Lit. Analysis #3

1. Plot:
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck is about two best friends, that are travelling and trying to work at a place where they will be able to raise enough money for their dream farm. George and Lennie are complete opposite; George is short and strong-minded and Lennie is big and tall with a mental disability. They both make plenty of friends along their adventure and hopes of getting enough money, including Slim and Candy. Since Lennie is so huge, he often ends up destroying the most precious things to him and getting himself and George into much trouble. Due to all of the trouble Lennie causes they both always flee from towns. After fleeing their last town because Lennie felt a ladies hair and became too rough they go ut into the woods to hide and eventually end up at their next job. They arrive to a farm and immediately begin working there. After working at the farm for a while, Lennie is left alone with a flirtatious woman (which is the boss' son's wife) and accidentally chokes her to death. Lennie who doesn't know what to do but hide, flees to their "meet up place" out int he woods and waits for George there. When George arrives he tells Lennie their dream farm story and then shoots him in the back of the head. George kills him before the boss's son finds them and tortures Lennie to death. All George wanted was to prevent his companion from a painful and slow death and overall just end his suffering due to his mental illness.

 

2.Themes:

-The first theme of Of Mice and Men is friendship. George and Lennie are considered life companions and they try to always do things that in the end will benefit the both of them. When George kills Lennie he kills him to prevent worse pains to be inflicted on him. Their friendship demonstrated that not all friendships are rainbows and smiles, sometimes as a friend one has to make sacrifices and cause pain to them.

-The second theme of Of Mice and Men is the unattainable American Dream. George and Lennie always had a dream of having their own land to build on it and one day have a farm to call their own. On that farm they'd raise animals, make their own butter and be their own bosses. This dream comes to an end when Lennie doesn't control his strength and kills the boss's son's wife and once again they're on the run. Another example would be Curly's wife's dream of becoming an actress but instead she ended up in an unhappy marriage stopping her from fulfilling her dream.




3. Tone:

The tone for the novel was hope, sadness and loneliness. Hope because majority of the characters had a dream they wanted to make a reality or they never had the chance to do it. An example would be George and Lennie's dream farm. The tone also showed a sense of sadness because both men knew they were so far of attaining their farm and George also felt sad that Lennie had a mental illness and couldn't help him much other than watch over him like he had promised Lennie's aunt he would. Loneliness is a tone seen from the start of the novel to the very last page. Lennie and George are alone to roam the world and at the end when George kills Lennie he is left completely alone to roam and continue his life. Other characters that suffer from loneliness are Curly's wife because she says she has no one to talk to, Crooks who lived alone in the horse stable because he was black and Candy was left alone in deep melancholy when his dog died.

Ex." A shot sounded in the distance. The men looked quickly at the old man. Every head turned toward him. For a moment he continued to stare at the ceiling. Then he rolled slowly over and faced the wall and lay silent." (death of Candy's dog)
Ex. "'Yeah. Tha's how.' George's voice was almost a whisper. He looked steadily at his right hand that had held then gun." (George killed Lennie)


4. Literary Terms:

• Similes:

•  “ … drank with long gulps, snorting into the water like a horse.” The comparison of Lennie to a horse stresses his lack of manners, the animal behaviour within him and his sense of obedience to George, just as a horse is controlled by its rider.
• “Slowly, like a terrier who doesn’t want to bring a ball to its master, Lennie approached …” The comparison shows how Lennie is a child within and how much control George has over him.
• “On the sand banks the rabbits sat as quietly as little gray, sculptured stones.” The comparison of the rabbits to stones shows the idea of stillness: George and Lennie are in an environment where everything is lifeless, and reflects their own lives.

Imagery:

•  "...dragging his feet a little, the way a bear drags his paws." This phrase describes how Lennie is walking as he enters the forest behind George and once again that George is Lennie's guidance in life. 
•  "...snorting into the water like a horse." This describes how Lennie drinks from the green pool of water thirstily and doesn't think about his actions, he acts like an animal at times and obviously does not see a wrong with it.
•  "Slowly, like a terrier who doesn't want to bring a ball back to its master..." describes how Lennie has retrieved his dead mouse, and doesn't want to give it back to George. Lennie can't measure his own strength but does have the full capability of realizing when he has done something bad.

Foreshadowing:

• The gun used to shoot Candy's decrepit dog is later used by George to shoot Lennie
• The many small animals that Lennie crushes out of love foreshadow his panicked killings of his puppy and, moments later, Curley's wife
• The event that drove George and Lennie out of Weed (Lennie's false accusation of rape) corresponds to the scene in the barn between him and Curley's wife
• When Lennie gets them into trouble. George asks him, "An you ain't gonna do no bad things like you done in Weed." This makes the reader wonder what happened in Weed and whether it will happen again further on in the novel. Also expect Lennie to act rebellious and misbehave later on in the novel.

Symbolism:

• Rabbits-showed Lennie's dreams and goals which were impossible to fulfill; they also help demonstrate how simple his thinking is compared to George's.
• Mice-shows how Lennie wanted to be comforted all the time, death was the last thing on his mind. The dead mice Lennie held at the beginning od the novel showed how he killed it without wanting too and it hurt him, he wanted to be gentle. That event symbolized the way George killed Lennie trying to kill his friend gently in his hands.
• Dream Farm-keeps Lennie and George together because it is dream they have in common and are willing to work for together. It is symbolic to their friendship. When Lennie killed Curly's wife their dream farm went down the gutter and so did their friendship.
• Pool by the river-place where Lennie and George can get away from society and be themselves; their sanctuary and the place where the novel begins and ends.

Metaphors:

• “… he walked heavily, dragging his feet a little, the way a bear drags his paws.”
• “Lennie dabbled his big paw in the water …” both show Lennie is not well mannered adn can be a threat to other without knowing it himself.

Setting:

• Took place during 1930's-Helped me get a better understanding of the Depression going on at the time
• Farms/Airy Land-Most jobs could only be found in agriculture and in the country separating loved ones
• Pool by River-helped give a better understanding of what the two friends were like when they were alone and in the open, it was their "safe spot" and Lennie's place of tranquility