English Essay. Of Mice and Men was written by John Steinbeck in the 1930s in America,
California, during the Great Depression. It deals with themes of friendship, loneliness and the American Dream. Through the book, Steinbeck presents the characters George Milton and Lennie Small as being two completely divergent people with the same dream. They both dream of a better life, which is to “Live off the fatta the lan”. Meaning to own their own piece of land, to be self sufficient, never have to answer to any “boss” again and, much to Lennie’s delight, keep some rabbits. George Milton is Lennie’s guardian, best friend and companion. Steinbeck introduces George as being “Small and quick, dark of face, with restless eyes and sharp, strong features” The description of ‘restless eyes’ portrays to the reader that
George is constantly aware and perceptive, showing that George foresees any future issues. George is a big father figure towards Lennie, he cares for him, looks after him, cooks, and guides him through life. George is also frustrated with
Lennie, “I could get along so easy, so nice if i didn’t have you on my tail” This displays to the reader that he is frustrated with his situation, as he has to look after
Lennie and repeat everything that he says as Lennie does not remember.
Steinbeck uses the verb “exploded” to describe the burst of anger towards Lennie. Lennie Small is described as a “Huge man, shapeless of face, with large, pale eyes” We can tell from reading this text that Lennie is the complete opposite of
George. Steinbeck uses animal imagery to describe the way Lennie walks
“Dragging his feet a little, the way a bear drags his paws” This makes us picture the pure strength and structure of a bear compared to Lennie. Lennie is quite simple minded and dependent on George to guide him, as he is constantly getting into trouble. Steinbeck uses the deaths of the small animals to show that despite loving to stroke nice things, Lennie inevitably kills them. “I’d pet em’ and pretty soon they bit my fingers and I pinched their heads a little and then they were dead, because they was so little”. He is completely unaware of his own strength. We see the idea of Lennie being like a child when he wants a story told to him. “
Come on, George. Tell me. Please, George. Like you done before” This tells us
Lennie is childlike because this
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