Of Mice And Men By John Steinbeck: Setting, Characters, Plot And Symbols

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He was born 27 February 1902 in Salinas, California, When John was younger he worked briefly as a farmer in California. After that he studied marine biology at Stanford University, the years 1919-1925 he finished the school without taking a degree, because he realized that writing is what he was good at and would fulfill his dream of becoming a writer. John has a talent for writing and his first commercial success was Of Mice and Men which came out 1937. He wrote lots of literature books and novels, John Steinbeck died 20 December 1968 of heart disease. Some other books he has written: East of Eden, The Grapes of wrath and the winter of our discontent.

The setting

Of mice and men is a literature book written by John Steinbeck (1902-1968), the story take place in the American South in the beginning of 1930s. I think that the book has a connection with his youth life, because the story in Of Mice and Men take place in Salinas there John was born, and he also writes about how hard people hade at that time and driven around and worked on different farms just because to make money, like he did when he was younger. It is very environment descriptions in this book, that’s why the reader gets more vivid pictures in front of them and can see how it actually looks like during their time. A good example is in the early of the book where John Steinbeck describes about the peaceful nature when they are at the dam and the beautiful area around it. The place is green and peaceful the water in the big river is warm, the sun shines on the yellow sand it’s hot and make your feet’s warm when you walk on the sand. You can feel the smell from spring flowers and hear beautiful birds singing everywhere and rabbits that jumps around from bush to bush. He describe a spring feeling in the book

The characters

The book is all about two important main characters, George and Lennie. George is the most intelligent person, he solves all the problems they come in contact with, and although he helps Lennie with his problem who is easily forgetful about everything. Lennie was the kind of person that every worker would be able to receive, he was physically strong and big, which was a good Applicability for a worker. But he also had some mental weakness, which was why he always forgot everything and caused problems all the time. He thinks like a little child. These two friends use each other’s characteristics. Lennie need George’s intelligence and George need Lennie’s strength, that’s why they are together all the way at end of the journey. In the middle of the story meets George and Lennie some nice people who they let into their community, as Slim, Candy, etc. In the farm there were some workers which were really bad. As Curliy, he treats Lennie in a bad way just because Lennie was big and silly and Curley hates big people. That’s why he always wanted to fight with Lennie. There is also some available of minor characters which worked on the same farm as the main characters. Like Crooks, Curley’s wife etc, although they are minor characters, they still have an important impact in the book. You get to know how they look like and get to know what their chores on the farm are. Every character behave the same way like they did in the beginning of the story that’s why they do not changing during the time of the novel. I mean, none of the characters became a hero, Curley didn’t become a nicer person, and Lennie caused several problems for George.

The Plot

The main events is when Curley and Slim coming into the house while they talk loud with each other about Curelys wife, and after a moment Carlson made fun of Curley, because he can’t take care of his wife. Curley got mad and wanted to beat Carlson. And then Carlson said ”I don’t care if you’re the best welter in the country. You come for me, an’ I’ll kick your god damn head off’. Lennie smiled a little bit, that made Curley really mad. He wanted show everyone that he wasn’t a coward, and started yell at Lennie just because he was big and Curley hate big people. He beat Lennie on the face several times, but Lennie didn’t fight against him, because George had told him to not mess with anybody. He also was too frightened to defend himself. George saw that Lennie was injured and the blood ran down his face, after a while, George said to him to fight back and defend him. Lennie grabbed Curlieys hand and never let go of it. Curliey lay there on the table and flopped like a fish the blood ran down all the way to the elbows and he was completely lifeless and couldn’t move. Until George and Slim came and stopped him. At the end became Lennie the hero, but he didn’t want to hurt anybody. It was a sad ending of the fight because Curley gets really hurt and Lennie was hurt because he did not want to beat anyone.

Theme and message

The story is all about friendship, poverty and a little bit racism. George and Lennies friendship grows the more we get to know about them, and they let some people in to their community that made their friendship stronger. Throughout the journey, they had each other, because they need each other’s characteristics. Without George, Lennie would be completely lost in his lonely world because he is forgetful and don’t know what to do a person must tell him what he should do and not to do, like George does every time. And without Lennie’s strength would George have problems at work because he is small and weak. That’s why they need each other in their lives. The book’s message is to inform how hard and difficult it was for poor people to develop at that time, when it was difficult to get a job and money. Lennie and George had a great chance to make something of their lives because they were two hardworking people, and trusted each other, at that time you could not trust each other and travel together with someone. But they had no opportunities to reach their dreams because the society stopped them. Other themes in the book were dreams. From the beginning to the end of the book hade George and Lennie a dream to reach, and it was that one day they going to buy their own farm with land where they could have rabbits, dogs and other animals. Crook was the only person on the farm who was dark skinned, he was really outcast by all who worked there. They always told him that he smelt badly and that he did not belong to the farm. He was always alone in his little barn; no one respected him for what he was. This sign shows the racist side that was in the yard.

I learned alot from the story an example is that people can get far in life through friendship and relationship, as long as you have faith in each other.

Symbols

Steinbeck uses a lot of different symbols that represents different things; he has symbolized lots of soft animals which probably mean love and warmth. Lennie likes, for example to stroke soft things, like dogs and mice, because he felt calmer with it. He also symbolize racism in many ways, he describes how Crooks for example is treated by the others and how everyone watching down on him just because he is dark skinned.

Conclusion – The book didn’t inspired me a lot because it’s not my type of book, I thought it was exciting at times when something happened, example in the end and in the middle of the book when Curley ‘got caught his hand in a machine’. I like how Steinbeck describes about the nature, the environment and the people. Because I had vivid pictures in front of me which made easier for me to understand the story.

I disliked Curley’s wife because she was after every guy who was in the barn. I got a very bad image of her. You could say that she was the whore in the farm who wanted to access all guys, just because she felt alone and wanted to be seen.

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Of Mice And Men By John Steinbeck: Setting, Characters, Plot And Symbols

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