...As Steinbeck introduces us to the characters of George and Lennie, we see how completely opposite they are. We can see some conflict brewing as well. George has a very complex character .On one hand we see him being mean to Lennie and on the other we see him care and be scared for Lennie. As George says, “‘Well, that was a lie. An’ I’m damn glad it was. If I was a relative of yours, I’d shoot myself.’ ” (Pg-24), on the contrary, we see how much he cares for him as well, “ ‘Look, Lennie! This here ain’t no setup. I’m scared. You gonna have trouble with that Curley guy.’ ” (Pg-29). Through Lennie’s strong physical character and George’s leadership qualities and sharp mind we can see a theme emerging; two people, who are completely unrelated to...
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...the book Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, shows George and Lennie did not have no ordinary friendship. They were not nice and honest like other friendships. They had a lot of trouble. They did not hug, have nice conversations, or be friendly. All that was done in their friendship was bossing around. Their friendship was very different, difficult, and selfish compared to others,. pProving that not all friendships are based on kindness and love. In the book Of Mice and Men, there are two characters who have a friendship that is too much difficult even for them. Those characters, Lennie and George had a friendship that only they understood. George was often different towardsrude to his friend Lennie. “You gonna give me...
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...Of Mice and Men Essay Of Mice and Men is a classic American novel that addresses many topics including discrimination, disability, and the American dream. Several topics that were potentially controversial at the time. Each character in the story has something that holds them back or limits them in some way. This holds them back from completing their goals or achieving their dreams. The two main characters George and Lennie are an exemplary representation of this. George is an average man who looks out for Lennie, a very large man with the mind of a child who is unaware of his tremendous strength. They consistently move from ranch to ranch in search of work because Lennie continues to get in trouble somehow. Lennie enjoys petting soft things...
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...George and Lennie have an unusual relationship. They are exact opposites to each other. George for instance is very smart and short, while Lennie on the other hand is dumb but his is big and tall. Despite their differences, they enjoy their friendship because for one thing, George takes care of Lennie by fixing his problems and helps him with everything, while Lennie keeps George company and keeps him entertained throughout the day and that's what makes them such good friends. They somewhat complete each other by making their differences a strong point in their friendship. Allowing them to always have eachothers backs. Even though having a friendship like that with someone who is the exact opposite from you may seem rather strange, it occasionally...
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...HERE! Friends are sometimes forced to make fatal decisions, and dreams often don’t come true. In John Steinbeck’s novel, Of Mice And Men, George and Candy are forced to kill their best friends, and the dreams of Lennie and Candy die out. Many times throughout the novel, friendships became fatal. In John Steinbeck's novel, Of Mice And Men, A frightened Lennie accidentally kills Curley’s wife. Lennie, who recalls what George told him, ran to the spot where they had arranged to meet. George - who knows he has to kill Lennie in order to spare him a worse fate - distracts Lennie so that he can shoot Lennie using Carlson’s gun in the back of the head, so that Lennie feels no pain. To distract him, he tells Lennie about the rabbits, and then “He brought the muzzle of it close to the back of Lennie’s head… He pulled the trigger.” (Steinbeck 66). George doesn’t want to shoot Lennie, but he knew that it would spare him...
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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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...John Steinbeck’s 1937 novel Of Mice and Men is a tale of two migrant workers in the Great Depression, who despite being complete contrasts of one and other, work together to survive the difficult lifestyle. George, the vastly more intelligent of the two, is a warden to Lennie, the colossal working machine who suffers from a mental condition. Steinbeck demonstrates the crippling loneliness the people of the ranch suffer from through his impeccable style. Steinbeck reveals via meticulous dialogue that discrimination is a leading cause of loneliness among the people of the ranch. For example, In Chapter 5, Curly’s wife goes to the barn to talk with Lennie while the other ranch hands play horseshoes, she proclaims, “Why can’t I talk to you? I never get to talk to nobody. I get awful lonely. (Steinbeck 86)”...
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...Authors Paragraph Of Mice and Men was published in the year of 1937. At the time of this novel being published John Steinbeck was living in Pacific Grove, California with his newly wedded wife, Carol Henning. During this time Mr. Steinbeck was considered a freelance writer and also was a caretaker in Lake Tahoe. Steinbeck’s intentions for writing this novel was to describe and help us get a feeling of life during the Great Depression, along with the struggles they faced with decision making. Of Mice and Men was intended for simply Americans that were caught up in the Great Depression Era but as time went by, it transformed into a book for teens and adults. John Steinbeck is very familiar with the subject of the Great Depression because he was alive during it and was able to recapture the struggles during the Great Depression. Literary Perspective...
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...people to look beyond their troubles and strongly motivate people to exert more effort towards their goals. Dreams also improve people’s outlook on life as it is a chance for more happiness. This is very evident in John Steinbeck’s novella, “Of Mice and Men” when we see Lennie complain about the bunkhouse but tolerates staying there because of his dream, which is to tend the rabbits. Another example would be George. On the weekend, instead of spending all his on tempting offers, he stashes it in the bank to save up for his and Lennie’s dream ranch. Lastly, Candy is also a prime example of this statement. When Candy is let in on George and Lennie’s dream, Candy’s outlook on life improves and even...
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...of John Steinbeck, Through the Novel Of Mice and Men During the 19th and 20th century, modernism was introduced. Modernism was a movement that sought to break ties with the classical and traditional ways of life. Many Authors during this time moved away from the American lifestyle and even the country. John Steinbeck was no exception to this movement. In John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, the author uses a simplistic writing style to present the two characters “American Dreams”, while also using symbolism to connect the reader to the characters and the plot of the story. Throughout the book there are many symbols, and each symbol has a story to be told and a lesson to be learned. Candy’s dog for example, represents everyone who...
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...person is not compassionate. It is not euthanasia. It is murder.” In John Steinbeck’s book Of Mice and Men, there are many reasons to believe that killing is wrong. Lennie, one of the main characters, is a large man, but would be considered mentally handicapped and he loves soft things. When Curley’s wife and him are in the barn alone, he grabs ahold of her hair and she tries to pull away, but his grip on her hair was too strong for her to pull away from, she screams in terror. When she cries out, Lennie slaps his hand over her mouth in hope that nobody would hear her. As she continues to struggle under his firm grasp, Lennie continues to tighten his grip on her hair...
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...Of Mice and Men Theme Essay For many it is hard to live life without a dream or goal to work towards. For George and Lennie, two characters in Of Mice and Men,by John Steinbeck, the friendship and dream shared between them is crucial to their survival. Without each other they would be lost in a cruel world. In Of Mice and Men, a historical fiction novel by John Steinbeck, the theme, everybody needs something to believe in, is supported by Steinbeck's use of writing structure. At the beginning of every chapter, Steinbeck describes the surroundings in immense detail. This structural aspect of the book remains constant throughout the novel. The description of the outside world helps readers understand why George and Lennie need something to hold onto, such as George and Lennie’s dream of surviving on their own and not having to depend on someone else to give them money. In the beginning of chapter one, the surroundings are described as “... beaten hard by tramps who come wearily down from the highway in the evening to jungle- up near water.”(pg 2) This quote shows that Lennie and George are walking down the same trodden path that many others have...
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...H. Tharp The Unspoken Truth about John Steinbeck’s Legacy in Monterey County John Ernst Jr. Steinbeck is one of the most respected and honored American writers among our society today. In many classrooms around the world, his books are still mandated as reading requirements and there are many museums and centers dedicated to this esteemed author. John Steinbeck has won numerous awards for his books, most notably the Pulitzer Prize for his fictional novel, The Grapes of Wrath in 1940, and the Nobel Prize in literature in 1962 based on his entire body of work. Steinbeck’s other awards, which are typically less known are included in the following chart: WORK | YEAR | AWARD | MEDIUM | “The Murder” | 1934 | O. Henry Award | Print | Tortilla Flat | 1935 | Commonwealth Club of California Gold Medal for Best Novel by a Californian | Print | In Dubious Battle | 1936 | Ibid | Print | Of Mice and Men | 1938 | N.Y Drama Critic’s Circle Award | Play | “The Promise” | 1938 | O. Henry Award | Print | Of Mice and Men | 1939 | American Bookseller’s Award | Print | LifeBoat | 1944 | Academy Award nominee for Best Story | Print | A Medal for Benny | 1945 | Ibid | Print | The Moon is Down | 1946 | King Haakon Liberty Cross | Print | Viva Zapata! | 1952 | Academy Award nominee for Best Original Screenplay | Play | N/A | 1963 | Honorary Consultant in American Literature to the Library of Congress | N/A | N/A | 1964 | U.S Medal of Freedom; Press Medal of Freedom | N/A...
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...A Dreams Depression John Steinbeck is a famous American author, best known for his book Of Mice and Men. On February 27th, 1902, John Ernst Steinbeck, Jr. was born in Salinas, California. As a teenager, fourteen years old, he decided to start writing stories and poems. Steinbeck enrolled into Stanford University in 1919. In 1925 he dropped out because he had no passion for school. Cup of Gold, was Steinbeck’s first official novel to be published. On October 1929, only two months after the publication, the U.S. stock market crashed, igniting the Great Depression. Steinbeck met his first wife, Carol Henning, around the same time he wrote his first novel. They then moved into a small cottage in Pacific Grove, California, where he completed much...
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...Analysis of Major Characters Lennie Although Lennie is among the principal characters in Of Mice and Men, he is perhaps the least dynamic. He undergoes no significant changes, development, or growth throughout the novel and remains exactly as the reader encounters him in the opening pages. Simply put, he loves to pet soft things, is blindly devoted to George and their vision of the farm, and possesses incredible physical strength. Nearly every scene in which Lennie appears confirms these and only these characteristics. Although Steinbeck’s insistent repetition of these characteristics makes Lennie a rather flat character, Lennie’s simplicity is central to Steinbeck’s conception of the novel. Of Mice and Men is a very short work that manages to build up an extremely powerful impact. Since the tragedy depends upon the outcome seeming to be inevitable, the reader must know from the start that Lennie is doomed, and must be sympathetic to him. Steinbeck achieves these two feats by creating a protagonist who earns the reader’s sympathy because of his utter helplessness in the face of the events that unfold. Lennie is totally defenseless. He cannot avoid the dangers presented by Curley, Curley’s wife, or the world at large. His innocence raises him to a standard of pure goodness that is more poetic and literary than realistic. His enthusiasm for the vision of their future farm proves contagious as he convinces George, Candy, Crooks, and the reader that such a paradise might be possible...
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