot Lennie so he wouldn’t have to deal with any more difficulty. George knew he had to do what was best for Lennie and himself.
In a society, everyone has dreams and hopes for their future, but they may not always come true. John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men is an insightful story that embodies an important message about human desires. Dreams and hopes will be shattered in the face of reality. The relationships between the two main characters, George and Lennie, as well as the character of Curley’s wife’s, support this them. The message can also be seen through the use of setting and symbols in the text.