Don’t you think the title Of Mice and Men is a weird title for a book about two guys going and working on a ranch? Well, it is a weird title until you know why. The word Mice in the title Of Mice and Men represents the false hope of a safe place for Lennie. [a]The title hints that mice are going to be an important part in this novel, except the first mouse that is encountered is a dead one. Finding out that the mouse is dead actually gives us clues about the story. “I wasn’t doin’ nothing bad with it, George. Jus’ strokin’ it” (Steinbeck 9). This piece from the novel helps us get a better understanding of Lennie, because since he kept the mouse as a pet it helps us understand that Lennie doesn’t care much about death and is more concerned about comfort. …show more content…
Later in the story he links mice to his Aunt Clara because his Aunt Clara gave him mice to pet to comfort him (that is actually all he remembers of her.) But in addition to this warm reminder, mice also shows how Lennie suffers from hurting what he loves. Lennie likes to pet things that are soft, which makes him kill mice, his own puppy, and even Curley's wife; which means that Lennie's happiness tend to lead to some sort of suffering. But just like Lennie, mice also suffer because they are small (A mouse is physically small, while Lennie is mentally small.) There are many reasons why John Steinbeck picked the title Of Mice and Men because there are many similarities about Mice and Lennie but there are also similarities about Men. Men are being referred to stronger people like George and Slim, but not everyone gets their way. Just like it says in the book “Should of knew,” George said hopelessly. “I guess maybe way back in my head I did” (Steinbeck 94). George had a joyful fantasy of owning his own farm, but just when he thought he had it all thought out something had to come along and ruin it. It is just like our lives- unpredictable and vulnerable to
George and Lennie were lifelong friends and had varying personalities even from the start. Lennie thought about how his Aunt Clara said he should have been more like George. At the time when the story took place, the two men were travelling together, and had been for some time, working and then moving on to search for the next job they could find. They were like many other men in search for work, except it was rare for men to travel together. George felt a need to take care of Lennie because he was somewhat slow. George was an average man of the time. He was a good size, nice, but firm, and he had aspirations to be more than just a nomadic laborer. Lennie, on the other hand, had always been a little different. He was big, goofy, clumsy, but sweet. They were also both good workers. George was concerned with working and getting his money before they got into trouble and had to leave camp. Lennie was the one who normally started the trouble. He was a hard worker and lived to appease George, but he got distracted easily which angered George. George told about how they would own a house and a farm together and work for themselves. Lennie loved to hear the story and think about the possibilities, even though nobody knew if any of it was a possibility. George and Lennie's differences in part led to George's inclination to kill Lennie. Despite their dissimilarity, the two men needed each other probably more than they realized.
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.
At the beginning of the story Lennie and his Living assistant George were walking through the woods to there new job location and George looks over and says “Well that's a dead mouse” (Steinbeck 5). Which then we start seeing that Lennie is unstable because he is walking with a dead mouse in his hand. Is this really a problem though? Lennie states that his aunt Clara use to always give him a mouse and maybe he isn't crazy but maybe he is missing his aunt Clara and the mouse is a symbol of love that him and his aunt Clara once had.
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.
“Well, you ain't pettin’ no mice while you walk with me” (Steinbeck 6). Lennie kills mice just by petting them. Lennie doesn't understand how strong he is and how easily he can kill things. It would benefit others if Lennie was not around. They could always find another strong man to work. Sadly, Lennie is just hopeless.
For starters, the title itself is a strong case of foreshadowing. Steinbeck alluded Of Mice and Men from To a Mouse by Robert Burns. To a Mouse follows the trilogy of a small rodent that the writer accidentally harmed whilst farming - so, of course, the accidental harm brought onto generally docile creatures is quite relevant. In this poem, we see quotes such as “your small house, too, in ruins; Its feeble walls the wind are
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.
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck is a riveting book which includes many intriguing scenes but one in particular is compelling. This is the scene where the readers witness the death of Curley’s wife. In the beginning of this scene, Lennie is sitting by himself in the barn mourning over the death of his puppy. He is trying to talk himself out of feeling guilty for killing his dog. Similar to all his pet mice, Lennie didn’t realize his own strength and killed it by accident. As he is talking to himself in the desolated barn, Curley’s wife sneaks in behind him. She kneels down next to him and attempts to start a normal conversation with him. As she is talking, she asks about the dead puppy and Lennie tells her his story. As Curley’s wife continues talking, she tells him about her dead acting career until Lennie begins talking about liking to pet soft things. Lennie’s hand ends up on her hair and when she jerks away afraid, his hand closed on her hair and hung on. As she began to yell, he covered up her mouth to muffle the noise. Once again Lennie, not knowing his own strength, managed to break Curley’s wife’s neck and eventually killed her. As Candy and George are coming into the barn, Lennie goes and hides knowing he did a bad deed. The scene ends with all the men leaving the barn to hunt down Lennie. This is a significant scene because of the culpability of multiple characters along with the significance of the scene in comparison to the rest of the novel.
The novel Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, is about two ranch hands, George and Lennie. George is a small, smart-witted man, while Lennie is a large, mentally- handicapped man. They are trying to raise enough money to buy their own ranch, by working as ranch hands. During the setting of the story, they are at a ranch whose owner’s name is Curley. It is in this setting that the novel reveals that the main theme is death and loss.
With his disability, he needs something to feel connected to. He loves to pet furry and soft things. In chapter one in “Of Mice and Men”, Lennie and George are walking along a dirt road, on there way to a ranch. George discovers Lennie playing with something in his pocket. Lennie states to George before the dead mouse was taken away. ““ I could pet it with my thumb while we walked along”” (Steinbeck 6) . In order to prove that Lennie is not smart enough to fulfill the American Dream, Steinbeck creates Lennie to seem as not normal as possible. Steinbeck places Lennie in a state, where he does not understand right from wrong. He does not know nor understand, that playing with a deceased critter is not only gross but unacceptable as a
Lennie to take care of. The next day George convinces the farm boss to hire
Curley's wife, an accident that seals his own fate and destroys not only his dreams but George's and Candy's as well. In the beginning Lennie used to pet mice that his Aunt Clara used to give him, he would always end up killing them because he didn't know his own strength. Lennie never killed any pet or person purposely; he pets too roughly and kills them accidentally. An example of his rough tendencies is in the first chapter (page7) when Lennie wants to keep a dead mouse and George wouldn't let him Lennie says" Uh-uh. Jus' a dead mouse, George.
An important component of this passage involves its connection to the title. The words “of mice and men” come from a poem by Robert Burns, entitled “To A Mouse.” The actual verse, in modern English, reads “The best-laid plans of mice and men/ Often go awry.” Steinbeck uses the dream farm as the “plans” mentioned in the poem. Lennie's causing the accidental death of Curley's wife cause his and George's plans to go awry. An interesting thing to note is the use of the phrase “best-laid plans” in the original poem. The dream farm of Lennie and George wasn't so much a plan as a hope the two had. The fact that things don't come together despite the fervent wishes of Lennie and George, and later on Candy, and to a lesser extent, Crooks, shouldn't be surprising to anyone who had previous knowledge of the poem, or the old adage “if you want to hear God laugh, tell him your plans.” However, there is also a double meaning in the title, highlighting the importance of mice in the lives of these men, Lennie and George. The mice act as a portent to the Lennie's deadly clumsiness, that becomes so very important later in the story.
The theme of power in prevalent in John Steinbeck’s ‘Of Mice And Men’ and is presented and developed in many different ways. Power is first established in the title, which introduces the recurring wrath of fate implying that men, like beast, are helplessly fated to live a disempowered and isolated life. Some however seek comfort in their powerful dreams, and companionship in their romanticised fraternal bonds, most notably that of Lennie and George, whose unconditional love for another leaves the reader with questions regarding their own morality. Steinbeck’s powerful prose, a strong single plot line over a short time span drives the tragic events forward, and his depiction of the foreshadowing natural world gives the novella a certain aspect of duality.