Preview

Of Mice and Men

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
746 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Of Mice and Men
In this classic novella, which established him as one of the world’s most celebrated writers, John Steinbeck tells the story of two friends in 1930’s California. John Steinbeck wrote a naturalistic novel that dealt with three powerful and universal themes, imperative in the latter success of the novel. These themes were the value of dreams and goals, hopes and friendship. The novel also illustrates the importance of moral responsibility, and veracity of social injustice. His book Of Mice and Men is a story of two men living during the Great Depression in California. This is a book of defeated hope and the harsh reality of the “American Dream.” Steinbeck’s naturalistic and unrefined style of writing is helpful because of its ability to connect with his readers. The three strong themes in the novel are important because they depict human life in an interesting way, which can be understood. Of Mice and Men is a universal story because people everywhere can relate to the dreams, pleasures, and struggles of the characters.

Whilst Charles Dickens pointed out problems within society, a blinding and mercenary greed for money, neglect of all sectors in society, and a wrong inequality, he offered us, at the same time, a solution. Through his books, we came to understand the virtues of a loving heart and the pleasures of home in a flawed, cruelly indifferent world. In the end, the lesson to take away from his stories is a positive one. Alternately insightful and whimsical, Dickens' writings have shown readers over generations the reward of being truly human, and how important hopes, dreams and friendship really are.

One of the most significant and common tools that authors use to illustrate the themes of their works is an individual that undergoes several major changes throughout the story. In Great Expectations, Charles Dickens introduces the reader to many intriguing and memorable characters, including the eccentric recluse, Miss Havisham, the shrewd and careful

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    Of Mice and Men

    • 1124 Words
    • 5 Pages

    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.…

    • 1124 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Of Mice and Men

    • 2018 Words
    • 9 Pages

    How does Steinbeck present attitudes to women in the society in which the novel is set?…

    • 2018 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Of Mice and Men

    • 356 Words
    • 2 Pages

    To use violence or not to use violence, that is the question that every author aspiring to write a novel must ask. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck is about two men working ranches out west and How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas Foster is about literary symbolism, and they both refer to violence. How to Read Literature Like a Professor explains violence and its significance, and Of Mice and Men includes violence as major plot events. How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas Foster in Chapter 11 refers to violence and what it means. In this chapter Foster writes “Violence is one of the most personal and even intimate acts between human beings, but it can also be cultural and societal in its implications.” ( Foster 88) This quote describes how violence is always meaning more than just simply violence. Violence can be symbolic, thematic, or even biblical in its meaning, but it is never just violence for violence’s sake. In Of Mice and Men’s case, the violence was symbolic in a foreshadowing way. This quote takes place while George and Lennie are in the wilderness thinking of memories, and Lennie remembers this memory. “I’d pet ‘em, and pretty soon they bit my fingers and I pinched their heads a little and then they was dead—because they was so little.” (Steinbeck 10) This quote is foreshadowing of how Lennie will kill Curly’s wife later in the book, because she does something mean to him like the mouse and then he does something to stop her, just like he stopped the mouse. He also ended up killing both the mouse and Curly’s wife. To the reader this shows that Steinbeck carefully intertwined symbolism into his novel in the form of foreshadowing. As demonstrated, How to Read Literature Like a Professor was right in saying that violence is always more than violence, and Of Mice and Men is an excellent example of that. Whether violence is biblical, thematic, or symbolic in its usage, it always adds the electricity…

    • 356 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Of mice and men

    • 928 Words
    • 3 Pages

    How does Steinbeck use details in this passage to present the bunkhouse and its inhabitants?…

    • 928 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    of mice and men

    • 431 Words
    • 2 Pages

    John Steinbeck’s novel ‘Of Mice and Men’ was written in the 1930’s America, about two migrant workers, Lennie and George. Lennie and George both share the same dream that one day they will both have their own farm.…

    • 431 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Of Mice and Men

    • 1524 Words
    • 7 Pages

    1.) George- A small man who travels with, and takes care of, Lennie. He frequently talks about how much better his life would be without having Lennie to take care of. George's behavior is motivated by the desire to protect Lennie and, eventually, he wants to lead them both to the farm of their dreams.…

    • 1524 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Of mice and men

    • 409 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Steinbeck uses a wide range of techniques to explore emotions shown in of Mice and Men. Specifically in section 5 + 6 where three characters emotions are shown in contrast to what they had been interpreted as at the start of the novel through their emotions.…

    • 409 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    of mice and men

    • 720 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In the passage Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck uses imagery to show the plain and basic bunkhouse and how the ranch is isolated to show the lack of identity the men have. “Long, rectangular building” and “whitewashed, floor unpainted” indicate that it is the place of inhabitance of George and Lennie and how it is not really there home but it is somewhere where they are just staying. The surroundings are a representation that the inhabitance of the bunkhouse is ‘cold’ and ‘not homely like but it serves the functions of a house that the poor ranchmen need. It is a lack of the individual’s sprit and how the blank walls and unpainted floor can be represented as nature and how living on a ranch can bring the inner of a ranchman to their surroundings. One can see this as a symbol and how the bunkhouse is being created to show that because the men don't have anything else, this is what they need and it is not a place to express them in the way that they should.…

    • 720 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Of Mice and Men

    • 385 Words
    • 2 Pages

    I think there are many characters that stand out as being weak in many different ways in the book with either physical or mental weaknesses, and occasionally both. Candy clearly is easily dictated as Carlson proved, but I think the presentation of Curley's wife and Crooks is more intriguing.…

    • 385 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Of Mice and Men

    • 692 Words
    • 3 Pages

    ---In John Stienbeck's Of Mice and Men, almost every character has a dream, hope, or plan. These plans, hopes, and dreams gives each character their own personality and character traits. George and Lennie's dream of one day owning their own farm makes their lives worth living and kept them going. Curley's Wife is a prime example of the disappointment that comes with the let down of a failed dream. And finally, Candy and Cooks, who's underlying problems with discrimination, both against age and nationality, reflects how they act, and how they would prefer they were treated.…

    • 692 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Of Mice and Men

    • 740 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The importance of minor characters might not have been truly understood until John Steinbeck wrote Of Mice and Men. Minor characters allow the author to have an event take place without going to deep into the characters background and back story. There are three extremely good examples of minor characters from Of Mice and Men, they are Curley's wife, Crooks, and Carlson.…

    • 740 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Of Mice and Men

    • 920 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Loneliness is an emotion, but more so a disease that can kill the heart and soul of even the strongest individual. I believe everyone has experienced loneliness in some form, some more than others, but loneliness none the less. After reading the book of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck and discussing the novels themes I came to a conclusion. Loneliness is a building block in which every one of Steinbeck’s characters is constructed. John Steinbeck incorporates an overshadowing theme of loneliness throughout his novel Of Mice and Men, though by far the loneliest character is Curley’s wife through the her thoughts on Curley and his actions, the fact she is a women, and her broken dream.…

    • 920 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Of Mice and Men

    • 1760 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Opening Sequence: In the beginning of Of Mice and Men it describes the Salinas River and a small wooded area around it. The setting is described as peaceful and calming versus how the ending plays out. Later it tells of two men walking down to the river, whose names we learn are George and Lennie. It is important to the development of the story that they stop here because George mentions to Lennie that if he were to ever get into any trouble to come back to the river and hide in the brush until George comes to find him. It also relates to the theme of the power of unity and friendship because there conversation around the fire shows that the will always stick together no matter how much trouble they get in or how much of a bother one may be. At the end of the story, after Lennie accidently kills Curley’s wife, Lennie goes to the river to wait for George. This is the location where George has to shoot Lennie because of his act of murder. The setting still remains unchanged even after so much has changed in the characters’ lives.…

    • 1760 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Of Mice and Men

    • 292 Words
    • 1 Page

    The character Crooks is explored thoroughly by John Steinbeck, exposing the consequences of racism, isolation, segregation, dreams and friendships, through the novella 'Of Mice and Men'. Although Crooks is not prominent throughout the text he is highlighted as significant especially in section four of the novella. He is portrayed as an educated black man with a crooked back who often has a pessimistic view upon things. One of the main links made with the character Crooks is the act of slavery. In spite the fact that slavery had been abolished in 1865, Steinbeck used the only black man in the novella to be seen as isolated and segregated by the other ranch workers. Steinbeck also showed the tired and lonesome side of Crooks which emphasised the consequence of the treatment he was receiving; exploiting the general treatment of black people that was actively taking place in America at the time. 'Of Mice and Men' is set during the Great Depression in Soledad, California, where John Steinbeck was born and brought up. The irony of this setting can be linked with Crooks due to 'Soledad' meaning loneliness and isolation in Spanish. The very title, 'Of Mice and Men' can also be linked with Crooks due to the title being taken from a famous poem written by Robert Burns. The suggested meaning behind this title is that 'the best laid plans often go awry,' which is what Crooks had suggested to Lennie about his plans of owning a farm with his friend George. Furthermore, this also aligns with Crooks pessimistic views of things too. The analysis of Crooks in this essay aims to inquire Crooks's relevance to the themes, his difference and similarities to other characters and why Steinbeck portrayed him as he did.…

    • 292 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Of Mice and Men

    • 699 Words
    • 3 Pages

    John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men focuses on the hardships of life in America during the Great Depression in 1930. In many ways, this novella conveys a negative message. Ordinary people are vulnerable, and their dreams always fail. The ranch workers feel lonely without a family or friend. However, on the other hand, the story is not completely hopeless as long as people have a goal that they are working for, they do maintain their hope. Although the two main protagonists feel isolated, they still have each other. Therefore, while this story is despairing, there is still hope.…

    • 699 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays