“Of Mice and Men” By John Steinbeck †Coursework Essay

Of Mice and work force was set in the 1930s in North California. This was a time of economic hardship cod to the W alto fither Street Crash. Men were forced to leave their families and find drop dead on feastes. Pay and workings conditions were poor. Men sc plundered by, sp block uping any extra money they had gambling or in one of the whiley whore houses. This is where Steinbeck drew his inspiration from he spent time on the ranches experiencing the hardships experienced by the workers. The track record is approximately these workers and the extremely lonely lives they led. It also exposes underlying themes of racism and how badly the modify were treated. This was a time when population looked after number one, as in that respect was nobody else to do this for them. The two principal(prenominal) eccentric persons atomic number 18 somewhat different, as they trigger and work together, smell step forward for apiece other(a).This was really preposterous because li fe-time would have been hard enough without the extra responsibility of aspect after a nonher someone. The two main characters have middling been evicted from their work in a t feature c whollyed Soledad (which means loneliness). They ar the notwithstanding people in the book whose names Christian names argon truly use. It shows that nobody have gots the effort to make whizzs enough to be on source name terms. This is symbolic of the loneliness of each of the characters and shows how unusual the two main characters are. The two main characters are called George ands Lennie. There is very detailed schooling nearly them in the book. They work for their keep on the ranches. Lennie is slightly mavin damaged and has a very limited memory. He is an enormous man and Steinbeck often compares his actions with those of a large, clumsy puppet using similes and metaphors Dragging his feet a little, the bureau a bear drags his paws.These are intended to subtly consecrate the read er the impression that Lennie is big and clumsy, manage an animal that does not hump its own strength Lennie dabbled his big paw in the water. George is scarce the opposite of Lennie. He is refined, dark and quick, and is cautious about his surroundings The small man stepped nervously George is unendingly on the look out and he knows how to look after himself. The town they had just come from was called Weed which could correspond that they were un wishinged, alike(p) a weed, there they were forced out of there because Lennie do a mistake. He had grabbed a woman and she said that he had raped her. George is very much the dominant figure in the relationship and makes all the decisions. At the very start you can mark this because Lennie copies George in the substance he looks and acts Lennie, who had been watching imitated George exactly. This suggests that Lennie looks up to George and wants to be just like him.This is instead melancholic certainly as he has ended up pos tal code like him. Lennie hates to make George angry, like a dog that hates to make his cut across angry. George feels responsible for Lennie. He is like a father figure to him, and he knows that Lennie would never be able to survive without him. He feels a awareness of duty because Aunt Clara told him to look after Lennie. The other rationality they actuate together is George, though he doesnt like to admit it, enjoys Lennies union and he doesnt want to permit go of the American Dream. They share the dream of owning their own place with a few animals livin off the fatta the lan. George knows it is very unlikely to happen but Lennie still believes and of all time likes to hear the story of how its gonna be. This is unnameable for George and he is indisposed to talk about it. You can tell it is important to Lennie because he forgets anything he is told but he remembers the dream. George and Lennie are constantly dreaming of the future.When George and Lennie arrive on the ran ch, the ranch hands and the boss are suspicious of their relationship. They suspect that George is winning Lennies stake for himself I said what stake you got in this goof? You takin his pay away from him? They cannot see wherefore someone else would travel with someone who would reliefrict them unless they were getting paid. They are lonelier than George and Lennie, and have no real concept of friendship. Despite having Lennie as a companion, George is also lonely. He is just in his responsibility for Lennie. In a way it is much(prenominal) like speaking to an animal than a human when speaking to Lennie because George knows that whatever he says to him depart be forgotten and mean nothing. From the very beginning we get a hint of this by the way Lennie is made to seem more like a responsibility than a friend to George.Lennie is made to seen like an animal, like a terrier that doesnt want to bring his ball stick out to his master, maybe signifying that he is like a pet that always needs looking after. Steinbeck also uses George playing solitaire as a metaphor for his loneliness George cut the cards again and put out a solitaire lay, slowly and deliberately. George lays the cards out like he has take upe it many time before. Solitaire is a single actor game (and solitaire is derived from solitary), this shows that Lennie is not capable of acting like an large(p) and so George must(prenominal) play on his own. George is held from having his own life by the responsibility of caring for Lennie. He continuously tells Lennie how life would be without him how he could have a girl and a decent job beau ideal amighty, if I was alone I could live so booming The truth though, is that George would be even lonely without Lennie. It is ironic at the end of the book that George should be so upset by the death of Lennie, because wherefore he realizes that he will have to spend all the rest if his time alone. You never know what you have until it is departed.O ne of the ranch workers, Candy, features to a great extent in the book. He tries to join the friendship of George and Lennie. Candy is extremely lonely. He has been working on the ranch for many years and due to his disability. He is unable to leave because he knows that no other employer would take him on. The only reason he has got work now, is that he suffered the injury to his hand on the ranch. He has seen many custody come and go but he cannot move on. Candy knows he will belike die on the ranch. Candy is very talkative because he is so eager to make friends. He warms to this gossip because he on his own when all the workers are in the field. As soon as he meets George and Lennie he engages them in conversation, hardly letting them speak. He lets out all the opinions, about Curley and his married woman and the other ranch hands that he has formed and never had anybody to tell them to. In fact the only mixed bag of a friend he has is an old dog. The dog is old, has no teeth and it stinks.The dog is used to signify Candy old and useless. The dog is also used as a foreshadowing device for Lennies death. When Carlson tells him that he should kill the dog he tries to stop him by making up excuses Maybe itd cut him, and tries to put the inevitable off wants to spend just one more day with the dog by killing it in the morning. The only reason Candy had left to live was the dog so in a way Carlson killed a part of him. The dog is also used as a second foreshadowing device for what George has to do to Lennie in the completion of the book. Lennie, unlike the dog, however will be killed by the only person he trusts in the world. This will come from the pressure of other people. In the early 20th Century, blacks were heavily persecuted because of their colour. The stable buck is called Crooks and is discriminated because he is a black Spose you couldnt go into the bunkhouse and place singular cause you were black.He is kept apart from the other ranch hands because of his race. He is very nervous when Lennie enters his room. This is because crooks has his own living infinite away from the other workforce. The only people he sees are probably going to insult or hurt him so he is right away on guard when someone comes in to his room. He is also discriminated against because of his weaken back, which means that he cant work in the fields like the other men. Crooks reveals his past to Lennie in his barn. The irony that his father used to own his own ranch and once he used to give a comfortable life must be extremely painful for him to relive when he thinks about his present lonely self. That is probably wherefore he is so bitter towards the other men who are treating him so harshly. Crooks is always dreaming of the past Remember when I was a little kid on old mans chicken ranch. The other men would probably dream of having their own space but Crooks is so lonely he would rather be with other people A guy needs somebody to be near him . All Crooks has for company is a small collection of books that he reads over and over again.It must be very lonely world on your own all the time when he thinks about what it had been like when he owned his own ranch. Sometimes he almost goes crazy with loneliness Maybe if he sees somethin, he dont know whether its right or not. He cant turn to the other guy and ast him if he sees it too, He is only admitting this because he knows that Lennie is not listening, and even if he was, he couldnt remember and repeat what was being said anyway. Crooks is proud and doesnt want to admit that he is lonely or that the men are getting to him by calling him names and abusing him, If I say something, why its just a nigger saying it. When someone calls somebody something enough times a person will start to disembowel the names and start to believe that there is some truth to what the person is saying about them. Crooks is treated like an animal.One Christmas time they let him into the bunkhous e and made him fight. The word let is used like letting an animal in for a treat. He then leaves after his fight, for his own room. The men just use him as entertainment. His life is always under curse because he means nothing them. Curleys married woman plays a very prominent role in the book as she brings the death of Lennie and herself. She is not given a name through the whole book. This signifies how little everyone thinks of her. She is referred to as jail bait and slut by all the ranch hands. This is due to the manner she has adopted to befriend the men. She constantly flirts with any man she meets and being pretty at the same time, she is bound to get herself into some sort of trouble. She acts like this because she is lonely and it is her way of attracting attention to herself.The problem is that all the workers are afraid to talk to her because they fear what Curley would do to them if they did. Curley is always looking for a fight to show how much of man he is. If he go t just the faint scent of her cheating on him he would fight. Nobody want to get on the wrong side of Curley because they know he is a good boxer and because he is the bosss son he can probably get anyone canned if he wants, In reality, Curleys wife doesnt actually like Curley and even admits to Lennie I dont like Curley. She married him to show her mother that she could be self-supporting and to get back at her for the letter that could have been her big recrudesce that she thinks her mother stole. Curleys wife is dreaming of what could have been, how she could have been in the movies and what a lifestyle she could have had.The marriage between Curley and Curleys wife is not based on love but on knowledgeable attraction Curleys wife is also very lonely, that is why she is always skulking around the bunkhouse with the men. She needs someone to talk to She uses the excuse that she is looking for her husband. In the end her loneliness is the end of her when she tries to talk to Len nie (much the same way as Crooks let out his thoughts to him). The climax of the book starts in the barn. The dig begins with Lennie worrying about his puppy which he has just killed accidentally. Curleys wife enters, as usual looking for someone to talk to. She begins telling Lennie her life story.All through the book she has been portrayed as a despiteful woman foolin around with other guys, causin trouble., but here her true character comes out. Lennie ends up telling her about his love for soft things so she lets him misfortune her hair. The other men can resist her charms but Lennie is not pertinent enough to know. Lennie strokes it a bit too vigorously and her panic affects Lennie. He breaks her neck by accident, then thinks that if he hides the puppy, which is used as a foreshadowing device to Curleys wifes death George will be more likely to let him tend his precious rabbits. This is vicious and ironic, as Lennie cannot grasp the enormity of the thing he has just done. Curleys wife seemed peaceful after her death the ache for attention were gone from her face. She was realised from her prison on the ranch and was now free and happy. When George hears, he despairs, for Lennie has ended their chance of achieving the impossible American Dream.One of the themes of this book is certainly loneliness. The people are segregated into groups. Age, disabilities, race and sex recognise many people. Also the time of economic hardship forced men to look after number one. It made it very hard for the men to form friendships as they have very few responsibilities. The book is about the unusual friendship of George and Lennie who have nothing in common with each other apart from they share the American Dream. That is all that keeps them going. It is extremely sad when George is forced to kill Lennie because he was all that George had left. It was ironic because George had always verbalise about what life would be like without Lennie how he could be free. prompt ly he had his wish he was devastated that he had had to kill the only friend that he had in the world.