Just a Simple Outsider The novel “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck takes its’ setting in the 1930’s during The Grwat Depression. In this novel there’s two main characters Lennie and Geroge. These two men are on their journey to accomplish their dream but, they stumble on their way to achieve it. Lennie is mentally disabled and does as George tells him to. George is the dominant male in the relationship , because of Lennie’s disability it causes they both very much trouble back in Weed and on the ranch they arrive too after escaping.
Steinbeck describes Crooks’ living condition to be, “For being alone…Crooks could leave his things about, and being a stable buck and a cripple, he was more permanent than the other men” (67). Crooks’ deformed back deprive him of working with the other men, thus denying him an opportunity for personal contact with them. Next, Crooks becomes accustomed to seclusion and begins to be suspicious of any man who tries to make friends with him. Crooks cannot go in the bunkhouse of the white ranch hands; therefore, he turns Lennie away from his own place. His longing for company wins over and he then invites Lennie to accompany him (68).
George realizes that it is wrong to make a weaker living suffer. George admits that Lennie is “dumb as hell.” Using metaphors and similes the reader can better understand how much George loves Lennie. Slim then starts to realize where George is coming from and starts to appreciate their friendship. This characterizes George as caring, loving, and optimistic. George won’t let Lennie “go down alone” because he cares about his friend so much and knows he doesn’t deserve that.
Of Mice and Men John Stienback Justine Letendre In the tradgic novel " Of Mice and Men" Stienback creates a mood to the novel, which makes the reader feel sympathetic towards many characters, but the character that the ready feels most sympathetic for is George. Georges encounters lot of problems taking care of Lennie, along with the emotional burdens that he carries with him, and realizing that his dream wont come true. George is faced with a lot of responsibilities, and one of them is to take care of Lennie since his Aunt Clara died. Having to care-take for a mentally challanged adult can cause difficulties with everyday life. Keeping a job is one of the hardest things that Geroge and Lennie are facing
Discuss the significance of the barn in ‘Of Mice and Men’ Throughout ‘Of Mice and Men’ the barn is a key factor. Its’ importance ties in with some of the themes from the novel i.e. loneliness. Other themes such as death run right through the novel and the barn is right at the heart of it all. At first Steinbeck portrays the barn as a liminal space – a place for outsiders – but in the latter chapters of the book we realise the importance of this key location.
It shows Slim as a sort of true king with power of knowledge and understanding but being trapped in the society all the same. When George and Lennie arrive together at the bunkhouse people think it is strange for men to travel together. This shows that society is use to people travelling alone. So through Slim, Steinbeck uses him as a way of criticising society. With all of Slim's God-like features it is hard for us to understand why he is there at the ranch.
The dreams in “Of Mice and Men” are used by Steinbeck to signify characters in the book that have the potential to aspire to something better. Many people on the ranch are individuals who live in the reality that their lives are very isolated and often futile as they work for The Boss on the ranch and he has absolute control. None of the workers
George and Lennie need each other to survive and in the novel this is clearly shown to the reader. However with every other working man this is different because everyone travels alone, works alone and lives alone no friends along the way through the challenging journey named life. “Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world.” However, Lennie broke in and said, “But not us! An’ why? Because ..... Because I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that’s why.” As the novel comes to an end so does this relationship when it is broken as George shoots Lennie in the back of the head to prevent him from being tortured and captured.
George was a small tough guy that always had to watch over Lennie. Once they got to Soledad, he stopped watching over him knowing that Lennie was capable of hurting someone without trying to. The book states, “Yeah?” said Crooks, “An’ where’s George now? In town in a whorehouse.” (Page 76) George had left Lennie alone at the ranch while he was out with the guys at a whorehouse. If George had payed more attention to Lennie and what he was up to, then Lennie probably wouldn’t have killed Curly’s wife.
In the novel Of Mice and Men, the lives of migratory workers during The Great Depression were affected negatively and highly unfortunate. The constant traveling and temporary jobs caused workers to not be able to develop proper relationships with each other. Even though the characters can’t develop these normal relationships in society, all the characters yearn for connection or friendship as shown by the allurement of a “family” living on a farm like normal people. The characters crave companionship but surprisingly they isolate themselves from society because of fear of others hurting them which results in the theme of loneliness throughout the novel. This generalization is supported by many of the characters behaviors in the book and even in what they say.