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Symbolism in of mice and men essay
An Analysis of the Theme of the Novel of Mice and Men
The theme of death used in literature
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The story opens with two men, George and Lennie, walking to a farm where they are set to begin work the next morning. The men become tired from their walking, find a lake, and decide to rest. They begin to talk and it is shown through their discussions that George is in charge of the two men, making all the decisions, and that Lennie is very childlike. George notices that Lennie keeps sticking his hand into his jacket pocket and knowing his friend, tells Lennie to hand whatever is in his pocket over. Lennie obliges and takes a dead mouse out of his pocket explain that he was petting it because it was soft. This angers George who snatches the mouse and throws it across the lake complaining that without Lennie he would have a worry free life. After he calms down, George tells Lennie that if anything bad happens at the new farm the spot where they are now is to be where Lennie should run off to and hide in with George following. Lennie says that he wouldn’t forget then proceeds to ask George to tell what their dream farm is going to be like and about the rabbits. George obliges and eventually the two men fall asleep.
The next morning the two make it to the new farm later than expected and slightly annoys the owner. The owner begins to question the two men, but only Goerge answers because George told Lennie not to speak. This makes the new owner suppositious of Lennie and threatens to lower his wages, but George defends Lennie saying that Lennie isn’t smart but is a great worker. The owner hires the two men and tells them to go put their belongs down in the bunkhouse.
Once in the bunkhouse, George and Lennie meet Candy, an old “swamper” who is missing a hand and has an old sheepdog. Next the men meet Curly, the boss’s son. Curly...
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...rch for Lennie, which George joins. The men take off in search for Lennie.
George discovers Lennie in the spot that he told Lennie to run to when trouble comes about on the farm. George and Lennie talk and Lennie tells George to not be anger at him for he meant no trouble. George says he understands and Lennie asks if he could still care for the rabbits on the new farm. George agrees and begins to describe the dream farm to Lennie. While talking, George shots Lennie in the head. The lynch party hears the shot and finds George with Lennie’s dead body. When the other men arrive, George lets them think that he was forced to kill Lennie because Lennie attack him. Slim consoles George, understanding that Lennie’s attack on George never happened, knowing that George killed his friend out of mercy. Slim and George leave while the other man stand looking at Lennie’s body.
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
When Lennie and George first get to the ranch, the boss starts to ask them questions. George answers all of them, even if they were asking Lennie. He knows that if Lennie talks, he might say what happened to Weed (Steinbeck 22). The boss, at the new farm, thinks that George only wants to take Lennie's money. But George tells him that he only wants to take care of Lennie.
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.
The movie of Of Mice and Men had many differences while still giving the same message that the book was portrayed to have. One of the major differences was that Candy never came into the room when Lennie and Crooks were talking to each other. This was major because Crooks never found out that the plan was true about the little house. In the book after he heard Candy talk about it he wanted to get in on the deal. Also the movie it never showed Lennie have his illusions of his Aunt Carla and the rabbits when he was waiting by the pond.
Curly is the bosses son and takes full advantage of it by picking on the other workers especially Lennie. He likes to lie and gets angry easily. He's not very confident especially in his wife because he thinks that she's cheating on him.
George begins to hear the footsteps of the other men. To prevent the men from killing Lennie, George decides he has to kill Lennie himself. The scene is almost parallel to when Carlson shot Candy’s dog and Candy regretted that he did not kill his dog himself, but allowed a complete stranger to do it. As George talks to Lennie about the dream farm, “.[George] raised the gun and steadied it, and he brought the muzzle of it close to the back of Lennie’s head. He pulled the trigger.
Disappointment is someone being sad or mad about something they have done or failed to do. Disappointment can be caused by other people’s actions. In the book “Of Mice And Men” by John Steinbeck, the characters of Crooks, Candy, and Curly’s wife all suffer from disappointment of life. Crooks suffer from disappointment from how nobody wants to play or talk to him just because he is black. Also Curly’s Wife suffers because women don’t have that much of rights so she gets treated badly. Candy gets also treated badly because he is old and only has one hand to use so he can’t do that much work. All of the people in the book get treated badly because the book “Of Mice and Men” is made during the time period that the great depression was so there wasn’t that much of rights towards women and black people.
Should George have shot his friend Lennie? George probably did the right thing by shooting Lennie. How can we condemn George for sparing his friend Lennie the pain and fear of being killed by someone else? He did something society sees as wrong, but he did it for a good reason. Lennie didn’t deserve to die, but there was no other alternative. Curley wanted to kill Lennie, and since George cared for Lennie, he figured the best thing would be for him to put Lennie out of his misery.
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.
I have been analysing the novella ‘Of Mice and men’ by John Steinbeck, which was published in 1937. Steinbeck wrote the novel based on his own experiences as a bindle stiff in the 1920’s, around the same time when the great Wall Street crash happened, causing an immense depression in America. Throughout the novel he uses a recurring theme of loneliness in his writing, which may have reflected his own experiences at this time. This is evident in his writing by the way he describes the characters, setting and language in the novel.
images he leaves the reader with is George and Slim walking off as Curly says “ Now
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.
Of Mice and Men is a novel written by John Steinbeck. It is set in California during the great depression. The story follows two ranch hands who travel together and are very poor. Throughout the novel we witness many different philosophical references. Many different types of characters from this novel are reused in today’s society. Steinbeck also writes eloquently about the many different emotions, aspirations, and dreams of man.
...the story that Lennie longs hear about their farm they are working to buy. While George is telling Lennie their plans George, because he truly loves Lennie shoots Lennie painlessly in the back of the head. When Lennie died he died with the happy thought of the dream of the farm they wanted to own someday. So, in the end, George sacrificed a better life for himself in the name of loyalty for a friend.