Of Mice and Men Essay
“Of Mice and Men” is a novel by John Steinbeck.
Steinbeck uses languages to create images in the responder’s mind. The composer uses languages to create images that communicate main ideas and add richness and depth to their texts. The novel relates mainly to friendship and loneliness portrayed through the relationship between George and Lennie. The composer’s language technique that he uses is American southern vernacular slang that invokes to the 1930’s. Responders can relate to the book which makes it such a great novel to read.
Steinbeck uses great detail to describe all the characters that come up in the novel. The related text is an image of a homeless person lying on the street. The composer of this text uses black and white imagery to convey loneliness.
His poetic style uses a detailed description, effective metaphors, similes and imagery. For example, Steinbeck uses the metaphor “the heron jacked itself clear of the water”. (Page 98) The simile he uses “in and out of the beam flies shot like rushing stars” (Page 9) and “as silently as a creeping bear” (Page 98) creates an extended metaphor.The imagery on “the tops of the mountains seemed to blaze with increasing brightness” (pg105) when Steinbeck describes the sun setting, representing the end for Lennie and a new start for George. This helps explain why Steinbeck used very detailed description with the metaphors, similes to create a rich imagery. Steinbeck uses these particular techniques in order to keep the responder drawn to the story and want to keep on reading till the very end. He creates the setting for each scene with a clear description, and uses languages to invoke imagery to describe the atmosphere.For example “The silence came in to the room and the silence lasted” (Page 94) this was quoted when describing the shooting of Candy’s dog.
Another example was after the death of Curley’s wife which Steinbeck quoted “a moment settled and hovered and remained for much more than a moment. Sound stopped and movement stopped”. (pg91) His style is simple and straightforward, with few long sentences. It is a combination of poetic and realistic. This creates the effect of Steinbeck being dramatic. The way Steinbeck had written this sentence made responders pause and read slower than what they would usually read.He used the repetition on this sentence with the repetition of the word ‘stopped” The responder pauses over this dramatic event.
Steinbeck also links images closely, and uses this to reinforce the idea of the men being linked closely to nature, fate and being unable to escape. For example, Candy is linked to his dog. “The ancient dog walked lamely and gazed about with mild, half-blind eyes” (Page 56) and “scratching his wrist and looking blindly into the lighted room” (Page 68). Both show the sadness of old age.
The people that were suffering from the great depression were only worth anything if they were useful.If they did not have the skills that were needed to work at the ranch they would have found it hard to survive. This reveal’s Steinbeck’s compassion for the people he has chosen to write about. He used this technique to show responders how it was back then and give them an idea of how they felt. The related text has many techniques used in the image. It’s set out in black and white which brings out the sadness in the image of the characters life. The background used in the image is an image of the sidewalk on the street which shows that the characters homeless and lonely.There are also blankets that belong to him, this states that that’s where he lives and that’s his everyday bed.
The image represents sadness. The difference is that George and Lennie have a strong friendship which sets them apart from all the others in the book. The related text that has been chosen is an image of a homeless, less fortunate and lonely character. The reason that this related text relates to Of Mice and Men is that it describes how George and Lennie are, homeless and lonely. The Great Depression caused this type of life for a lot of people.
Which Steinbeck also had written this novel during this time.Steinbeck also uses irony for example George says to Lennie “I’d be so much better off without you. ” (Page 16) Little did he realise that he will soon have to be without him, he had to shoot Lennie.
Steinbeck is influencing readers about the differences between dreams and reality. George and Lennie’s dream came to an end at that point when George pulled the trigger to Lennie’s head. Ultimately George can’t let Lennie live because he can’t get his life together and be a normal human being, he was always making trouble. George also had no choice but to shoot him otherwise Curley would have made him suffer and die in the most painful way.In conclusion this has proven that Steinbeck had used his language techniques to create imagery. The related text links on the novel perfectly and related to the story Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. The reason why this linked so well is that it’s describing who George and Lenny were before they got the job at the ranch and where they would be if they didn’t have this job.
Steinbeck also used a great use of figurative language. Responder’s can enjoy this book because there is at least one part of the book they either will or have already related to.
