Language In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

Setting

This novel takes place in the 1930’s during the time of the Great Depression. The era when the stock market crashed and there was not enough money nor resources to go around. It sets the mood in which the story is going to fall under. During this time people were willing to take any job that was available to keep their families maintained. In the novel George and Lennie are searching for a job after getting ran out of town due to Lennie’s incident. They become farm workers which is what most were doing at this time during the Great Depression. People desperately wanted better lives and stable incomes which is exactly what George and Lennie longed for. Their longing for the farmhouse and freedom which most did not have then. Steinbeck
An example of the author’s informal dialogue is in the beginning of the novel Lennie and George are arguing and he says, “ They run us outta Weed, run us outta hell.” They speak very countryside. They don’t seem to use proper grammar. Another informal example is when George is explaining to Lennie where they are going to work and Lenni repeats, “ We gonna work on a ranch, George.” Being that “gonna” isn’t really a word. The proper term would be going to. His formal language is used throughout the rest of the novel which is the narrator talking. The author does indeed use concise language but throughout most the story it is kept very simple and very easy to understand. The way in which George speaks does not show he is uneducated it’s just the way the language was talked back then. Like in the 1500s when old english was still around, it was different but that does not mean people were uneducated. Shakespeare did just fine with old
“Trouble with mice is that you always kill ‘em.” This quote helps and tells part of the story behind the meaning of the title. “Lennie said quietly, “‘It ain’t no lie. Wr’re gonna do it. Gonna get a little place an’ live on the fatta the lan’.” This takes us back to how they hoped for freedom and one day they would have it. This was the placed they longed their freedom upon. “Well, you keep your place then, Nigger. I could get you strung upon a tree so easy it ain’t even funny.” This quote shows us the discrimination they still had among colored people. They disrespected them and still didn’t look at them as people as a