...J.F. Clark makes one realize that people who listen to their conscience in tough situations, instead of following the popular choice, are the bravest individuals of today's society. Obeying one's conscience takes a lot of courage; consequently, people will make fun of a person for making the right choice over the popular one just because they stand out from what other people consider “normal”. Taking the decision that happens to be the popular one will feel like the right decision at first, but in the long run making the popular decision instead of the right decision will eat at a person's conscience. In the novella Of Mice and Men, this quote proves true when looking back on people's decisions when using a psychological lens to analyze the characterization and conflict in Steinbeck's writing. A main theme when looking at Of Mice and Men is the behavior of...
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...2009 Research Paper Of Mice and Men John Steinbeck the author of the novel, Of Mice and Men, wrote a story about two migrant workers and their dream of one day owning their own piece of land (Bloom). George Milton and Lennie Small are the two main characters that travel together in search for work. The story took place in California, during the Great Depression, a time in history where everyone suffered from the economical problems and hardship. It was a hard era to live in, there was an extremely high unemployment rate, no one had a steady job and people had to adapt to a new living style. John Steinbeck was present at this time and had a firsthand experience working on a ranch (Leaf). He wrote about the American dream every human being wanted; through the characters of George and Lennie, who both dreamt for the same future, in owning their own land and working for no one else. These two characters are both similar in the sense of wanting the same thing, yet are completely different. Also, Steinbeck included a character, Curly, who lives every American dream and displays how he is. I am going to characterization these three major characters and show their part in the novel. The story begins with two different, thus alike men who are each other’s companion. George and Lennie are both men who work on ranches for money and do not have family, thus they both have a common future. They are both hard workers and optimistic for the future. However, George is the brains and leader...
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... For some it may come sooner than others. In Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, Lennie Smalls and George Milton who are farm workers, work and travel together through everything even though Lennie has a disability. These guys are working on different farms throughout the book even though they are batting different conflicts of the time period. All through the story, Lennie makes little mistakes because he does not realize his own strength. If George would not have made the courageous decision to kill Lennie on his own, he would have been tortured and live a painful life....
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...Argumentative Essay - Of Mice and Men John Steinbeck’s novel, Of Mice and Men, centers around migrant farm workers George Milton and Lennie Small on their search for work in the Salinas Valley of California. Friends since childhood, George and Lennie settled for work on a ranch where troubles soon arose. While trying to protect Lennie, George was faced with a crippling decision and upon great consideration, shot Lennie in the back of the head. George made the right decision killing Lennie because, on his own, Lennie would not be able to take care of himself. Also, George realized that due to the fact that Lennie killed an innocent girl, they would not be able to run away from the problem this time. Some people may argue that George did not make an acceptable decision in killing Lennie, however, if George did not kill Lennie,...
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...Essay Topics Plagiarism Donate a Paper Related Essays - Chocolate Rabbits: Foreshadowing in "Of Mice and Men" by John Steinbeck - Forrest Gump’s Mama once preached the saying, “Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.” These words of wisdom maybe true in some cases but In Of Mice and Men by John St...[ view ] - Analysis of Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck - Analysis of Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck Of Mice And Men' by John...[ view ] Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck Rate This Paper: 1 2 3 4 5 Length: 738 words (2.1 double-spaced pages) Rating: Red (FREE) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck There is a wide variety of what some people would call a good friend. Some would say a good friend is someone who will cover for them even though they know they are wrong. Others would say that a friend is someone that has good connections to get them discounts on what they want. However, my definition of a good friend is someone who doesn't laugh when you tell them something serious, who listens and is considerate to what you are feeling at that moment and tries to help in any way they can. A friend is also someone that you can have fun with and accepts your flaws as well. I believe that George, a main character from the novel "Of Mice and Men", was a good friend to Lennie, George's problem person. I know many have reasons to state otherwise so...
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...Katie Oliveira February 22, 2013 Essay #3: Of Mice and Men The American idea of justice sometimes operates under a layer of mythology. Our “innocent until proven guilty” principle predicates itself on the idea that those accused of a crime will have a fair trial and will be justly judged by their peers. It is an elaborate system established to thwart prejudice and to prevent the public from jumping to conclusions, to protect the innocent and to punish the guilty. In John Steinbeck’s Great Depression-era story Of Mice and Men, justice is carried out without a trial. No laws are taken into consideration, but instead an angry mob of men with guns is present. Mobs react with violence for real or imagined crimes at their own discretion, not waiting for legal justice to take course. Steinbeck expresses the idea that when justice fails people take matters into their own hands through George’s decision to kill Lennie. On the surface, the answer seems obvious to most people. Of course George should not have killed Lennie; murder, after all, is wrong no matter what the circumstances. Yet it is not as simple as that. Throughout the book, Lennie seems to be unaware of what is right and wrong, and this makes him a burden to George. Every time Lenny did something bad, they had to quit their jobs and start somewhere else. If George had let Lennie live, Lennie would not have been able to look after himself properly. Lennie couldn’t look after a puppy – let alone himself. Lennie...
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...of women during the Great Depression, in his novel Of Mice and Men. These features influence the reader by creating empathy and sense of inevitability. Techniques such as foreshadowing, symbolism, repetition and allusion help readers make a connection with the characters in the novel. Foreshadowing was used in the novel to show how Lennie would kill Curley’s wife and interfere with achieving the dream that George and Lennie had. Lennie accidentally killing the mice and dog as he patted them showed the strength he has which he is unable to control. This lead readers to predict that when Curley’s wife told him to pat her hair Lennie wouldn’t be able to control himself and would end up ruining the chance of having their dream. Lennie lifting up a girl’s skirt up in Weed foreshadowed that when Lennie met Curley’s wife there would be trouble which George also had doubts about hence why he was trying to protect Lennie whenever Curley’s wife said something to Lennie. The allusion of the poem, To a Mouse by...
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...The novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck is a novella set in California, America, during The Great Depression. The novella explores two itinerants, George Milton and Lennie Small, going after their dream of owning their own piece of land. Throughout the dramatic novella, we discover that sometimes it is necessary to be cruel to be kind. The killing of Candy's old dog, George and Lennie not speaking to Curley's wife, and the final decision George makes to shoot Lennie are all examples of showing some 'tough love'. When difficult choices are to be made, the solution may not always be what we desire. When Candy's “ancient dog” starts to bother the men in the bunkhouse, Carlson suggests to Candy that the dog should be shot. Candy, strongly...
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...Can killing a person be justified? In the book Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, George Milton is faced with an ethical dilemma which is a situation that has no clear right or wrong answer. George’s decision can affect the life of his friend Lennie forever. George Milton and Lennie Smalls, who is mentally disabled, are friends who travel together in search of work. Many times they have had to flee a city because of Lennie’s inappropriate behavior towards women.Lennie’s unethical behavior had caused George to make a distressing decision. At the ranch that George and Lennie were working, Lennie had strangled and killed Curley’s wife. George had made the decision to end Lennie’s life in a peaceful manner. Many may say that what George did was unethical and morally wrong because Lennie had no say so in his death and did not have a fair trial. However, George was justified in killing Lennie and there are many reasons why....
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...they need to take a risk, in the book “Of Mice and Men” written by John Steinbeck, George and Lennie both show the consequences of friendship they have to face in the following chapters. A theme in Of Mice and Men is friendship comes with great sacrifices. George is most important to the understanding of theme because he is always caring for Lennie and always stayed by his side. The claim character “George” is most important because of “friendship comes with great sacrifices”, he showed that he cares for Lennie even though he makes him frustrated when they are around each other. Secondly, George has to put up with Lennie but this comes in a reward by Lennie being the big, strong protector towards him. Lastly his ultimate show of friendship is when he kills Lennie. George has been with Lennie ever since the beginning. George and Lennie are complete opposites but show a strong and beautiful relationship. The support given to the claim is that George and Lennie always travel together and towards their living...
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...The icy grip that loneliness holds over people is much too commonly seen and ignored. Humans were not created to be alone. Productivity and moods skyscrape when humans work together. Inside the enchantingly vivid story Of Mice and Men, many characters suffer from loneliness. At one point or another, loneliness creeps into all of our lives; loneliness is at first almost inconspicuous and then, if not caught, has the potential to mature into a dense cloud impairing our minds of clear thinking. One of the initial and glaring examples of loneliness is found in George. He is a sharp man that, along with many of the others in the Great Depression, is in poverty and dreaming of a bright future. He is lonely but cured most, if not all, of his loneliness by finding and sticking with his mentally disabled best friend, Lennie. As seen on page 39, George is defending his and Lennie’s relationship against what he thought was a jab, “It ain’t so funny, him an’ me goin’ aroun’ together,...”. Despite his disability, they are practically inseparable friends that need each other....
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...English Period 5 Of Mice and Men Thematic Essay Violence in the novel Of Mice and Men is an everyday reality. With all the hard work that comes from working on a ranch, there always seems to be a significant need for masculine boastfulness which allows for fights, threats, and overall meanness. Violence in this novella is physical, mental, and emotional. Characters are so use to suspicion and failure in life that they will treat each other cruelly, willing to abuse the dreams and the bodies of others as though it were more normal to destroy than to build. In most ways, violence is a normal way for others to relieve the feeling of despair and limited possibilities that all go along with working on the ranch. For example, Lennie tends to be very violent when it comes to people making him angry. This tendency; however is watched over by George, who is supposed to make sure that he is safe and doesn’t get himself into trouble, but at the same time George is physically violent towards lennie because of his mental handicap. Curley, who is the husband of the only woman that lives on the ranch, tends to be very violent toward anyone that he sees as a threat to himself or his power, most of his rage however, is directed to Lennie because of his size. Curley's Wife is also the target of violence because she is seen as the tramp of the ranch for her flirtatious acts with the majority of the ranch men. With all these events in mind, we can paint a pretty clear picture of how violence was an...
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...John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, almost concludes when Lennie Small, a guy who had a mental illness accidentally kills Curley’s wife. Unfortunately, the book tragically ended with George Milton, another struggling migrant worker and Lennie’s friend, murdering Lennie. On the contrary, many people see how George can be justified for this action for having Lennie's best interest in mind and for saving him from a path of destruction in the future. However, George’s decision in ending Lennie’s life can not be justified because George did it for his own selfish needs, Lennie could have escaped like he did in Weed, and even though he was mentally ill, he still had the right to live. For example, George can’t be justified for killing Lennie because he killed Lennie...
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...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 | Based on this list of awards Steinbeck earned throughout his literary career, it is evident why he is so respected and honored in this day. While most people know John Steinbeck as one of the great American writers of all time, many of these individuals do not know the other side of his story: the initial hate and criticism he received for his most popular literary works, Of Mice and Men...
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...When George had made the decision to shoot Lennie, he had considered all the other options there were and had come to the conclusion that this was the only one where Lennie wouldn’t have suffered, and he was correct. Whether he had meant to kill Curley’s wife or not, Lennie is still a murderer. Not to mention the fact that he’d also killed countless mice given to him by his Aunt Clara mentioned by George on pages 9-10, and the young puppy from Slim he’d put to death at the beginning of Chapter 5. He is guilty of involuntary manslaughter, on top of his already soiled reputation as a result of the incident at Weed, where he’d unintentionally harassed a girl according to George on page 11, and is at this point seen by people as a full blown criminal. The fact that he has mental handicap won’t save him from the burden of being a killer, or from the punishments he would have to face as a result of his actions. In addition to that, Lennie could’ve done something bad again. His disability prevents him from making rational decisions, and the fact that, on page 7, he doesn’t even seem to remember what happened in Weed tells us that he’s forgetful to a fault. The man can even forget his own monstrous strength, and that’s what led to him killing the mice, the puppy, and even Curley’s wife. His anger issues— that are evident through him ‘punishing’ animals whenever they fought back, and him silencing Curley’s wife on page 91— only prove the fact that he is a threat to both society and wildlife...
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