How Is Animal Imagery Used In Of Mice And Men

For Lennie’s archetype, his character represents innocence. In the story, Lennie is always in need to pet some kind of animal. His want of constant comfort from an animal is a childish quality for a grown man to have. This childish quality makes Lennie’s character have the innocence of a child no older than eight years old.

A person who committed a crime despite their mental ability or age should be punished. Imagine two people kill somebody but one of them is mentally disabled. Do they deserve the same punishment? They both should be held accountable for their actions. In John Steinbeck's novel Of Mice and Men, this question comes up in terms of whenever Lennie should have been killed for his crime.

Which means Lennie hurts animals and other people without meaning to. On their way to the bunkhouse, Lennie keeps petting a dead mouse in his pocket, when George says “you've broke it pettin' it.” (Steinbeck 9). Killing a little mouse by petting it is a splendid case that displays that Lennie has jurisdiction over his strength. Lennie was “gently” petting the mouse and snapped the little mouse's neck, Ironically Lennie adores soft furred creatures.

And although he had strength that could help everyone on the farm. The one time he used his strength, it left Curley “flopping like a fish on a line.” (Steinbeck, 63) So although he could help others by using his strength, his intelligence left him like a person who couldn’t control himself. Even after Curley was incapacitated, Lennie still “held on to the closed fist.”

At the beginning of the novel he accidently kills a mouse, and then a puppy, and ultimately Curley’s wife. As he said, “I can still tend the rabbits, George?... I didn't mean no harm, George.” (65), he may have not meant to harm anything or anyone but he did not understand or accept the severity of his actions, instead he was concerned about the tending of his future rabbits. Lennie’s actions solidified Steinbeck’s stance on the true nature of mankind through his diction.

There are striking similarities between the types of violence humans inflict in Steinbeck’s novella Of Mice and Men and Robert Burns’ poem "To a Mouse, on Turning Her Up in Her Nest with the Plough”. In the poem, Burns narrates a situation where, while plowing, accidentally destroys a mouse’s home for the winter. So even though he was unintentional in the causing of distress, it still happened. This situation draws parallels to Lennie inadvertently making George’s life hard and hurting those around him in Of Mice and Men.

In Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck's story depicts confusion, fear, and isolation represented by different characters, such as Lennie. Throughout the story, Steinbeck portrays him as a symbol of pain and confusion, always bringing trouble wherever he goes. The various conflicts derived from his confusion, fear, and isolation reveal how society has denied his opportunities in terms of ambition and companionship. This is shown to us as readers through the degrading way he characterizes him as well as the more under the surface conflicts he has with himself and society.

An innocent conversation between Lennie and Curley’s wife tragically results in her death. Lennie playing around with a small puppy and mice result in the puppy’s death and countless mice relates back to the concept of naturalism because Lennie cannot control his strength. His situations spin out of control, because he does not know what he is doing. George says that, “‘Lennie never done it out of meanness,’... All the time he done bad things, but he never done one of em’ mean” (Steinbeck 95).

The book Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, uses symbolism to foreshadow the good and bad that will happen to the characters, and relate his characters to some larger, and more widely known people and ideas. Throughout this essay, it will become clear how and when Steinbeck uses symbolism. For example, the snake Lennie sees crossing the pond, “A water snake glided smoothly up the pool, twisting its periscope head from side to side; and it swam the length of the pool and came to the legs of a motionless heron that stood in the shadows.” Most of the time when you see a snake in literature, it foreshadows evil and troubles in the near future.

And you could pet it harder"( Steinbeck 13). Lennie likes to pet the heads of animals since they have soft fur and he likes the feeling of soft things. In the end it foreshadowed the death of Curley's wife with fhe pattern of Lennie petting or touching the heads of animals starting with a mouse and proceeding to a dog killed in the same way as before with its neck broken. It reaches its final point when Curley's wife and Lennie have a converation and then they start talking about the feeling of nice things

In the novella Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck often employs animal imagery to dehumanize Lennie, in order to allow the reader to justify George putting him down at the end of the novella. As Steinbeck’s use of animal imagery progresses throughout the novel, Lennie is dehumanized by being compared to an animal that only hinders George’s pursuit of happiness. Starting with Lennie’s introduction, Steinbeck influences how the reader perceives Lennie. During the reader's first encounter with Lennie, he is described as walking “heavily, dragging his feet a little, the way a bear drags his paws," (Steinbeck 2). Steinbeck’s diction invokes animal imagery by comparing Lennie’s movements to that of a bear, which immediately dehumanizes Lennie to the reader.

George tells Lennie what to say and do because Lennie can not process information quickly due to his IDD. " Slowly, like a terrier who doesn 't want to bring a ball to its master, Lennie approached, drew back, approached again" (Steinbeck 9). In this quote Steinbeck paints this picture in the reader’s mind that Lennie is more like George’s pet. Requiring a lot of maintenance and effort, Lennie exemplifies the traits of an animal because his IDD makes his everyday life challenging to

Dogs are known for being a person’s perfect companion, always following orders and staying loyal. Throughout the book, Lennie follows George’s orders. One example is when Lennie and Curley fight, and Lennie attacks Curley because George told him to. He then stops because George orders him to. After Lennie releases Curley from his crushing grip, he says to George, “‘You tol’ me to, George,’”(64).

Although Lennie loves mice, he is inept at handling feeble creatures. George notices the mouse and addresses it by saying that: “‘That mouse ain’t fresh, Lennie...you’ve broke it pettin’ it’” (Steinbeck 9). The euphemism that George uses for death suggests that the mouse’ death was not intentional, nor sadistic. Lennie roots his intentions in kindness, but his strength overpowers this emotion.

One of the most important forms of animal symbolism that is represented in Of Mice and Men is held with rabbits. This animal in particular plays a huge role throughout the text as a sign of hope for Lennie. Steinbeck states "An' live off the fatta the lan'," Lennie shouted. "An' have rabbits. Go on, George!