...Unknown Consequences Imagine how Lennie Small would be in today’s world, would he be treated any differently than he was in Of Mice and Men? It is clear to see that in the novella by John Steinbeck, Lennie is by no means treated the same as his best friend George Milton. Often, the men of the ranch would even tease him, knowing he was so incoherent he would not even know the difference between himself and the others. In the story Of Mice and Men, Lennie is always undermined because of his mental illness and he is never able to act for himself because of his disconnection to the reality of his identity. George Milton lives with guilt ever since the incident at the Sacramento River. George used to make fun of Lennie, play jokes on him and even put his life in danger. He only did this because he could succeed without anyone...
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...Of Mice and Men is one of the most widely assigned modern novels in high schools because of both its form and the issues that it raises. John Steinbeck’s reliance on dialogue, as opposed to contextual description, makes the work accessible to young readers, as does his use of foreshadowing and recurrent images. Equally important is the way in which he intertwines the themes of loneliness and friendship and gives dignity to those characters, especially Lennie and Crooks, who are clearly different from their peers. By focusing on a group of lonely drifters, Steinbeck highlights the perceived isolation and sense of “otherness” that can seem so overwhelming when one is growing up. Of Mice and Men is also important because it explores the way in which events can conspire against the realization of one’s dreams. It pits a group of flawed individuals against a set of circumstances that they are unable to master or, in the case of Lennie, even to comprehend. This is a theme that Steinbeck also explores in his classic novel The Grapes of Wrath (1939). When Steinbeck began Of Mice and Men, he was planning to write a children’s book called Something That Happened. His intent was to demonstrate that events often have a momentum of their own and need not reflect the existence of a higher power that is exacting punishment. Perhaps it was for this reason that he decided to retitle the book, drawing from Robert Burns’s oft-quoted poem “To a Mouse,” which contains the line “The best-laid...
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...Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck Seeing is believing but even then, sometimes looks can be deceiving. In the novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, Lennie is often lured into many traps. Due to his mental disability, Lennie has a childlike mind that never suspects a thing, which causes George to regularly figure out ways to avoid and get out of trouble. Although this duo has each other’s backs, what to say that the future can’t change anything? Throughout the novel Steinbeck uses the color red as a symbol of seduction in order to foreshadow danger from all of this, Steinbeck conveys those who play with fire are bound to get burned. Steinbeck intentionally uses the color red throughout the story to represent seduction, when Lennie and George...
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...laborers in John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men. The novel tells the story of George Milton and Lennie Small, two nomadic consorts who travel through California looking for work. They have a dream of owning a small stake of land together and living a relaxed, comfortable life on that land. While living in a bunkhouse in Soledad, they meet an old man named Candy, who has no family or relatives that care about him. His only true friend is his dog. Through Candy’s speech and thoughts, Steinbeck reveals that everyone is much happier with a companion than without. Candy’s relationship...
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...Not all of relationships are going to be healthy. The people in a relationship may care and love for each other but still exercise behaviours that is harmful to the other person. Protecting your friend can become too much like isolating them from everything and defending them could be burdensome. In John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, George takes up the responsibility of caring for Lennie, who seems to have a childlike mind despite being a grown man. George deeply cares for Lennie and has good intentions, but his ways of trying to protect Lennie do not always have good consequences. First off, Lennie and George have negative feelings towards each other, more evidently in George. Lennie constantly fears George’s judgement and thus always tries...
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...John Steinbeck’s ‘Of Mice And Men’ is a fictional story, about George and Lennie, the main protagonists, who find work in a ranch and the events and consequences that happen during their time there. The story has become an American classic, partly due to the fact that there are many levels of Disenfranchisement present in the story. Disenfranchisement in it’s simplest form, is the lack of power of individuals, places or animals in the context of the story. This idea of lack of power can be viewed through the lens of various literary theories. The two theories this essay will explore are Marxism, power through property, money and class, and Foucault’s theory on, the power of spaces in relationships. The story of George and Lennie is placed...
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...Lennie Small is one of the main characters portrayed in John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men. He is often depicted as the underdog, or the watcher on the sidelines; he often times just goes along with what his good friend George is doing, such as when George advise Lennie to not speak when they arrive at the ranch (6). Lennie small is a character filled with traits that show who he really is, despite of what may seem like complete hopelessness. Lennie’s mental instability is often times overseen by George and their companions on the ranch. Steinbeck reveals Lennie through direct characterization by depicting him the “opposite of George” (2). He is explained as being a huge burly man, with a “shapeless” face, pale eyes, as well as sloping shoulders...
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...Is it acceptable for people to kill? Is it EVER justified, even if the person committing the crime thinks it is satisfactory? In John Steinbeck’s novella, Of Mice and Men , George Milton is confronted with these questions, which have major consequences, with little time to think of the possible outcomes. Even though George may be able to keep his crime hidden, the law is the law. If a person disobeys it they pay. Ignorance of the law is no excuse and Lennie would have been better off in prison serving out a sentence for the crime he committed. Thus, George should be punished for killing Lennie because he is supposed to take care of Lennie, George wanted to be by himself, and he stole a gun and used it when it was not permitted to him. One of the many reasons the killing should not be justified is because George Milton made a promise to take care of Lennie, and murdering Lennie did not fulfill that promise. In fact, it was the exact opposite. In chapter 2 when George was speaking to the boss about...
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...Of Mice and Men Set in the 1930’s during the harsh Depression, John Steinbeck’s emotional novel ‘Of Mice and Men’ successfully explores the theme of friendship within a harsh environment. He portrays this through the characteristics and relationship between the protagonists, George and Lennie. The novel centers these characters who are two childhood friends who travel around together looking for work and face many struggles due to Lennie’s disabilities. Steinbeck initially presents the reader with a clear image of the central characters, who are complete opposites. George is told to be “small and quick” with a thin figure. He is seen as being short-tempered but a loving and devoted friend. He always makes Lennie’s protection his primary purpose despite sometimes coming off impatient towards Lennie. Lennie on the other hand, is very large with ‘sloping shoulders’ which leads the author to compare him to “the way a bear drags his paws”. Lennie is a very strong man with a child’s mind and this is the main problem that George and Lennie face in the novel. I think that Lennie is the least dynamic character as he is very flat and undergoes no significant changes in the novel and appears in the end exactly the same as when we first meet him. At the start of the novel we can clearly see that the author seems to have set Lennie up for disaster. These very different qualities of the characters George and Lennie show the peculiarity of their friendship...
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...He tells the reader, "I remembered the account of Dives in torment, and shuddered. But Mr. Shimerda had not been rich and selfish: he had only been so unhappy that he could not live any longer" (Cather 52). The fact that Jim finds beauty in Mr. Shimerda's death is a real insight into his character. In John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, George kills Lennie to spare him from a painful death at the hands of the mob. When the men on the farm find discover that Lennie has killed Curley’s wife, they set out to find him. George knows Curley will not care that Lennie’s actions were unintentional and decides to give Lennie a quick and merciful death to spare him from the suffering he would endure if left to Curley and the other farmhands. Let us also consider the impacts of a character’s death on the plot of the story. If the deceased had unfinished business, if other characters know things about them that are better left unsaid, or if they took important information to the grave, this must now come into play. Their death may have been used to advance a particular agenda, and may have far-reaching consequences. There is also the question of whether the death happened on the page, or if details have been withheld to add an air of mystery to the surrounding...
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...illustrated in John Steinbeck’s novel Of Mice and Men. In the novel, George and Lennie tirelessly work to have a piece of land to call their own, traveling across the country for work. They are both truly devoted to one another and unwaveringly care for one another, and have proven so multiple times throughout the novel. Another relationship that exhibits devotion is that of the main characters in Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. Romeo and Juliet are two faithful star-crossed...
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...Celton Brito-Lobato Analyse and compare how Lady Macbeth and Curley's wife are presented Shakespeare’s ' Macbeth' and Steinbeck’s ‘Of Mice and Men’ In the Shakespearean play of ‘Macbeth’ we are introduced to the character of Lady Macbeth. Similarly in John Steinbeck's novella Of Mice of Men we also presented with an equally diverse character of Curley's wife. ‘Macbeth’ was written during the early 17th century, and was a play 'fit for a king'. It outlines a couple's ambition to become rulers of Scotland and sees them fulfil this ambition and in doing so, killing the king in the process. Despite being written during patriarchal Jacobean society, Lady Macbeth is a female protagonist. Throughout the play, through Lady Macbeth's actions we are forced to believe that she is evil. In contrast, in the novel John Steinbeck tells a story of dreams, hopes and loneliness. We are introduced to a majorly significant and complex character, named Curley’s wife. Steinbeck shows us that Curley’s wife is flirtatious, mischievous (despite the patriarchal society of the 1930’s) but most of all she is an isolated character. Her hasty marriage to Curley proves to be failed attempt to escape her own spiral of disappointment of not fulfilling her ambition of becoming an actress. This ironically is a main theme in both texts. This essay will analyse and compare the presentation of Lady Macbeth and Curley's wife through structure, themes, what is said about them, their actions and what they themselves...
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...AHS RESEARCH MANUAL 2011 Student: __________________________ TERESA STERCHI KIM BROWN AHS LIBRARY CONTENTS PREPARATION OF THE RESEARCH PAPER........................................................1 SELECTING AND LIMITING THE TOPIC............................................................1 PREPARING A WORKING BIBLIOGRAPHY AND EVALUATING SOURCES…………….2 READING AND TAKING NOTES........................................................................3 DEVELOPING A WORKING OUTLINE/PLAN…………………………………………………….5 DOCUMENTING AND CITING SOURCES USING MLA STYLE……………..……………..7 WRITING THE PAPER…………………………………..…………………...........................18 MLA STYLE OF PARENTHETICAL/IN-TEXT CITATIONS………………………………….19 PLACING CITATIONS IN THE PAPER…………………………………………………………..21 FORMATTING AND TYPING THE REPORT USING THE MLA STYLE…………………26 TYPING THE WORKS CITED PAGE AND SAMPLE TITLE PAGE..........................29 PREPARATION Research is the process of gathering information from different sources on a particular topic. In daily life students may research buying a song on the Internet, buying a new MP3 player, an iPod, or any other product of interest. At school, students may have to research a historical topic, an author or literary work, or a contemporary issue and present their findings in a paper, PowerPoint presentation, or in a movie format. All of this is part of the process of asking questions, looking at the available information, and coming to a conclusion based...
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...AHS RESEARCH MANUAL 2011 Student: __________________________ TERESA STERCHI KIM BROWN AHS LIBRARY CONTENTS PREPARATION OF THE RESEARCH PAPER........................................................1 SELECTING AND LIMITING THE TOPIC............................................................1 PREPARING A WORKING BIBLIOGRAPHY AND EVALUATING SOURCES…………….2 READING AND TAKING NOTES........................................................................3 DEVELOPING A WORKING OUTLINE/PLAN…………………………………………………….5 DOCUMENTING AND CITING SOURCES USING MLA STYLE……………..……………..7 WRITING THE PAPER…………………………………..…………………...........................18 MLA STYLE OF PARENTHETICAL/IN-TEXT CITATIONS………………………………….19 PLACING CITATIONS IN THE PAPER…………………………………………………………..21 FORMATTING AND TYPING THE REPORT USING THE MLA STYLE…………………26 TYPING THE WORKS CITED PAGE AND SAMPLE TITLE PAGE..........................29 PREPARATION Research is the process of gathering information from different sources on a particular topic. In daily life students may research buying a song on the Internet, buying a new MP3 player, an iPod, or any other product of interest. At school, students may have to research a historical topic, an author or literary work, or a contemporary issue and present their findings in a paper, PowerPoint presentation, or in a movie format. All of this is part of the process of asking questions, looking at the available information, and coming to a conclusion based...
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