Analysis : Of Mice and Men

Detail

From his first paragraph, John Steinbeck sets the scene in Of Mice and Men through his use of imagery as he describes the natural world as a parallel to later events in the novella.

The quote "the Salinas River drops in close to the hillside bank and runs deep and green" has imagery. Deep refers to depth in personality and green refers to health. George and Lennie are deep and green. George has depth of personality. Both have good health physically at least.

The "strong and rocky Gabilan mountains" parallels George and Lennie. Strong means stable, while rocky refers to rough or treacherous. George is strong, because he has mental capabilities. Lennie is rocky, because he is of low mentality and acts like a kid by getting himself into trouble a lot of times.

"The leaves lie deep and so crisp" has imagery. Leaves lie deep is like the roots lie deep. Crisp means new or fresh. Curley is like the leaves that lie deep, because his roots lie in the ranch. Lennie and George are crisp, because they are new on the ranch.

"A path beaten hard by boys coming down from the ranches" parallels the system of the ranches. A path beaten hard by boys coming down from the ranches refers to men going to the ranches to find work. George and Lennie symbolize a path beaten hard by boys coming down from the ranches. George and Lennie went to the ranches to find work.

"The limb is worn smooth by men who have sat on it" parallels later events in the book. Worn smooth by men who have sat on it refers to someone getting injured or harmed by someone else.George symbolizes the limb worn smooth, because he lets the men talk him into shooting his friend Lennie even though he does not want to, but because he knows it will be better than letting him get tortured by getting shot in the guts and bleeding out, to shoot him in the head.

Point Of View

The third-person objective point of view solidifies the solitary lives these men lead.

"Crooks did not see him...on raising his eyes...a scowl came on his face." This quote shows that Crooks is disgusted and does not like human contact. Crooks wants his own space on the Earth, because he was not allowed to stay in the bunkhouse. He figures that if he cannot go in their then no one should be able to go into his place."Lennie smiled helplessly in an attempt to make friends." (p 68)This quote shows that Lennie s friendly and he relies on human contact.Lennie relies on relationships to help him out, because he is just like a kid and needs someone to help him out. Without relationships he might not be able to stay out of trouble.

"Curley glared at him. His eyes slipped on past and lighted on Lennie." This quote show that Curley is aggressive and full of rage. Curley is a little guy who thinks that he is better than everyone else. He tries to fight anyone for whatever reason he can. "Lennie looked helplessly at George, and then he got up and tried to retreat."(p 62-63)This quote shows that Lennie is helpless and non-aggressive.Lennie is helpless when it comes to fighting others. Since Lennie is a big guy almost everyone thinks that he should be aggressive but they do not realize how low his mentality is.

Tone

The guilt and obligation tones in Steinbeck's passage reflect George's reluctance to kill Lennie but his knowing the necessity to do so.

The word guilt shows reluctance. "George raised gun and his hand shook, and he dropped his hand to the ground again." (p 105)the George felt guilty about killing Lennie his best friend who was not mean at all. George felt like Lennie did not know what he was doing doing when he killed Curley's wife and he would not have killed her out of meanness.

The word obligation shows necessity." The hand shook violently, but his face set and his hand steadied. He pulled the trigger." (p 106)George felt obligated to kill Lennie because the other guys would kill Lennie in a more treacherous way. George knew the other guys would worry Lennie. George felt obligated to Lennie in all aspects, because he made it his responsiblitity to watch out for Lennie.

Theme

The theme "I am my brother's keeper" fits Of Mice and Men very well,because George and Lennie look out for one another.

"I was jus' foolin', Lennie 'Cause I want you to stay with me." (p 13) Lennie gives George the air of responsibility. George gives Lennie comfort and protection.

"He used to like to hear it so much I got to thinking maye we would."(p 94) Lennie gives George hope to dream of the en of their oppression. George gives Lennie the grand idea of a new life for him without bosses.

"The hand shook violently,but his face setand his hand steadied. He pulled the trigger." George causes Lennie to have a quick end rather than bleed out painfully. George had a hard time kiling Lennie,because he was his best frien. George's shooting Lennie was keeping him because he would have suffered had the other guys shot him.