![]() |
|
|
|
Essays
on Of Mice and Men:
Essays on The Grapes of Wrath: Essays on East of Eden Essays
on The Pearl
|
Critical
evaluation The
two main characters , George and Lennie , share a dream . George dreams
of a piece of land of his own . Independence . A couple of acres ,
a cow and some pigs . Lennie dreams of tending rabbits . With the
title Of Mice and Men , Steinbeck is telling you that
this dream whilst on the verge of realization , will be destroyed
by fate . It
relates to Robert Burns poem To a Mouse . Burns
and Steinbeck share the same pessimistic views on fate . In To
a Mouse Burns shows that he believes that just as your dreams
are about to come true , The best laid schemes o mice
an men , fate will always strike , gang aft agley
. The last two lines , An leae us nought but
grief an pain , for promisd joy! , show that Burns
believes that youre worse off after your dreams have been crushed
than you were before In
the story , almost anyone could be the mouse although the most obvious
is George . I
think this is a very well chosen title for this short story as if
you know the poem you know more or less what is going to happen .
Steinbecks
technique of repetition is effective in that it builds up to the climax
of the tragedy . The mouse Lennie had was dead . He had killed it
unintentionally when petting it . This situation is repeated further
on in the story when Lennie is given a pup by Slim . Lennie had been
playing with it and had hit the puppy for biting him . You know that
an incident like this is going to be the downfall of George and Lennie
. The
episode in Weed also hints on future tragedy . Lennie sees a girl
wearing a beautiful red dress and , child-like as he is , he wants
to touch it . He grabs the dress and the girl lets out a loud scream
. He panics and all he can think of to do is hold on .He holds on
until George arrives on the scene just in time and hits him on the
head with a gatepost . The
introduction of Curleys wife adds another piece to the puzzle
. Her description when she was standing at the doorway with her rouged
lips , hair hung in little rolled clusters and
cotton house clusters shows that she will be the one who
destroys George and Lennies dream . This technique is simple
but very effective . George
had told Candy of his dream and Candy wanted in on it . Candy had
the money to purchase the land required from compensation received
after his arm had been cut off by machinery . This moved them to the
verge of achieving their dream . In
my view the most successful technique in illustrating John Steinbecks
view of fate is the symbolism in the last chapter . A watersnake
glided smoothly up the pool , twisting its periscope head from side
to side , and it swam the length of the pool and came to the legs
of a motionless heron that stood in the shallows . A silent head and
beak lanced down and plucked it out by the head , and the beak swallowed
the little snake while its tail waved frantically . The heron
, motionless and waiting , represents fate while the watersnake ,
helpless and unaware , is its victim . Steinbecks
view on fate is illustrated again by the word choice . Words like
lanced , plucked and waiting suggest that Steinbeck believes that
fate striking is almost medical ; sure and precise . The
watersnake could represent almost anyone in the novel although it
is most likely that it represents George . The heron represents fate
, but also Lennie as he was the one who was always going to destroy
Georges dream . In
conclusion I consider the main theme to be fate . I consider the symbolism
of the watersnake and the heron to be the most successful technique
in putting across Steinbecks pessimistic views on the subject
.
|