Literature Analysis #3

Of Mice And Men by John Steinbeck

1. The book is about two migrant workers, George and Lennie who are off to work on a farm in California. Both have been friends since childhood and both have interest in buying their own land. Lennie has a mental condition, and relies on George to take care of him. The two get jobs working on a ranch by George telling a false story about how George and Lennie are cousins, and Lennie got his condition by being kicked in the head by a horse at a young age. The two meet everyone else on the ranch. They meet Candy, the handyman with a missing arm, the boss's mean son, Curley, and Curley's wife. One day Candy overhears George and Lennie's plans of buying land. Candy offers his life savings to them as long as he could live on their land, and the three make a pact not to tell anyone of their plans. After the talk, Curley lets his anger out by starting to pick a fight with Lennie. Lennie then breaks Curley's hand when he attacks. Lennie and Curley's wife begin to start talking because of Curley's attack on Lennie, and to try and comfort him after he accidentally kills a dog when trying to pet it. After talking for a while, Curley's wife let's Lennie feel her hair, and then he accidentally breaks her neck when doing so. Lennie flees to the Salinas River after the event happens. George goes to try and calm Lennie down for what he did by telling him about all the future the land they will own, but then proceeds to shoot Lennie in the head, killing him. George covers up the event by telling everyone that he was trying to wrestle a gun away from Lennie.

2. A theme that the novel has is the failure of The American Dream. In the story, both George and Lennie have the dream of buying their own land and living on it, but doesn't happen when Lennie's life is cut short when George shoots him in the end. Another example is during Lennie and Curley's wife's chat, Curley's wife mentions that she completely regrets her marriage and not starting on her acting career, which is also a failure of a dream.

3. The author's tone was an unhappy feeling throughout the novel because of some of the unfortunate events that happened, but didn't give off much of a "dark" feeling to it. Some of the events described that gave it this mood were Lennie talking about how he kills animals when he pets them, Lennie and Curley's fight, and George having to shoot Lennie at the end.

4. One literary device used in the story, and an interesting one is symbolism. In the story, George keeps bringing up the idea of purchasing land to Lennie as a way to make him happy. Their dream is a symbol for possibilities and the goal of freedom that people strive for.

Another device used is a motif. A motif used in the story is loneliness. A few of the characters in the story have admitted to being lonely and having feelings of loneliness. It also eventually meets up with George when he kills Lennie, meaning that George will have to continue his adventure alone

Imagery was used throughout the novel often.

"The Shade climbed up the hills toward the top. On the sand banks the rabbits sat as quietly as little gray, sculptured stones."



1. One example of direct characterization was when the author was describing Lennie.

"Behind him walked his opposite, a huge man, shapeless of face, with large, pale eyes, and wide, sloping shoulders, and he walked heavily, dragging his feet a little, the way a bear drags his paws."

Another example with George:

"The first man was small and quick, dark of face, with restless eyes and sharp, strong features."
"Every part of him was defined: small, strong hands, slender arms, a thin and bony nose."

Candy and Curley are both described in directly. They are both addressed as characters in the stories, but there isn't really any full description of either character.

2. The author tends to be more descriptive with George and Lennie, and not with any other character. This is done because of the fact that they are the main characters of the story, of course.

3. The protagonists are both flat and static characters. They both show no change or improvement when the story progresses.

4. I felt like I got to get to know George and Lennie as characters due to their good characterization (with examples shown in #1).