Reading Response To John Steinbeck's 'Of Mice And Men'
11th January 2011 Jenny White
“Reading – Response to Prose”
“Of Mice and Men” written by John Steinbeck 1937
The novella “Of Mice and Men” was written by Nobel prize - winner John Steinbeck in 1937. It was a written genre of a novella so it could be transposed as a stage play. The story is structured in six sections which could be six scenes if it were a script for a play. The title of the book comes from a poem by the 18th century Scottish poet Robert Burns “To a Mouse”. The poem was written in Scots dialect “The best laid schemes o’mice and’men Gang aft a-gley, an lea’e us nought but grief and pain, for Promised joy!” (The best laid schemes of mice and men often go wrong and leave us nothing but grief and pain, instead of …show more content…
He was segregated because of his colour. “Guys don’t come into a coloured man’s room very much. Nobody been here but Slim. Slim an’ the boss.” ‘“Why ain’t you wanted?” Lennie asked. “Cause I’m black, they say I stink. Well, I tell you, you all of you stink to me.” Crook’s was physically disabled too along with Candy. Lennie was mentally disabled and childlike. Curley’s wife was discriminated against because she was a woman. Steinbeck indicates this by not giving her a name.
Curley picks on Lennie at their first meeting with a bullying approach. He hits him later in the story. Curley also bullied his wife by keeping her at home and not allowing her to talk to anyone. Crooks is bullied by Curley’s wife, she reminds Crooks how vulnerable he is. She tells him: “Well, you keep your place then, Nigger. I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain’t even funny.” Her words remind him who he really is in the context of 1930s America. In this novella Steinbeck draws together explicit instances of his main themes – loneliness, friendship, bullying and aspirations the dreams and of his character. His language style colloquial and the 1930s setting demonstrates the characters loneliness, their dreams and the final outcome. An honest attempt to reveal that for some, the American Dream was simply that – a hopeless
“Reading – Response to Prose”
“Of Mice and Men” written by John Steinbeck 1937
The novella “Of Mice and Men” was written by Nobel prize - winner John Steinbeck in 1937. It was a written genre of a novella so it could be transposed as a stage play. The story is structured in six sections which could be six scenes if it were a script for a play. The title of the book comes from a poem by the 18th century Scottish poet Robert Burns “To a Mouse”. The poem was written in Scots dialect “The best laid schemes o’mice and’men Gang aft a-gley, an lea’e us nought but grief and pain, for Promised joy!” (The best laid schemes of mice and men often go wrong and leave us nothing but grief and pain, instead of …show more content…
He was segregated because of his colour. “Guys don’t come into a coloured man’s room very much. Nobody been here but Slim. Slim an’ the boss.” ‘“Why ain’t you wanted?” Lennie asked. “Cause I’m black, they say I stink. Well, I tell you, you all of you stink to me.” Crook’s was physically disabled too along with Candy. Lennie was mentally disabled and childlike. Curley’s wife was discriminated against because she was a woman. Steinbeck indicates this by not giving her a name.
Curley picks on Lennie at their first meeting with a bullying approach. He hits him later in the story. Curley also bullied his wife by keeping her at home and not allowing her to talk to anyone. Crooks is bullied by Curley’s wife, she reminds Crooks how vulnerable he is. She tells him: “Well, you keep your place then, Nigger. I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain’t even funny.” Her words remind him who he really is in the context of 1930s America. In this novella Steinbeck draws together explicit instances of his main themes – loneliness, friendship, bullying and aspirations the dreams and of his character. His language style colloquial and the 1930s setting demonstrates the characters loneliness, their dreams and the final outcome. An honest attempt to reveal that for some, the American Dream was simply that – a hopeless