...kuroi.zetsubo Of Mice and Men Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck is the shocking story of two friends, George and Lennie, who have nothing but each other and a dream that one day they will have some land of their own and no longer have to wander round the country in search of work. The direction in which the story is heading becomes clear as it draws to a close. When George kills Lennie because he believes he must take responsibility for him. “And George raised the gun and steadied it, and he brought the muzzle of it close to the back of Lennie’s head. The hand shook violently, but his face set and his hand steadied, he pulled the trigger.” George realizes that he must be the one that kills Lennie and not the other ranch men. In the same way that Candy should have taken the responsibility for his dog, George believes that he must take responsibility for Lennie. He must have realized that even if they were to run away again, Lennie would get into trouble and they would have to run away again. It really must have killed George inside when he saw Lennie lying dead at his feet. He and Lennie were portrayed as having been together a long time. Now George is on his own and no different from any of the other ranch men , he no longer dreamed of having a house of his own, that dream died when Curley’s wife was found lying in the hay. George tells Lennie how different they are compared to the other ranchers. “Guys like us that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world....
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...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 trying to ‘follow in the footsteps’...
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...Loneliness: The quality of being unfrequented and remote; isolation. Being lonely can change a lot about a person. In a way, loneliness can define who someone is. Even the strongest person can crumble under the wrath of loneliness. Many characters in the book Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck have experienced times of extreme loneliness. One of the characters, Lennie Small, often feels very lonely. Loneliness drives Lennie to believe that he isn’t wanted by George, his companion. “If you don’ want me I can go off in the hills an’ find a cave. I can go away any time.” (Steinbeck 12) This quote shows that Lennie often feels as if he is unwanted by George. Lennie offers to go away and live in the hills where he wouldn’t bother anyone, including...
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...Steinbeck creates sympathy in Of Mice and Men. Discuss in relation to one character Of Mice and Men is a novella set on a ranch in the Northern western state of California written by Californian novelist John Steinbeck and then published in the late 1930’s. Set in the time of The Great Depression and The nationwide effective Wall Street Crash the book features characters all around who have depressing lives but focusing in on two paradoxical characters that are always juxtaposed to one another. Steinbeck has placed us with two characters that we are able to connect with, being able to sympathise with their dilemmas and problems as the two being long-time companions with a strong relationship but also being a priority to George as he must look after Lennie seeing as he has a mental dis-order. George Milton & Lennie Small being the two ranch workers who always find themselves fleeing from town to town, ranch to ranch; never being able to settle down they find themselves moving up northwest after Lennie gets himself into a bit of trouble back in their previous location Weed. As of after he winds up in a situation where he saw a red dress of a nice fabric that he had liked and decided to grab, this frightening the woman and resulting in her screaming rape and leaving Lennie and George with no other option but to run away as he too would have faced the death penalty as being an accomplice of Lennie. Steinbeck describes George as the more complex character(Quote) for the reader...
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...John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men In John Steinbeck's classic novella, Of Mice and Men, one of the predominant themes that govern the story and characters in the book is friendship. One of the ways in which friendship plays a large role is in the area of mercy killing, which affects the main characters as well as the supporting ones. The two major mercy killings that occur in the book are those of Carlson's killing of Candy's old dog, and of George's killing of Lennie. In both of these examples, the killer kills the other out of mercy and love, not for the usual motives of hatred, rage, anger, etc. The killing of Candy's dog is an excellent example of mercy killing in the aforesaid novella. Candy's dog was in terrible condition, and it could barely be said that the ratty old thing was even alive. It stunk like a dozen skunks, was nearly blind, could barely hear, had arthritis that was so bad, the old mutt couldn't sit down, had no quality of life, and probably had urinary and bowel problems, a miserable condition that is almost assured in old dogs. This instance of mercy killing, however, was more driven by peer pressure than the typical case of mercy killing. When someone kills another loved one out of mercy, it is normally done to put the afflicted one out of their misery, torment, anguish, distress, etc. The other ranch hands thought that the dog reeked more than any of its other conditions, which was the only one that they, too, could experience. Candy's dog loved its master...
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...How does Steinbeck explore dreams? Of Mice and Men is set in the 1930’s in America. This was during the Great Depression. During this time, the vast majority of Americans lost almost everything they had up to the point that all they had left was their dreams and Steinbeck truly tries to convey this in the book. The book is mainly comprised of ranch hands and itinerant workers. To be an itinerant worker was to live a lonely life in isolation from the rest of the world. Again, all they have is their dreams. The isolation that each worker experiences, encourages individual dreams and Steinbeck show how, for a time at least, the American dream disappeared and this is typified when Slim makes a solemn remark, “Ain’t many guys who travel together. Maybe ever’body in the world is just scared of each other”. To fully understand how shattering that remark is you have to look back to the time before the Depression. There was prosperity. Anything was possible. America was seen as a land of opportunity and so was born the American Dream. The American Dream was a collective dream not only shared by Americans, but by people all around the world who saw America as a clean slate. By the time ‘Of Mice and Men’ was published, this was gone. Steinbeck shows this in the novel especially when he allows the reader to have their own insight into each characters individual dreams. This was intentional by Steinbeck as he was obviously trying to demonstrate how people are changed by the times that...
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...John Steinbeck was a writer, and he wrote sixteen novels, six non-fiction and five collections of short stories and they resulted in a Nobel prize. He was born 2/27/1902 and he died on 12/20/1968. He was married three times. He also didn't have much money and he didn't have many friends. He had two kids. He enrolled in Stanford. The migrant workers were foreigners and some US citizens. They came to America to work and get money. They worked on farms in California. The workers had to carry the cotton they picked on their spines. Then the dust bowl happened and that was because over farming and it made dust storms. These workers made from $268 to $500 dollars a year. These workers had to live under bridges. Jim Crow laws were so the...
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...There are many acts of friendship and sacrifice displayed throughout the book Of Mice Men. The author, John Steinbeck, demonstrates friendship between two migrant workers, Lennie and George. Lennie and George are different from most migrant workers because they travel together not alone. Of Mice and Men, shadows the lives of George and Lennie as try to achieve the american dream of owning their own land and livestock. George and Lennie work to achieve their dream by working successfully on a ranch in California until Lennie kills Curley’s wife accidentally. Sacrifice and friendship is exhibited when George kills Lennie at the end of the book. George gives Lennie a more peaceful death, but in return he has to live in isolation without his best friend. The previous statements are justification for, in fact George is right to have killed Lennie. Readers are prepared for the killing of Lennie by George when Candy decides to let Carlson shoot his dog. Candy later reveals his regret by stating, “‘I ought to of shot that dog myself, George. I shouldn’t ought to of let no stranger shoot my dog.’”(61). If George left Lennie’s killing up to the other men that worked on the ranch, Lennie would have likely had a more gruesome death. If George had made decided not to take responsibility and shoot Lennie, he...
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...Of Mice and Men a book written By, John Steinbeck. This novel is about two folks who come across many challenges of the world and between them. In the book, Steinbeck uses foreshadowing to indicate the reader with hints about other events. He uses foreshadowing with the Killing of Candy’s dog and Curley’s wife, also Curley poking Lennie during the whole book. An example of foreshadowing is when Carlson kills the dog, this is an indication that George will have to take action with against Lennie, both of them were put out of their misery and troubles. When Candy said, “I ought of shot that dog myself” (61), And when George kills Lennie they both wanted to kill them by their selves even though George went through it himself. Killing Lennie was the right...
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...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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...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 Oklahoma families struggle to set up a new life in California, which is in the midst of the Depression. Steinbeck was living in California whilst this sort of thing was going on. Many of his books protested against the American Dream, explicitly illustrating how much disruption and deception it causes. The Grapes of Wrath is essentially a tragedy and it is a...
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...“A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out.”- Walter Winchell. This quotation correlates so well with George and Lennie in the book Of Mice and Men. When everyone is against Lennie for his semi-innocent crime, George is still strong at his side. There are countless qualities one can see throughout this novel, but there are three friendship qualities that best suite these best of buds. In this novel you see how loyal Lennie is to George one can also see that George is so understanding of Lennies childish stature and lastly you see how thoughtful they both are towards each other. For example in this story a quality of a good friend is loyalty. Loyalty is something that just means one person would always be there for the other no matter what the circumstances. An example of loyalty is when George stayed with Lennie after Aunt Clara passed away and kept his promise. This is an example of loyalty because George could’ve very easily just have got up and left him, but he didn’t, which is just astounding and shows that he does care for Lennies well being. Another example would be when Lennie scared that girl to death in Weed and George...
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...Loneliness is the fundamental idea that Steinbeck utilizes in his 1937 novella Of Mice and Men. He establishes this with his use of characterization through such characters as Crooks and Curry’s wife. Whether it be loneliness because of race, or sex, Steinbeck manipulates his use of characterization in ways that make you feel empathy for the various characters in this novella. Crooks is the “negro stable buck” who is confined to the back shed on the ranch because of his African-American heritage. It is because of this isolation that Crooks has become a lonely and bitter man. We receive a hint to how lonely Crooks is when Steinbeck describes, “And scattered about the floor were a number of personal possessions; for, being alone, Crooks could leave his things about, and being a stable buck and a cripple, he was more permanent than the...
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...“John Steinbeck's book of mice and men” portrays loneliness. Candy is lonely because he doesn’t have know one with him, he has no family, and has know where else to go. Crooks is also very lonely because he is black and everyone thinks that he smells bad. Curley’s wife is also lonely because she doesn’t actually love Curley and know one wants to talk to her.” Candy is very lonely because he doesn’t have anyone with him. He also doesn’t have any relation to anyone that works on the ranch. He also doesn’t have any place to go or work at besides the ranch. He wants to move away from the ranch. He wants to help George and Lennie when they buy a place and set up their own farm. He also really likes his old dog that he raised up from a pup....
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...pleases without being punished (Beatty). For example she bullies Crooks because he’s black, she explains to him that she could have him lynched if he does anything wrong (Steinbeck 81). Although her biggest strength was her beauty; she knew how to use her looks so others would do what she wanted (McMurray). She has the ability to make all conversations cease when she walks in a room and because of her flirtatious ways everyone moods shift in another direction (Beatty)....
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