A golden green field stretches ahead endlessly, pointing towards two great mountains with its straightly planted fruit trees. To the left of the field are three small cabins built with simple wood structures in rectangular shapes. Near the edge of a cluster of trees sits a large house, painted white and red with a wooden porch resting out in front. Laborers are scattered throughout the field, each one carrying a basket filled with harvested crops and working individually. They bend down together in a rhythmic manner to pick the fruits and buck the grain, despite standing meters apart. A scrawny, short man leads a horse back to the dilapidated stable, while a tall, slim man leads a parade of donkeys towards a fenced area. Another man, old and …show more content…
Steinbeck utilizes symbols as one of his main literary elements, found in every passage and every sentence of the story. In two of these “symbol sentences”, he writes, “Slim sat down on a box across the table from George. He studied the solitaire hand that was upside down to him” (Steinbeck 34). The two symbols used are the boxes and the solitaire hand. The box that Slim sits down on represents isolation from the rest of society. At the current moment, Slim is sitting on it, which shows him overcoming it. He is able to fight off the loneliness and isolation from the world by sitting with George. However, the box of loneliness will eventually swallow him up and barricade him from connecting with anybody else, as it will with all the other characters of the novella. Another symbol identifying the theme statement is George’s solitaire hand. Solitaire itself is a card game played by one person, symbolizing solitude. Slim and George are sitting together, yet directly between them stands the loneliness embodied by the solitaire hand. The loneliness will get in the way of the two men from accomplishing their dreams of defeating it. Both symbols are found multiple times through the book and depict the theme statement. In addition to the boxes and solitaire, Candy’s dog also symbolizes how everything ends in loneliness. …show more content…
Many choose to disregard this loneliness ahead in exchange for their lighter, brighter dreams. There are, after all, still so many places left to go and so many people left to see. However, all endings in life, whether that ending concerns relationships, dreams, or death, are of solitude. Coming to terms with this is necessary in order to find peace and to live with purpose. It opens the eyes to a hidden truth— loneliness will continue to be a companion through the entirety of
The character in Of Mice and Men that is most similar to Tom Buchanan in The Great Gatsby is Curley. Curley and Tom Buchanan have many similarities throughout both books. These shared characteristics stem from one thing both men have an abundance of: privilege. Curley and Tom are easily two characters with the least amount of struggle in The Great Gatsby and Of Mice and Men.
John Ernst Steinbeck Jr. was an American author wrote many novels including one of his most famous, Of Mice and Men. Of Mice and Men teaches many lessons about the nature of human existence. Each relationship grows throughout this short story and end with a dramatic experience. All of the characters, including Lennie, George, Crooks, and Curley’s wife, admit, at one time or another, to having a profound sense of isolation, seclusion and loneliness.
In John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men novel he constantly uses biblical allusions to express the theme of losing paradise. His novel contains characters that allude to certain biblical stories, particular those in Genesis. Curley’s wife is alluded to the apple of temptation from the story of Adam and Eve in Genesis. Also in the book of Genesis, George and Lennie are allusions to the sons of Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel. In using the biblical allusions of the apple of temptation and the brothers, Cain and Able, Steinbeck expresses the theme of losing paradise and straying from the path of dreams.
Oftentimes, people confuse loneliness with the state of being alone. When looking at the overall big picture, it is easy to forget that loneliness is temporary. People are not alone because even back in primitive times, they bore a natural instinct to strive for companionship in order to survive. Human imagination creates companions in cases of extreme loneliness which contradicts the state of being alone. Due to societal and family standards, others in society make it practically impossible to be alone. Mankind often goes through life without realizing the overwhelming amount of human contact and support. People are never alone, they are just simply
In the novel, ‘Of mice and Men’, John Steinbeck uses allegory to represent different themes and messages. An allegory is a story, poem or a picture which can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning. While reading Steinbeck’s book I noticed different metaphors such as the usage of animals and Curley’s wife. Throughout the whole book the reader can notice many animals mentioned such as rabbits, mice, the puppy and the old dog. Curley’s wife is also a sort of symbol. She represents the way in which the women were treated and looked upon in those days. The animals and Curley’s wife all symbolize different things in life in the 1930’s USA. They all symbolize the hopes and the dreams that the characters share which motivates and drives them
In the novel, Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck chooses to use many different and unique symbols in order to help develop characters and to foreshadow upcoming events. The symbols used in this story give it a more effective message and provide a better understanding to what Steinbeck has intended to convey. He uses many different forms of symbolism, some which are objects while some are actual human relationships, in order to make the story more realistic and to give it a more insightful approach.
John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men is centred on the lives of ranch workers in the 1930’s and is one of the most interesting and lasting stories of friendship wherein true friendship is the crux of the story. The story is appropriate as it represents what was happening at the time because there was a Wall Street crash which triggered the Great Depression and as a result directly affected the lives of millions of hard working Americans forcing them to lose their jobs, homes, and money. It was a time of great vulnerability and people were forced to make decisions they may not have normally made; the story expands on the concept of vulnerability; as well as the concept of good and bad in people.
Songtai Liu English Essay Symbols in Of Mice and Men Of Mice and Men is a novella that was written by John Steinbeck. It was published in the 1930s and it basically tells a story during the Great Depression period about of two migrant workers, George and Lennie, traveled around and look for new job opportunities; they arrived at a ranch in California and started to work at there. In fact, I found that Steinbeck used the technique of symbolism very constantly throughout the story.
John Steinbeck uses symbolism to signify ideas and qualities by giving them a meaning. For instance, Candy’s dog. Candy’s dog represent the fate awaiting anyone who has outlived his or her purpose. Candy’s dog is old and weak so he is no longer needed in the world. Although, Carlson promises to kill the dog painlessly, his insistence that the old dog must die supports a cruel natural law that the strong will dispose of the weak. “That dog of Candy's is so God damn old he can't hardly walk. Stinks like hell, too. Ever' time he comes into the bunk house I can smell him for two, three days. Why'n't you get Candy to shoot his old dog and give him one of the pups to raise up? I can smell that dog a mile away. Got no teeth, damn near blind, can't eat. Candy feeds him milk. He can't chew nothing else." Candy knows this lesson, for he fears that he himself is coming to an end when he will no longer be useful at the ranch.
Everyone has dreams, big and small. When one dreams, there is a scent of whimsical hope in the air mixed with the powerful drive for success to obtain their luminous goals. But, many times these luscious dreams end up in grief and pain instead of a promised joy due to the hurdles in life, such as the certain circumstances that society professes or the flaws in a person that restrains them from their aspirations. The writer, John Steinbeck, incorporates this ideology in his novella, Of Mice and Men by creating three pivotal characters. Lennie, Crooks, and George all have schemes that go wrong, and yet hope to illustrate their desires of fulfilling their American Dream and to be prosperous for their own independent purposes.
American journalist David Grann once said, “You want the story to be about something, have some deeper meaning, but there is also an emotional, almost instinctual element, which is, does this story seize some part of you and compel you to get to the bottom of it?” Every piece of text has a meaning that goes deeper than the page it is printed on. Of Mice and Men is an example of this. Of Mice and Men was written by John Steinbeck in 1937. The story takes place in California during the Great Depression, a time where it was laborious to be anything close to successful. Everyone believed that with a minimal amount of hard work and money saved up, the American Dream could be at their fingertips. The two main characters George and Lennie struggle to get land to call their own. Lennie is driven by his dream of tending rabbits, but he makes it challenging when he is the main reason of their setbacks and complications as they move from job to job. Fortunately, George is always there to clean up the mess. Of Mice and Men is studied as an allegory because the characters symbolize problems more substantial than the ones Steinbeck clearly writes about. John Steinbeck zooms in on other problems that America struggles with besides the enticing desire for just materialistic things. Steinbeck criticizes racism, the mistreatment of those who are disabled, and the disrespect of women.
In the novel “Of Mice and Men” written by John Steinbeck, two migrant workers named George and Lennie embark on a journey to work from ranch to ranch and save enough money to buy their own farm. Their plan takes a crucial turn in which they didn’t look forward to. Throughout the novel foreshadowing plays an important part in the readers’ point of view throughout the novel. Steinbeck uses foreshadowing to indicate clues of what is to come in the future. There are four examples where foreshadowing is used in Of Mice and Men, “plans go askew”, death of Curley’s wife, loss of farm dream, and death of Lennie. How did Steinbeck use foreshadowing to give clues leading to the four important points?
To become successful you must overcome to obstacles, and continue to work hard even when giving up seems to be an easier solution. Lennie and George are two migrant workers who dream of owning a ranch some day. They are now going to go work at a new ranch in Soledad,California. Escaping from the weed, thanks to Lennie’s childlike behavior for soft items. Hoping this time George and Lennie will get enough money to buy a ranch. John Steinbeck’s novel Of Mice and Men effectively uses the literary devices of conflict,foreshadowing and symbolism in an attempt to reveal how some dreams that will not come true,no matter how much hard work and effort is put into it and is easier if you just give up.
John Steinbeck’s 1949 novella entitled Of Mice and Men uses many significant symbols to convey meanings about the human condition. Such symbols include hands to represent labour, cards to signify chance and taking a risk, and finally, rabbits to suggest ideas about achieving one’s hopes and dreams. Symbols are a key central device in delivering meaning, as they consistently repeated throughout the narrative and are typically associated with the novella’s many characters.
In the 1930`s people who handicapped would be considered metal and would be placed in a mental hospital and would not have the right to do anything. In todays society people who are handicapped are treated with respect and are not thrown into mental hospitals. You cannot judge a person based on something like that