Structure & Setting

Structure & Setting

1. Structure

   • Nature starts and ends the novella
     • Starts and ends at the outdoor pool
       • Start with life and dreams
       • Ends with death
     • At the beginning and end they are on the run
       • For what happened in Weed
       • Death of Curley's wife
     • Suggests that the life of a migrant worker in the 1930s was a cycle of working and moving on
       • No escape
   • Written like a Play
     • Entrances and exits are some of the key moments in the novel
     • Easy to stage
       • Each chapter has only one location
     • Descriptions at the beginning of Chapters are very specific
       • Like instructions to a stage designer
   • Foreshadowing
     • Uses this to suggest characters fates are inevitable
     • Girl in Weed was wearing a red dress when Lennie grabbed her
       • Just like Curley's wife
     • George and Lennie have an escape plan before even arriving at the ranch
       • Lennie will hide by the pool if something goes wrong
     • Shows Lennie's voice increasing in a deadly pattern
       • Dead mice - dead dog - crushed hand - dead girl

2. Setting

   • Ranch
     • Chapter Two and Three are set in the bunkhouse
       • 'whitewashed' walls and an 'unpainted' floor
       • Mirrors how basic the men's lives are
     • Men's things described as little 'articled' or 'vials;
       • Shows these men only own small things the can carry on their backs
         • Nothing is permanent for them
     • Lot's of men have 'medicines' and George has 'liniment'
       • Shows the men have to look after themselves to stay healthy enough for work
       • Symbolic of never-ending pain on the ranch
   • Pool Represents Safety
     • First Chapter George tells Lennie to 'hide in the bush' by the pool if anything goes wrong
       • Safe place where he won't be found
       • Ironic how George shoots Lennie in his sanctuary
     • Description of the pool mirrored in First and Final Chapters
       • Top of the mountains 'flame' and 'blaze'
       • Lizard makes 'a great skittering'
       • Some differences which suggest it's no longer safe for Lennie
         • In Chapter One a Heron flew off leaving the water snake
           • In Chapter Six, a Heron kills a water snake and then flies off
         • In Chapter One men's voices could be heard in the distance
           • In Chapter Six the voices came closer and closer to the pool