"Of Mice and Men" Analysis

Detail:

John Steinbeck, the author of Of Mice and Men, uses many features to foreshadow and parallel events or characteristics of the characters that will come to be later in the book. In the first paragraph he uses many physical traits of the land to parallel characters and relationships of the characters.

In the sentence "the Salinas river drops in close to the hillside bank and runs deep and green," John Steinbeck uses the words "deep" and "green" to describe Lennie and George. The word green mean life, youth, fresh, and new. This is a good word to parallel Lennie to because he has a very young mind and everything he thinks is very different and new.

Another parallel comes from the sentence "slopes curve up to the strong and rocky Gabilan mountains." By saying strong and rocky Steinbeck kind of contradicts himself, but Lennie and George together are strong and rocky. Lennie is very strong physically but rocky mentally. George is the opposite; he is strong mentally and small, or rocky, physically.

"The limb is worn smooth by men who have sat on it." This quote describes Lennie and George's relationship. The have been traveling together so long that everything goes smoothly. They have worked out all the rough parts of their relationship.

These quotes used descriptive words to parallel the characters and relationships in a different way.

Point of View:

The third person objective point of view expresses the fear of two characters through different point of views.

"She struggled violently under his hands. Her feet battered on the hay and she writhed to be free; and from under Lennie's hand came a muffled screaming." Curley's wife was very afraid, and rightfully so. This very large man was forcefully petting her head and covering her mouth so she did not know what to do. She could not get him to stop no matter what she did.

"Lennie was in a panic. His face was contorted. She screamed then, and Lennie's other hand closed over her mouth and nose." This quote shows how scared Lennie is when he starts petting Curley's wife's hair. He gets so afraid because he knows that if George catches him he will not be allowed to "tend the rabbits." He covered her mouth so George will not hear what is going on.

They were both really scared and I think that scared them more. Neither of them could figure out why the other person was doing what he/she was doing.

Tone:

The tones of lonely and longing in Steinbeck's passage reflect his ideas of the way men lived and felt during these times.

This book has a very lonely feeling. Almost all of the characters in this book are lonely. "'Come on in. If everybody's comin' in, you might just as well.' It was difficult for Crooks to conceal his pleasure with anger." This shows how lonely Crooks is. He is happy that people are coming in to visit him so he is having trouble trying to keep up his image as a mad loner.

"How's it gonna be? We gonna get a little place.' 'We'll have a cow. An' we'll have maybe a pig an' chickens...an' down the flat we'll have a...little piece of alfalfa-' 'For the rabbits.'" This quote shows that Lennie is longing for something more. He wants friends, security, and most of all, rabbits. When he did something wrong the first thing that crossed his mind was that he was not going to be able to "tend the rabbits." Lennie just needs to be reassured that everything he is longing will eventually come to him.

The tone of this book is very reflective of the hard times that were going on during the years that this book is set in.

Theme:

The theme of Of Mice and Men is "I am my brother's keeper." This is a great theme because it applies to real life often. We are responsible for taking care of the less fortunate.

There are many times in the book that George takes care of Lennie. He makes sure he is in a safe place. Lennie offers to go find a cave and try to live on his own so George could have a better life, but George does not let him. (p. 12-13) He tries to keep Lennie out of trouble by always having a plan. (p.15)

George says he does not mind taking care of Lennie because Lennie keeps him company. Most guys that are working on ranches "get mean and don't want to talk to nobody." George is so used to going around with Lennie that he does not mind anymore. (p.41)

George took care of Lennie because Lennie was not smart enough to know what to do most of the time. I take care of my little sister in the same way. She is only two years old so she has no clue what to do about most things. I help her stay out of trouble and teach her right from wrong. The theme "I am my brother's keeper" is a great theme to live by.