...An Optimistic approach in Of Mice and Men Steinbeck’s use of imagery, foreshadowing and motif in Of Mice and Men sends the message that this novella is very optimistic based. First of all Steinbeck uses imagery very frequently throughout the book to describe scenery and characters. In the beginning chapter, Steinbeck describes the valleys and mountains where Lennie and George spend their time before working on the ranch as “the golden foothill slopes that curve up to the strong and rocky Gabilan Mountains, but on the valley side the water is lined with trees (...)” (Steinbeck 1). In this scene, Steinbeck uses very descriptive words to clearly describe the surrounding environment. The reader pictures a beautiful image of mountains and valleys in between, along with a gorgeous lake in front of a park with large sycamores scattered on the ground. The reader is able to think very positively when they read this quote because it brings out the small, beautiful things in the world, which allows them to think of this novella a bright and optimistic based story. Moreover, Steinbeck uses foreshadowing that allows the reader to think ahead and predict the outcomes in the future and the book in general. There are many examples of foreshadowing in Of Mice and Men, such as the following. "Lennie looked sadly up at him. 'They was so little,' he said, apologetically. 'I'd pet 'em, and pretty soon they bit my fingers and I pinched their little heads a little and then they was dead -- because...
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...Through the entirety of the classic novella ‘Of Mice and Men’, John Steinbeck uses a variety of dramatic techniques and stylistic devices to convey a clear message of: hopes, dreams and reality. Steinbeck’s placement of such techniques allows him to effectively create a causal loop within the narrative, subsequently applying heavy foreshadowing; whether Steinbeck used this consciously or not. The main plot explores the themes of idealism and more prominently- realism, Steinbeck connects a lot of his novella to real life issues currently happening in his time. Through the course of the narrative, Steinbeck used many literary techniques of which effectively drove the tale to become circular in its events. Steinbeck relied on events that had happened previously- before the narrative had taken place. Through doing so the author creates a vivid sense of ‘déjà-vu’ when a similar event takes place, of which happened quite frequently as the book progresses....
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...There are several examples of Steinbeck’s use of foreshadowing in Of mice and Men. Not all plans work out you’d like them to. George and Lennie are both migrant workers in the nineteen thirties who want to buy land of their own. The first example of foreshadowing in Of me Mice and Men is that George and Lennie’s plans go askew. In Robert Burns poem “To a Mouse” has an example of foreshadowing it says “The best laid schemes of mice and men go often askew, and leaves us nothing but grief and pain, for promised joy!... This poem was his way of apologizing for destroying the mouse's home. Steineck uses the poem to show that the characters dreams do not end in a good way. The next example of foreshadowing in Of Mice and Men is the death of Curley’s wife's death. Before Lennie killed Curley’s wife he was touching her hair because it was soft. In “Pet it like it was a mouse” it says “Jus’ wanted to feel...
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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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...How does the setting of Of Mice and Men influence the book's thematic development? In answering, consider the connection between the novel's setting and the characters' vocations. Also, how does Steinbeck signal the importance of setting in his choice of place names? Though the novel is more famous for its characters than its setting, Of Mice and Men could not have been set elsewhere than in the rural Salinas valley of California. The problems of the novel are intimately tied to the rhythms and frustrations of the itinerant worker's life. Shifting from ranch to ranch, from one menial job to another, the Californian itinerant worker risked a life of meaningless labor - of pure, cynical sustenance. George and Lennie, with their dream of acquiring a farm, represent an attempt to stand against such perpetual loneliness. Even the name of the city near which the novel is set - Soledad, which is Spanish for "solitude" - resonates with this theme of loneliness. The title, Of Mice and Men, is an allusion to a Robert Burns poem. How is this allusion meaningful in the novel? Consider some similarities and differences between Burns and Steinbeck's works. Robert Burns' poem, "To a Mouse," is the source of the famous quotation: "The best laid schemes o' Mice an' Men / Gang aft agley" ("often go awry"). And, indeed, Of Mice and Men features two men with a scheme - to escape their lives of menial, temporary employment - that goes awry. Beyond this simple plot similarity,...
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...Even with careful planning and precision, fate will be a leading factor of one’s outcome despite hard work and effort in John Steinbeck’s, Of Mice and Men. Steinbeck’s use of extended metaphors displays fate as unpredictable and unavoidable despite careful planning and work. “Heron stood...motionless, and waiting” (Steinbeck 99), revealing fate as patient and unpredictable, but is also inescapable, never truly escaping from the “legs of the motionless heron” (Steinbeck 99). Steinbeck’s use of extended metaphors writes down the relationship between Lennie and the water snake and fate and the Heron. The heron symbolizes fate as powerful and inevitable, only having one path in which it takes. The bird simply attacks with no hesitation, just...
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...Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men tells the story of two men, George and Lennie. These two are working a new job, with the dream of, hopefully, one day owning their own farm. Lennie, unaware and unable to control his strength, accidentally kills a woman. George is forced to choose Lennie’s fate. Steinbeck’s use of foreshadowing, narration, and tone illustrates the bitter and heartless side of human nature. To begin, Steinbeck utilizes foreshadowing to portray how humans can be cruel. Carlson notices how Candy’s dog is frail and suffering from old age. He persistently tells Candy to kill the dog, as the animal is no longer useful. Carlson describes how he would kill the sheep dog “Right back of the head. He wouldn’t even quiver” (Steinbeck 45). Candy later regrets his decision and says “I ought to shot that dog myself, George. I shouldn't ought to let no stranger shoot my dog” (Steinbeck 60). This forced murder of Candy’s dog foreshadows a future event, in which George...
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...The classic novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck uses the motif of animals throughout the story to express many juxtaposed ideas. In the book, two men named George and Lennie work on a farm in which they must overcome certain challenges in order to try to achieve their dream. Many animals are used to provide foreshadowing and understanding about what is going on in the text. Dogs are used to display loyalty while wolves portray wildness. Rabbits represent future dreams while mice represent present realities. Even though the animals express differences, they all come together to support the major theme that man has superiority over nature. The beginning of the story starts out with vivid imagery of the Salinas river and a description of...
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...The novel ‘Of Mice and Men’ is set in1930 during the Great Depression, a society where it is believed men are stronger and superior. Steinbeck uses Curley’s wife to illustrate difficulties women faced during the time, where there is no respect for women they are powerless, for this reason Curley’s wife does not have her own name which symbolise men oppression because It’s a men’s world, she represent all the women of the time. Steinbeck portrait Curley’s wife as a sexual object and troubled. This shows through her appearance that she is seeking attention ‘her face was heavily made up. Her lips were slightly parted’. It is no surprise that many men in the ranch think that she’s ‘jailbait’ and the fact she is introduced through rumours by Candy to George and Lennie means their viewed about her is bad. These does not shows any positive attitude towards any woman in the novel. Curley’s wife may be bad woman but she does suffer from real affliction. Despite all the revelations about her personality in the novel, her death is caused by her never ending need for attention even though Lennie has reveals to her that he likes to pet soft things and they ended up dead, she still offers up her hair, which is foreshadowing her fate. Steinbeck makes Curley’s wife character seem insecure, lone and isolated from the others on the ranch. As the only women on the ranch, she want someone to talk to. Her life is lonely her husband is not always around to talk to her, this suggest how she is really...
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...and the beginnings of the Great Depression, there was an ideal called the American Dream that suggested that by talent, intelligence and a willingness to work hard, you could go from owning nothing…to gaining riches. This “dream” eluded many people, such as poor citizens from California and surrounding states and migrants suffering from the economical downfall from all parts of the world. It gave them false hopes and dreams of becoming wealthy and prosperous, when in reality, America was in the clutches of the most extensive and most profound economical/social depression ever known. The American Dream fooled endless people into believing that becoming successful is possible, no matter what your situation is. The victims of this fallacy, men and migrants, who owned nothing but the clothes on their backs, would end up living in squalid camps or wandering around the California Dust Bowl, searching for a job so they could make a meagre living. Despite all that was going on around him, each man would have his own small dream in his head of becoming a future success. Miller and Steinbeck were inspired by these dreamers and featured them in many of their books/plays. John Steinbeck was born on February 27th 1902. By the age of fourteen he had made up his mind to become a writer. He completed his first novel, Cup of Gold, in 1929. What is considered to be his finest, most ambitious work is The Grapes of Wrath, which was published in 1939. The book tells the story of a disposed...
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...How does Steinbeck’s writing make this such a powerful and revealing moment in the novel? Steinbeck makes this passage such a powerful and revealing moment in the novel as it highlights main of the themes throughout the book, the main theme being friendship. In this novel, Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck focuses on the loneliness of California ranch life in the 1930’s. One of the most important things in life is to have a friend, without friends people will suffer from loneliness like in this novel, not everyone in the novel has the same connection and special friendship like George and Lennie’s. Of Mice and Men is the story about lonely men who travel from ranch to ranch not really communicating with other ranch hands. Candy, Crooks and Curley’s wife all were lonely and dealt with their loneliness in different ways. Steinbeck makes this such a powerful and revealing moment in the novel as it is the first time Curley is introduced and meets Lennie. Curley's character is described in a very wealthy style, convincing the reader that he does not live the life of a ranch hand. This is presented in the first line when Steinbeck presents Curley as a “young man”. On its own, this connotes naivety, as though he is fresh to the job, lacking experience and altogether slightly out of place compared to the other ranch workers. The extract continues, to portray him differently as “like the boss, he wore high-heeled boots”. At this moment Steinbeck makes the reader feel as if Curley is...
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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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...presents the relationship between George and Lennie in “Of Mice and Men” Of Mice and Men was written in the 1937 by John Steinbeck, he other well know books as the Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden, h also received a Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962. This book is set in the 1930s and set in California, his home region. During this time, the USA was suffering from a great depression, this meant that it was hard to find job because the economy was very weak, so to find job the men were disposed to go anywhere and the bosses would exploit their workers. The itinerant ranch workers where very lonely people because they had to move from place to place and tis meant that they could set up a stable life with a wife and children. Another reason that suggests to us that they are lonely is that at the end of each month they take their money and they go to “cat house”. The character of George and Lennie are very unusual and contrasting, this is because they have a strong relationship between them and they also have a dream, a dream of buying a house and some land to become independent and to life together for the rest of their lives. But the reader knows from the beginning that this will not happen and it will have a tragic end, and this is suggested in the title “Of Mice and Men” that comes from a from Robert Burns poem “The best laid schemes o’mice an’ men/ Gang aft agley” and it means: the best laid schemes of mice and men/ often go awry. As soon as the reader starts reading Chapter...
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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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...Throughout society women were considered to be second class citizens who were expected to obey their husbands, stereotypically they were seen as the weaker sex and insecure. Women were also socially neglected, as they were expected to remain at home whilst their respective husbands ensured the upkeep of the family by managing the family finances. The male population at this point in time ignorantly viewed women as, innocent people, seemingly unaware that women had the same feelings and emotions as themselves. In the literature studied women are portrayed in a more dominant and powerful people. For instance Lady Macbeth would not be your typical Elizabethan woman. Steinbeck`s Of Mice And Men was influenced by its social, historical and cultural context. `all the main characters in Of Mice And Men and men acknowledge, at one point or another, to envisaging a different and better life. Before her death, Curley`s wife confesses her desire to be in the movies. However, Steinbeck`s view of the harsh reality of 1930s America is alluded to before the story begins: circumstances have robbed most of the characters of these dreams before they could become reality. Curley`s wife for instance, has resigned to being married to someone she doesn’t love. What makes all of these dreams typically American is that the dreamers wish for perfect happiness. Steinbeck presents Curley`s wife in many different ways throughout the text. Overall, we should consider how Steinbeck wants us to perceive her...
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