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Comparing John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

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1. The bird symbolizes Minnie herself. At one time she would wear pretty clothes, be happy and sing in the choir much like the pretty songbird. The fact that the bird is dead (probably by John) indicates the death of who she was before her marriage, her happier self. The birdcage symbolizes entrapment, as Minnie is trapped in her marriage. The quilt symbolizes Minnie’s mental state. At first, like the stitching, she is doing quite well. Then the stitching becomes messier and seems like she did them while very nervous. This signifies how Minnie becomes increasingly distressed. Ultimately the conclusion is knot the quilt, as Minnie decides to knot the rope for her husband. The house represents Minnie’s home life and relationship with her husband.

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...This book appealed to me particularly because of its beautiful cover. I love novels with a Victorian setting and the pier on the cover reminded me immediately of Brighton. I had never read anything about the bathing habits of de rich Victorians, so this seemed the ideal book! You do not get to know very much about the bathing itself. You follow Marnie and you see how she gradually gets obsessed by a rich guy, Noah de Clevedon. They meet each other on the beach where is mother is about to bathe. However, he has ulterior motives and sees the encounters with Marnie as a good way to prepare him for later marital life. You get to know this by the passages from his diary. Although I liked the story and its approach, I could not really identify with the characters. In my view Marnie was too naïve and Noah was portrayed as the perfect guy, but in reality he took advantage of Marnie’s credulity and he always got away with it. I was wondering how it would end for Marnie, who could only think of one person at the end of the book. Because of this the attention was taken of all sorts of possible secondary storylines and I thought that was a pity. The end was a bit of a disappointment too, as a result of choosing the easiest solution and making it a half-hearted happy-end. Despite all the above-mentioned reservations, I still enjoyed the book. The coastal setting is nice and it is also interesting to read about the very different lives of Noah and Marnie and how this affects their perception...

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...The book Of Mice and Men, written by John Steinbeck, is based around the American dream. In this novel, Lennie and George work on a farm. George takes care of Lennie because he has some sort of mental disability. The two men dream of having a farm of their own. Throughout the book, Lennie and George work towards buying their own farm while getting through obstacles along the way. The novel portrays the American dream as unachievable which makes me believe John Steinbeck views the American dream in the same way. George never brings up the farm he and Lennie plan on owning, unless it’s for Lennie’s sake. This leads me to believe George thinks their American dream is unachievable. From this information, I presume George thought owning a farm would be nearly impossible while he was still caring for Lennie. Steinbeck indirectly shared his thoughts on the American dream through this novel and the characters in it. He believed one had to work hard for what they owned and what they wanted. The book included great examples of hard work, but the American dream was never accomplished. John Steinbeck himself worked as a manual laborer before becoming an author. That requires a great deal of effort, yet he did not gain success from that job. He...

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