In the novel, ¨Of Mice and Men,¨ the author, John Steinbeck, develops complex characters which opens the story up for interpretation. Steinbeck uses both direct and indirect characterization, which forces the reader to infer important traits about each characters. An example of a character is Crooks, a colored man working on a ranch during the Great Depression. Being the only black man on the ranch, Crooks is often looked down on as a stable bunk, and is not respected as the other men are. Because of this, Crooks is perceived as powerless. He does not have many companions, and lives segregated from the rest of the ranch workers, making him lonely and neglected. However, he is an educated man, who knows his rights, and his intelligence helps
The humanity of the world has a wide variety of lessons and morals. The Book by John Steinbeck Of Mice And Men applies this with two characters Curly and George both demonstrating two very different things about society and humanity through George’s caregiver archetype and Curly’s archetype of the bully. Throughout the story, George the main protagonist cares for Lennie after he promised to look out and care for him through their uncertain adventure they end up at a ranch, and at the ranch, they meet Curly, a steel-headed individual who advocates rude and cruel behavior through yelling, stomping around, and fighting the characters of the book even if Curley is small and lacking compared to the others. In the book Of Mice and Men Steinbeck presents
John Steinbeck, author of Of Mice and Men, clearly and sharply creates his characters so that they can be interpreted - without surrendering individuality - as various archetypes. Steinbeck uses archetypes to enhance the fact that these characters do not belong in a normal society. On page 13, George says, “guys like us...are the loneliest guys in the world.” They move from ranch to ranch looking for jobs but never “belong [to] no place.” A normal society contains people engaging with the trends and agreeing with the mainstream; contrarily, these characters are similar to outcasts.
In the Novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, he uses literary devices to create well-developed Characters like George. Diction shows intensity of his personality as well as his physical attributes. George, develops as a round character through Steinbeck's use of modifiers. George is a dynamic character and shows with the use of indirect characterization along with diction to display how George evolves throughout the story. George is described as, “small and quick, dark of face, with restless eyes and sharp, strong features.
b) The impossibility of the American dream The majority of characters from Of Mice and Men at one point during the story, dreamt of a better life. For Crooks, it was in the barn when he imagined himself hoeing on George and Lennie's farm. For Curley’s wife, it was to become a hollywood movie star. George, Lennie and Candy all fantasized a farm. What makes these dreams American is that they wished for unconditional happiness and freedom.
The definition of a sympathetic character is one whom the writer expects the reader to identify with and care about, though not necessarily admire. In the novel, Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, Curley’s wife, a main character in the book is blatantly portrayed as an unsympathetic character. This is because they only see her through the men's eyes, who only see her as a tiresome object, owned by her husband. Steinbeck’s portrayal of Curley’s wife is unfair and misogynistic because he only displays her as unintelligent and promiscuous, never has a character have a turning point where they realize she’s more than an object, and he never reveals her true name. The first reason that Steinbeck's portrayal of Curley’s wife is unfair is that he never gives Curley any redeeming personality traits, he only depicts her as unintelligent and promiscuous.
Crooks explains how he is excluded from the rest of the farm due to his skin color, but continues the cycle of isolation by pushing Lennie away. Eventually, Crooks yields his rough exterior and tells the laborers to, “[c]ome on in. If everybody’s comin’ in, you might just as well.’ It was difficult for Crooks to conceal his pleasure with anger” (75). Crooks’ caching of his true emotions demonstrates the joy of friendship and the release it holds against the cycle of isolation.
The novella ‘of Mice and Men’ was written by John Steinbeck in the 1930s. It is set in a difficult period of time when America was sunk in deep depression. However, themes of loyalty shine brightly throughout the novella. He shows that even though Americas economy is in tatters, loyalty can still be as prominent. There were also distinct themes of disloyalty, mainly between characters.
The characters in “Of Mice and Men” have memorable personalities that we all can relate to due to their set archetypes. John Steinbeck uses these common and generalized in order to have the readers relate more to his characters. This allows the reader to experience the story and feelings of the characters much better and lets the reader to connect to the character’s feelings, or force the reader to form opinions that aligns with those of the main protagonist(s). In “Of Mice of Men”, readers are initially introduced to Curley’s Wife with words such as “tart”, and having “the eye”. Which, even if readers do not know what that means, it may be inferred through diction that she is overly flirty, or a “tramp”.
For instance, Crooks represents the part of society where people are discriminated against because he is black and is not allowed outside of the bunkhouse and Curley 's wife being a symbol of gender because she was the only lady on the ranch. Throughout the book John Steinbeck uses a large amount of improper grammar. He uses this to describe the backgrounds of the men. By using this kind of grammar it shows that these men are country and uneducated. He spells words incorrectly to show how the characters speak in their everyday
Steinbeck uses the theme of loneliness as a lifestyle, on the ranch, not just a characteristic of one person. As stated in Novels for Students, this story illustrates how “loneliness is an essential part of humanity’s nature.” The racial prejudice of the outsider Crooks causes him to be in a reclusive state throughout the entire novel. The racial segregation of Crooks’s causes the others on the farm to be negligent towards his existence, which puts him in a constant state of comfortless seclusion. Crooks understands the meaning of loneliness as he longs for the companionship of another, as he whimpers, “A guy goes nuts if he ain’t got nobody” (69).
novel that the soldiers are homesick because they find themselves alienated from society. They feel lonely and sick. " The cold sullen silence was with them always. Then three soldiers went insane in a week and cried all night and all day until they were sent away home" (Steinbeck 1954:324-5). It is also seen that the invaders look for a social and friendly interaction with the invaded.
Archetypes are a manifestation of how our minds envision the roles of characters, these characters come in the form of the hero, villain, temptress, damsel, monster, and mentor. In the book Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, we follow the story of two men who struggle to pull through to survive horrible times, on their journey they come across other characters that fulfill the roles of the archetypes. The archetype in discussion is the villain archetype which is the evildoer of a story usually a person who commits a crime against society or against a couple of people. One character in particular that fills the archetype of the villain is Curley, he has an aura of evil that resonates from his attitude and his actions, which triggers people
The book Of Mice and Men is full of puzzling examples of the human condition, from Lennie and his mental disability to Curley only caring about his social appearance. With characters like these two, the book exploits the human condition that concerns circumstances life has given you. John Steinbeck brings to life what being a laborer in the American depression meant to the men and one woman who had enough personality to stand out. Steinbeck shows the human condition of men while they survive in the American depression.
Imagine being able to tell someone to do something and they did it, no matter how awful it was. In John Steinbeck's emotional novel, Of Mice and Men, a grown man named Lennie is mentally challenged has a hard time telling what is right and what is wrong. He has a caretaker named George who has a short temper, however he tries his best to be patient with him. When George loses his temper it often cause Lennie to want to run away. Through all this they share a dream home where they can leave and go to the circus whenever they want.
John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men is a short novel that packs a punch and really looks back at America’s past and mistakes. Steinbeck paints a picture of the late 1920s and early 1930s through two men, George and Lennie. George looks after the mentally challenged Lennie and must take action by soon ending Lennie’s life. The characters in the novel all struggle with heartbreaking conflicts but, no one else suffers more than Lennie and George. These conflicts are often supported imagery in the text.