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Of mice and men literary analysis conclusion
Of mice and men literary analysis conclusion
Of mice and men literary analysis conclusion
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Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck John Steinbeck was born on 27 Feb 1902 in Salinas, California, not far from the area where Of Mice and Men is set. He attended Stanford University, but never settled to one area of study and left without obtaining a degree. In his twenties, he pursued a varied working life, including that of an itinerant ranch worker, similar to the characters portrayed in the novel. His early writings had some success, and established him as an author interested in social problems. 'Of Mice and Men' was first published in 1937, and was immediately successful, earning Steinbeck a wide reputation. Steinbeck enjoyed even greater success with the full-length novel The Grapes of Wrath (1939), which won him the Pulitzer Prize in 1940. He wrote a number of other novels such as Cannery Row and In Dubious Battle, as well as Short Stories such as The Red Pony and The Pearl. The latter two stories are frequently studied as school texts. However, most critics agree that Steinbeck's later works don't quite match up to his earlier efforts. Nevertheless, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962 "...for his realistic as well as imaginative writings, distinguished by a sympathetic humour and a keen social perception.". Steinbeck died 20 Dec 1968. Overall Plot. George and Lennie are two migrant American labourers, who share a dream; that one day they may buy a farm, and Lennie will be able to take care of the rabbits. Although Lennie is physically very strong and has the body of a man, he has the mind of a child. The two men arrive on a ranch near the town of Soledad, where they are about to start work as barley buckers. On arriving there, they meet Candy, an old o... ... middle of paper ... ...il the 'sof' things' that Lennie pets in the novel, showing that the petting grows more serious as the novel goes on. Describe in some detail the incident where Lennie crushes Curley's hand. What does this incident reveal about each of these two characters? While Curley is physically aggressive towards Lennie, his wife is sexually provocative. Show how these two characters create trouble for Lennie, and combine to cause his death. Many people in the novel suffer from disappointment. Choose any three of the following characters and discuss what reasons they have to be disappointed about their life: Crooks - Curley - George - Candy Which character do you feel most sorry for in this story? Explain your choice by referring closely to the events of the novel. Slim is the only character in the novel who is not handicapped in some way. Do you agree?
“The best laid schemes o’ mice and men, Gang aft agley often go wrong, And leave us nought but grief and pain, For promised joy!” Robert Burn’s quote makes us believe that even the best laid out plans for joy often go wrong and brings us grief and pain. George and Lennie’s plan was for a better future. The future where they didn’t take commands from someone; where they took care of themselves. As George and Lennie keep talking about the farm and more people joining in on the plan, it looks like it might happen. But with the foreshadowing through this quote: “Look, Lennie. I want you to look around here. You can remember this place, can’t you? The ranch is about a quarter mile up that way. Just follow the river. (15)” This quote foreshadows Lennie messing up and it creating a larger gap between the dream farm and them. When Lennie kills Curley's wife, the idea of the dream farm slowly starts to disappear. As George finds out about what had happen, he realizes that plan for a farm was just an idea, an illusion. “—I think I knowed from the very first. I think I knowed we’d never do her. He usta like to hear about it so much I got to thinking maybe we would”
George's dream is to have a ranch of his own and Lennie's dream is to have, as mentioned earlier, a farm filled with rabbits. Lennie's hope for his dream is influenced whenever George starts describing his dream farm in explicit detail, such as how the fields are going to look, what animals they will own, what the daily routine will be etc. This farm symbolizes happiness and salvation, especially for Lennie, since he understands that the farm is his ticket to getting rabbits. In fact, the reason why he forgets George's orders is because he cannot stop thinking about his rabbits. A farm has basically become Lennie's version of heaven. This relates to how people always long for something to the point of where it becomes like heaven, a place where happiness lasts forever. Unfortunately, the rabbits symbolize false hope. For instance, Lennie holds a dead mouse and a dead puppy all for the same reason: he killed them. His love for petting soft creatures only causes trouble for himself. So if he owns a lot of rabbits, it is more than likely that they will all die because of Lennie. The rabbits, to Lennie, are things that seem like they will bring him true happiness, when they only create more sorrow. In other words, the rabbits symbolize sorrow disguised as salvation because in the end, Lennie goes suffers all because of his love for soft things. This is able to teach readers how dreams in the past
Steinbeck uses foreshadowing throughout the story that hints on them not achieving their dream. Crooks one of the workers, predicts that Lennie and George will never get their own farm. Also, George looses hope and stops talking about the dream. As Crooks and Lennie discuss the plan to get a farm, crooks docent think that Georges and Lennies dream will become possible.’‘I seen hundreds of men come by on the road an’ on the ranches, …’em has a little piece of land in his head. An’ never a God damn one of ‘em ever get it…” In other words Crooks has seen many people with the same dream as George and Lennie that haven't come true. Crooks says that none of the peoples dreams come true, this foreshadows that Georges and Lennies may nit come true. As a result, The failure of dreams creates an effect creates an uncertainty that their dream will come true. Not only does Crooks think that their dream will not come true, but George lost hope in their dream too. While George and Lennie are sleeping by the water, George tells Lennie a story about what their farm would be like, but George breaks down and doesn't want to talk about it. While George and Lennie are sleeping by the water, George tells Lennie a story about what their farm would be like, but George breaks down and doesn't want to talk about it. “I aint got time for no more…” in other words, George is tired of having dreams he doesn't think he can
The biggest dream throughout the story is for George and Lennie to have enough money to go and buy a farm of their own. But then Lennie does something that he can’t change back or hide from, and all hope is lost for him and George to have a farm when George does what he never thought he’d do. “And George raised the gun and steadied it, and he brought the muzzle of it close to the back of Lennie’s head. The hand shook violently, but his face set and his hand steadied. He pulled the trigger… Lennie jarred, and then settled slowly forward to the sand, and he lay without quivering.” (page 106) This one final scene symbolized all of George’s aspirations, hopes, dreams, ambitions, anything he had, diminishing before his eyes. He made a point earlier in the book, “ I was feelin’ pretty smart. I turns to Lennie and says, ‘jump in.’... well I ain’t done nothin like that no more” (40). He promised himself he wouldn’t hurt Lennie again, he took it upon himself to keep Lennie safe. But George fired that last bullet and killed Lennie, stripping himself of all his hope and ambitions. The other main ambition that was crushed in this story has to do with Lennie and his rabbits. “We’re gonna have a little house and a couple of acres an’ a cow and some pigs… An’ have rabbits!...” (14) This is a recurring event throughout the book; they talk about their future dreams, and Lennie tells everyone he meets about the rabbits he's gonna have, but again that all changes when Lennie messes up badly and kills Curley’s wife. The story displays the reader the visual of, “She struggled violently under his hands… “Don’t you go yellin’,” he said, and he shook her; and her body flopped like a fish. And then she was still, for Lennie had broken her neck.” (91) This visual can help you see where Lennie’s dream of ever handling another living being again diminishes because if he can’t keep an
George and Lennie live in a hopeless present but they somehow try to keep a foot in an idealized future. They dream of one day running their own ranch, safe and answerable to no one. Others such as Curley's wife dreams of being a movie star, Crooks, of hoeing his own patch and Candy's couple of acres'.The dream ends with the death of Lennie.
This is a novella written by John Steinbeck in 1937, about two men that lived during the depression. They were migrant workers, who wanted to buy a farm. ()
Man needs companionship and has difficulty maintaining it because no humans think the exact same or have the exact same beliefs. To maintain a companion you must have things in common, you must be able to disagree with a sort of respectful understanding, and finally you must care legitimately about that person. These three requirements to preserve a companionship are at times arduous to keep true. Some people do not have the time, concern, or the ability to sustain a veritable friendship with a companion or companions.
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck Hopes and Dreams Help People to Survive, Even if they can Never. Become Real How is this true for George and Lennie/ the characters in ‘Of Mice and the.. Men’. An important theme in ‘Of Mice and Men’ is that of hope and dreams. The main dream is that of George and Lennie to own a smallholding and work self-sufficiently.
By then there was no more land to be claimed and America had built up
In the novel, Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, the feminist lens is represented in many different ways throughout the novel, including actions and comments different characters make. Most of these events are surrounded by the character Curley’s Wife. Curley’s wife is a character who is known for her not being trusted by any of the workers on the ranch, and for fooling around with other men besides her husband, Curley. For instance, when Curley’s Wife is talking to another character, Slim. “…’Hi Slim,’ she said. Slim’s voice came through the door. ‘Hi, good-looking.”(Steinbeck, 31) Curley’s Wife is not allowed to flirt or even communicate with other men at the ranch, but she likes to break the rules and have a conversation with other people because she feels that she has never had any freedom since she married Curley. Curley’s Wife is mistreated at the ranch because everyone is afraid to trust and contact her.
Life is not a bed of roses. People use this expression to stress the fact that there are and will be difficulties in life. John Steinbeck, in his novella Of Mice and Men, does not fall short of the same views. It takes place in the year 1937, a period associated with the Great Depression, and illustrates the hardships of the time, and more so those that laborers such as George and Lennie experience. Life proves to be full of disappointments for both men who are victims of harsh circumstances in more ways than one. The two have a dream to own a farm of their own but circumstance and fate robs them of their dream for a better life. This is a depiction of the lost American Dream during the Great Depression which lasts between 1929 up to the 1940s. The poem titled “This Is Not The Life” further depicts the hardships found in life. It clearly portrays the uncertainty and struggle associated with living during the Great Depression. Thus, both the novella and the poem explain that human dreams for a great future are subject to circumstance and fate, which most of the time collude against human success in life leaving only a trace of broken dreams, pain and misery.
George and Lennie depended on their dream as motivation to live on and work. They've been working all their life to accomplish their dream. While taking a break by a pond on the way to another ranch, Lennie asked George to tell him why they are working and saving money. "Guys like us got nothing; they work up a stack and blow it in the town. But we're different, we got a future " (14). Most workers back then just live on day by day, without a goal. But George and Lennie are different, they got a dream to work and live for. Lennie kept on wanting to be told about their dream a few times in the story, indicating that it's really important to them. George depends on the dream to save up money and take care of Lennie instead of using all the money like all the other workers. While staying in the cabin, Lennie asked George about their dream. "George, how long's it gonna be till we get that little place an' live on the fatta the land and rabbits" (56). George and Lennie's dream has been repeated several times in the story. Each time they describe it, it gives them more will to work and try to accomplish the dream. The dream keeps George and Lennie together so they can work toward their dream. Without the dream, George and Lennie would be different from what they are now. George would be like the other workers, spending all the money right after getting them. And Lennie might be in jail for accused of rape or get bullied by other workers.
What is it that makes people want to scream, or snap at anyone who tries to talk to them when they are lonely? How can prolonged loneliness change a person? In John Steinbeck’s novel, Of Mice and Men, several characters face this problem. The story is about two men, living in Salinas Valley during the Great Depression. The two men, George Milton and Lennie Small, travel from ranch to ranch as migrant workers looking for work, after having to leave their previous job due to Lennie getting in trouble with the law. George has made many sacrifices for Lennie, but anything is better than the loneliness they see in other ranch workers. Steinbeck argues that when people are lonely, they become mean, and act in desperation.
During a time of hardship or of economic difficulties, each person draws back into their personal space and takes no notice of others. Ignorance often leads to misunderstandings. In John Steinbeck’s novella Of Mice and Men, two men went go a new farm in search of new opportunities and a chance to fulfill their dream. Of Mice and Men is also a heartbreaking story of how such misunderstandings can lead to unfortunate events. John Steinbeck uses a disapproving voice to criticize the mistreatment of social rejects and show that misunderstanding can lead to adverse outcomes.
Lennie is stuck in a childhood state, and is the main reason the farm exists. “Now Candy spoke his greatest fear, ‘You a’me can go there an’ live nice, can’t we, george?’...George said softly, ‘-I think I know from the very first, I think I knowed we’d never do her. He usta like to hear about it so much I got to thinking maybe we would.’” They realize that without Lennie, there is no farm. As Lennie dies, so does the dream of a farm.