Of Mice and Men_1

Characters
1. George
  1. ''small and quick,dark of face,with restless eyes and sharp,strong features.''This suggests intelligence but 'restless eyes'also suggests unhappines.
  2. shows moral growth throughout the novel
  3. symbolises the itinerant farm worker-traooed by his job and haunted by loneliness
  4. Heroic-kills Lennie bece as he accepts responsibility.
2. Candy
  1. old and weak
    1. ''Tall,stoop-shouldered old man''.This suggests hopelessness as well as age
  2. Still able to have hopes
    1. When he plans the ranch he is ''grinning with delight''Steinbeck suggests that we should not judge people by appearances but for who they are inside
3. Lennie
  1. animalistic
    1. ''dragging his ferr a little,the way a bear drags his paws'
      1. ''looked wildly at the brush line as though he contemplated running for his freedom''
        'snorting into the water like a horse'
        Strong animals-he has a physcial strength but also the low intelligence of an animal
        he has an animal instinct
  2. childlike
    1. He likes to stroke abd ''pet' soft things.He delights in his dream farm like a child with a favourite toy:''Come on George.Tell me.Please George.Like you done before.''
4. Slim
  1. respected
    1. ''there was gravity in his manner.''
      1. what he has to say has power and importance,he has a natural authority
  2. His hands are 'as delicate as those of a temple dancer'-simile
    1. Steinbeck presents him as evidence that noble qualities can be founf in the humble working man
  3. practical
    1. He drowns some of the puppies as the mother 'couldn't feed that many''
      1. He knows that life is hard
5. Curley
  1. Curley's power is huge and an exmaple of social injustice and corruption of the world the ranch hands live and work in
  2. aggressive
    1. ''He's alla time picking scraps with big guys''
      1. He seems set on proving that he is a big man in all but size .His dream is to become a boxer.
  3. selfish and disliked
    1. "His wife says;Ï don't like Curley.'.This indicates that Curley only sees the world through his eyes.His inability to control or understand his wife leads to Lennie's death.
6. Curley's wife
  1. flirtatious
    1. ''She twitched her body''
      1. She wants to get attention because she is trapped in a loveless marriage..She has been forced to recognise that sexuality is the only weapon she has;the only thing that gets her noticed.
  2. seen as a 'jail-bait' by the ranch hands
    1. In the 1930s if a married woman looked with interested at another men,she was seen as a 'tart'.
  3. becomes more beautiful when she is dead
    1. 'She was very pretty and simple, and her face was sweet ad young.''
Key contexts andThemes
1. .Loneliness
  1. The men on the ranch are like orphans:''They got no family.''
    1. It was unusual for the ranch workers to make friends. "'Funny how you an' him string along together.'':Slim's comment for George and Lennie
2. Women
  1. Men and women did not understand each other. Curley's wife doesn't understand that his wife needs company and ateention.He treats her as a trophy rather than an individual.His idea of 'being there' is covering his hand in Vaseline
    1. In the novella, the only acceptable role is as the motherly old aunt or as a prostitute who doesn't put pressure on men.
  2. Sexism
3. Prejudice
  1. Candy
    1. He suffers prejudice because of his age(''A tall,stoop-shouldered,old man'' suggests hopelessness) and disability(he is one-handed.)
      1. Candy has lost his right hand on the ranch which is why his job is permanent,which suggests that health and safety standards at the time were poor.""I lost my hand right here on this ranch.That's why they gave me a job swampin'.'
        Candy is not respected by others.No one tries to save his old and no longer useful dog from execution.The shooting of his dog shows the reader the cruelty of the world portrayed in the novella.Candy's dog represents Candy himself.Just like his dog,, they will 'can' him form his job when he becomes useless.
  2. Crooks
    1. .He has a room of his own because he is a relatively pemranent skilled worker(he is crippled) and because,being black,he is not allowed in the bunk house.(segregation:''They say I stink.'')
      1. The boss is always giving Crooks ''hell'' because he is a ''nigger''(derogatory language was commonly used) American society in the 1930s was very racist and Steinbeck portrays the typical treatment of black people.
        Crooks offer to work on the dream farm for free because life on the farm would give him dignity
        Crooks is even trated badly by characters who have little power because he has even less power than they do.When Curley's wife threatens him with lyching(which was a common treatment of black people at the time) Crooks 'had reduced himself to nothing' The reminder of his lack of rights returns him to his lack of hope.Crooks is the first character to realise that the dream is not possible because he is used to disappointment:'You guys comin' in an' settin' made me forget.''
  3. Lennie
    1. Faces prejudice due to his lower cognitive ability
      1. George has abused his power over Lennie. One day he told Lennie to jump into the river and Lennie nearly drowned.This stopped George from playing jokes on Lennie,
        Crooks torments Lennie by suggesting that George might bo return and so Lennie would be taken to 'the booby hatch' and tied up like a dog
  4. Curley's wife
    1. Sexism
      1. Curley's wife is not given a proper name:the ranch hands never see her as a real person with an identity of her own,They see her as something belonging to Curley.This shows that men in the 1930s did not regard women as individuals.
        Called a ''tart'' and a ''bitch''.Carlson says she should stay at home ''where she belongs''
4. 1. The American Dream
    1. The American dream meant different things for different people.
      1. The ranch hands dream of being the cowboy heroes they read about in 'those Western magazines ranch men love to resd and scoff at and secretely believe'
        The ranch men take pleasure in fanatasy that enables them to escape briefly form dull and predictable lives
      2. Hollywood contributed to the American Dream.Film stars started to make lots of money and many ordinary people just like Curley's wife dreamed of becoming famous and living a glamorous lifestyle.
        When she was 15, a travelling show came to town and one of the actors invited her to join them,but her mother said she was too young. Then she 'met a guy, an' he was in pitchers'.He promised to lauch her on a Hollywood career and said he would write to her about it.She believes that her mother stole the letter and to escape from her control,she married Curley but ended up being controlled by him. This was what life was like for poor and unedeucated women in the 1930s.
        Her ambitions come across as pathetic.Her conviction that her mother stole the letter gullibility.Her repeated mention of 'nice clothes' highlights that she has no idea what acting involves.The 'small grand gesture' that she makes shows taht she has no idea hat acting involves.steinbeck uses the word 'grand' ironically
    2. Freedom,independence ana owning one's land.
      1. George and Lennie dream of living ''offa the fatta the lan' ''The dream keeps them going during their tough times. Geprge and Lennie are examples of travelling farm workers(migrant workers)who took temporary jobs and only took what they could carry on their backs. ''a bunch of bindle stiffs''
        Lennie is captivated by the part about the rabbits.George says that the rabbits on the dream farm would be "'Red and blue and green rabbits.''This makes the dream seem unreal.
        When Candy offers money to invest in the dream,George excitedly calculates that they could buy the farm by the end of the month.His excitementcontrasts with is usual pessimism: "I bet we could swing her".He finally sees a way out of his current existance.'' However,Curley and Lennie's fight shatters the dream,showing that in real-life dreams rarely come true.
        In chapter 4 Crooks declares:''Nobody never gets to heaven,and nobody gets no land.''(colloquial language and double negatives) Crooks puts the dream into the context of harsh reality. Moments after he offers to work for free in the dream farm,the three dreamers are brought back to reality by Curley's wife.By the end of the chapter,things are brought back t normal(cyclical structure)This gives the impression of the characters going round in circles.They never achieve their dreams.
        In Chapter 6 George's words are spoken 'monotonously' -he has finally accepted that dreams don't come true. As Lennie dies,the dream also dies.Steinbeck wanted to show the contrast between the ideal of the American Dream and the reality of widespread poverty and disappointment.This pessimism reflects the mood of the American society in the 1930s.
Style
1. Imagery
  1. simile
    1. Curley's wife ''flopped like a fish.'' This is similar to how Curley is described when Lennie crushes his hand-''flopping like a fish on a line''. Curley and his wife's dreams are both physically crushed by Lennie.
  2. metaphor
    1. ''Lennie dabbled his big paw in the water''
  3. personification
    1. ''The silence came into the room again. It came out of the night and invaded the room.'' The only time Steinbeck uses obvious personification to create tension.
2. Language
  1. derogatory
    1. racist language
    2. sexist language
      1. The books was banned in many Amrican states in the 1930s because of its 'bad' language
  2. matter-of-fact
    1. ''The bunk house was a long,rectangular building.''-reflects the simplistic,minimalistic nature of the ranch workers
  3. colloquial dialogue
    1. Steinbeck uses words and phrases that ranch hads would have used in the 1930s-realismThe reality of working man's speech is refected
3. Setting
  1. Apart from the opening and closing sections,the story is set on the ranch ,The bunk house which mirrors how basic men's lvies were.
4. Structure
  1. cyclical
    1. Suggests taht the life of a migrant worker in the 1930s America was a cycle of working, and then moving on to the next job: it was inescapable.
  2. foreshadowing
    1. Used to imply that fate is inevitable
      1. the red dress of the giirl in Weed-Curley's wife's red dress-danger
      2. Violence is increasing in a deadly pattern
        dead mice-.>crushed hand-.>dead puppy->dead girl
      3. The title hints that it is all destined to go wrong.Comes from the poem'to a Mouse''-'gang aft agley''-often go wrong
  3. a novel written like a play
5. Symbolism
  1. light and dark
    1. mark a contrast between the men's lives and the outside world of possibilities
      1. As the novel progresses things seem to get darker and darker-hope is fading
        At the end of the book,the light disappears completely:''The light climbed on out of the valley.''With light fading and Lennie dying,dream is also unachiavable.Paradise is out of reach.
      2. When Curley's wife first enters she cuts of the ''rectangle of sunshune'' .Foreshadows the role that she plays in ending the hopes and dreams nurtured by George and Lennie
  2. animals
    1. Symbolic of the cruelty of life in the 1930s.When animals don't serve a purpose on the ranch they're got rid of.The men are just like animals labouring on the farm.The way animals get treated in the novel(particalry Candy's dog) reflects how American society at the time treated the weak and vunerable.
  3. religious symbolism
    1. Dream farm-heaven
    2. Curley's wife ::snake on the Garden of Eden or devil
    3. Slim-Godlike
6. Paradox
  1. Lennie kills Curley 's wife and lots of small animals but is essentially innocent.
  2. Curley ' s wife is decribed as a 'tart' and causes her own death but at the same time is shown to be 'innocent'
7. Description
  1. Steinbeck describes nature using decriprive language, sibilance and long,flowing sentences.This is contrasted to the matter-of-fact language,simple descriptions and broken-up sentences used to describe the bunk house.This makes nature more appealing than the ranch.
  2. Chapter 1-The description of the pool is in the present tense,hinting at a paradise that is somehow outside of time, always present.
    1. The detailed snapshot of nature tells us that many other men have have stopped thre and could imply that George and Lennie are unimportant figures in the world.
      1. In section 6,,there are differences in the way the pool is described:the heron kills the snake-foreshadowing.Also sugegsts that death exists even in paradise.
  3. .When Curley's wife dies:'''..Lennie had broken her neck.''Makes the event more shocking because it is described in such a blunt way.
8. Adverbs
  1. they reveal change in mood(George speaking of the dream)
  2. Steinbeck also uses adverbs to describe the way characters behave e.g."'Lennie looked timidly over to him''
9. Names
  1. Lennie's surname is ''Small'' which is ironic because he is ''a huge man''.But Lennie is small in a way:his mind is childlike
  2. Geoge's surname is ''Milton''-a real surname which makes his character more realistic.
  3. Curley-he's like his hair-tense and wound up tight,like a spring
  4. Slim-tall and elegant like his name
  5. Crooks-a nickname because of his ''crooked back''-insulting
  6. Place Names
    1. Soledad means solitude in Spanish
    2. Weed is where George and Lennie have come form as Lennie did a ''bad thing''.A weed is a plant you don't want so the happening in Weed spoils their new life
  7. Whit likes to have fun on Saturday night-his name souns like 'wit'

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