Of Mice and Men Chapter 5 Analysis
What Makes Chapter 5 of ‘Of Mice and Men’ so Powerful?
Out of the whole book, chapter five is definitely the strongest and most effective out of the six parts. As well as having a major role in the storyline, the way the author developed such an atmosphere makes this chapter one of the best in the book. Steinbeck has created such a compelling chapter by the use of many techniques, the first of which being, pathetic fallacy. The chapter starts, similarly to the others, with a description of the setting of the scene. Steinbeck places this chapter in the barn, with ‘the afternoon sun slicing in through the cracks of the barn walls’. This gives off a very relaxed vibe and also has a sense of the barn being dark, with the exception of parts of sunlight entering through some slits in the walls. This is metaphorically showing that the atmosphere is quite dusky and depressive, shown by the darkness, and that outside the barn, where the other men are having fun throwing horseshoes, it is a brighter and a more joyful environment. The ‘slices of sun’ seem to be a metaphor for the scarce amount of times where Lennie sees hope in ‘George lettin’ him tend them rabbits’ or when he tries to form a plan to stop George finding out and saying that ‘jus’ for that he don’t get to tend no rabbits’. This use of pathetic fallacy is especially effective since at the end of the chapter, when Curley’s wife is dead and the men are out to kill Lennie, the barn ‘darkened gradually’ and the sense of any happiness is gone and replaced with silence, sadness and pity, ending with the last line of speech being ‘poor bastard’. Another way that Steinbeck has made this chapter stand out among the others is his use of pathos between the characters, and their general reactions and feelings. At the start we first all have pity on Lennie since his lack of intelligence led to him accidentally killing the little puppy, however that sense of sympathy for him soon disappears once he blames the puppy and
Out of the whole book, chapter five is definitely the strongest and most effective out of the six parts. As well as having a major role in the storyline, the way the author developed such an atmosphere makes this chapter one of the best in the book. Steinbeck has created such a compelling chapter by the use of many techniques, the first of which being, pathetic fallacy. The chapter starts, similarly to the others, with a description of the setting of the scene. Steinbeck places this chapter in the barn, with ‘the afternoon sun slicing in through the cracks of the barn walls’. This gives off a very relaxed vibe and also has a sense of the barn being dark, with the exception of parts of sunlight entering through some slits in the walls. This is metaphorically showing that the atmosphere is quite dusky and depressive, shown by the darkness, and that outside the barn, where the other men are having fun throwing horseshoes, it is a brighter and a more joyful environment. The ‘slices of sun’ seem to be a metaphor for the scarce amount of times where Lennie sees hope in ‘George lettin’ him tend them rabbits’ or when he tries to form a plan to stop George finding out and saying that ‘jus’ for that he don’t get to tend no rabbits’. This use of pathetic fallacy is especially effective since at the end of the chapter, when Curley’s wife is dead and the men are out to kill Lennie, the barn ‘darkened gradually’ and the sense of any happiness is gone and replaced with silence, sadness and pity, ending with the last line of speech being ‘poor bastard’. Another way that Steinbeck has made this chapter stand out among the others is his use of pathos between the characters, and their general reactions and feelings. At the start we first all have pity on Lennie since his lack of intelligence led to him accidentally killing the little puppy, however that sense of sympathy for him soon disappears once he blames the puppy and