Essay on John Steinbeck 'of Mice and Men' Settings

In the novel, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, the setting takes place on a ranch in Soledad, California during the Great Depression. George and Lennie are the best of friends; therefore, they are travelling together to find a job. George is skinny and smart, Lennie is big and strong. Lennie has a mental disability and George guides and protects him. George does all the talking for Lennie and they get hired for the job at the ranch. George and Lennie have this dream of living off the fatta the lan’. George and Lennie face many obstacles as they reach for their dream. John Steinbeck uses the signposts, contrasts and contradictions and again and again to develop the themes Dreams and Loneliness.

“Wha’s the matter with me?’ she cried. ‘Ain’t I got a right to talk to nobody? Whatta they think I am, anyways?” (Steinbeck 87) In the novella Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, Curley’s wife is discriminated against because she is a woman living in the 1930s when few females could live economically independent of men. By choosing not to name her, Steinbeck reinforces her insignificance on the ranch and her dependence on Curley. While a misfortunate victim of isolation, Curley’s wife exerts unexpected power attempting to mask her pain.

Steinbeck wanted to show the effects of land ownership and what pursuing dreams can do to people. This lesson is still true to this day and affects everyone around

George and Lennie believe they can achieve their American dream because “‘I [George] got you [Lennie] to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that’s why.’” (Steinbeck 14). They feel like they can rely on each other and their friendship and loyalty prevent them from isolating themselves. Their presence on that ranch even changed the people around them because they were accepting of the outcasts. Crooks, Candy, and Curley’s wife all open up to them about the isolation and loneliness they feel. Candy asks George if he can join them on their dream of owning their own property. George says he will consider it but eventually denies the offer when the body of Curley's wife is found, because he realizes the dream of owning a farm with Lennie is dead. As Peter Lisca states in his article, “On Of Mice and Men” from The American Dream, “The dream of the farm originates with Lennie and it is only through Lennie, who also makes the dream impossible, that the dream has any meaning for George.” While it is clear that Lennie needs George, George needs Lennie too. Without Lennie, George loses his sense of purpose and is likely to isolate himself like all the other ranchers. The strong bond between the two of them serve to contrast the economic and social conditions at the

After the Great Depression, many things changed, different\\ genders and races were all treated differently. Blacks and white women were forced to be outcast in the world, women belonged in the house and blacks did not belong anywhere. In the book Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck portrays perfectly of how blacks and women were separated from everyone else with Curley’s wife and Crooks, the black stable hand. Curley’s wife and Crooks are alike in many ways; in their loneliness, the way they are separated from everyone else and how they get out casted from everything, discriminated against during the time period; which helps show how blacks and women were treated during this time period of life.

The novel, ‘Of Mice and Men’ was written by John Steinback, whom depicts how life was like for men and women in the 1930’s. From the outset, we were shown through the title itself ‘Of Mice and Men’ that the novel wouldn’t end well for George and Lennie. As this title was inspired by a Scottish poet whom said in his famous poem ‘To a Mouse’ ‘…the best laid schemes o’ Mice and Men, Gang aft agley’, conveys how no matter how well we may plan the future, things will often go wrong and obstacles will appear. Additionally, despite the American dream – the lack of hope, violence and harshness surrounding the men; gave a clear view into the lives of migrant workers such as George and Lennie. Portraying how the American dream is deemed unattainable for the men at the ranch, whom are destined to fall prey to a vicious cycle of harshness and violence – unable to escape from the world that they are living in.

He knows that he has given up the life of a free man. He knows that he

.The novel Of Mice and Men was written by John Steinbeck. In Soledad, California during the Great Depression in the 1930's two men of the one named George and the other named Lennie were men who travel around working at ranches. George is the small, quick-witted one, and Lennie is the big, slow, dumb and extremely strong one. They have a dream, to have a little place all to themselves, without anyone bothering them. Their dreams are shattered though, when Lennie, who doesn't know his own strength, gets in trouble. In the pursuit of love, happiness and the American dream, man becomes a victim of his own circumstances and discovers that the good life becomes impossible for humanity to obtain and contains

'I could get along so easy and so nice if I didn't have you on my

     "Of Mice and Men" is a play written by John Steinbeck that focuses on life during the mid 1930's. This play has many recurring themes, and one of these themes is that of loneliness. This loneliness is because of the intolerance of society on those who are different. The underlying, yet stunningly obvious, theme of loneliness can be found in many characters with many examples. This loneliness due to isolation and intolerance is found in the characters of Candy, because he is old and useless; Crooks, because he is black and crippled; and Curley's wife, because she is a beautiful woman and the only girl on and all guy ranch.

John Steinbeck, an American novelist, is well-known for his familiar themes of depression and loneliness. He uses these themes throughout a majority of his novels. These themes come from his childhood and growing up during the stock market crash. A reader can see his depiction of his childhood era. In Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck shows the prominent themes of loneliness, the need for relationships, and the loss of dreams in the 1930s through the novels’ character.

‘Of Mice and Men’ is a novella written by American author John Steinbeck in 1937, and describes the life of two migrant ranch workers during the Great Depression in the United States. The novella is highly praised for a range of stylistic literary devices which Steinbeck uses to engage his readers, and some of these techniques include characterisation, allegory and foreshadowing. These techniques give the novel a cinematic aspect as the rich language allows the reader to imagine a clear picture while reading the novella, as well as allowing Steinbeck to get his message across to the reader in a simple manner. One frequently used literary technique in the novella is characterisation, which can be presented through the character’s actions, dialogue

Of Mice and Men is set along the Salinas River a few miles south of

lead him to a life of worry and lack of security, as he is old and a

In the first paragraph of the novel, Steinbeck uses imagery to provide the reader a descriptive visual to portray the setting as calm, lonely, and safe. Firstly, Steinbeck highlights the isolation of the scene. The location ‘Soledad’ is Spanish and translates to loneliness, and by saying the place is ‘A few miles south south of Soledad’, it emphasises the isolated feeling even more. He then uses alliteration, for example, ‘The water is warm too’ to describe the calm