Of Mice and Men A* Notes

Of Mice and Men: Ideas for A* Essays

THE OPENING: CHAPTER ONE

• Near Soledad – means loneliness in Spanish – foreshadows key theme in novel 

• Vivid colours - peaceful, heavenly, idyllic setting –like Garden of Eden – however a snake is introduced ‘snake’… ‘periscope head’ – makes us think about the evil lurking in the garden of Eden (snake that tempted Adam and Eve to sin)>> Foreshadowing. Even in the natural world that should be a shelter/peaceful place for George and Lennie – and is where Lennie is instructed to go to hide – tragedy is latent.

• Pathetic fallacy used to create a positive, harmonious mood initially but by the end of the novel this will change. Nature is not a reliable shelter for George and Lennie

·         ‘a path beaten hard by boys’ implies violence, predatory nature of man

·          Sense of invasion when George and Lennie first walk in

 • Rabbits at peace with nature- ironic because rabbits are so central to Lennie’s dream: His tragedy is that he cannot be like the rabbits – ‘rabbits come out of the brush to sit on the sand in the evening’

 • Ominous tone – heat, snake

 • George is ‘small and quick…’we are given the impression that he is almost mouse-like –link to ‘mice’ in title

 • Lennie ‘snorted into the water like a horse…’animal imagery –implies carelessness –ominous – he is simple -it will be the reason they get into trouble later in novel. He is like an animal in a positive way, simple-minded. Contrast to Curley who is like an animal in a negative way.

 • “Lennie dabbled his big paw” – animal imagery - referred to as a bear, suggests his size, his movements, unrefined, simplicity of thoughts, clumsy, adorable yet aggressive, foreshadowing later danger – also like the bear hunting for fish. (see similes of Curley & wife) 

• The characters contrast through size: “Behind him walked his opposite”; mouse and bear

·         We hear that Lennie got them into trouble in Weed “they run us out of Weed” – past gradually revealed

• Ominous/foreshadows future events with C’s Wife 

 • “A water snake slipped along on the pool, its head held up like a little periscope.” – Simile harmless at start of novel, but kills at end of novel – echoes main plot

• ‘’Like a terrier who doesn’t want to bring a ball to his master’’ simile to compare Lennie to a terrier and George to a master.

 • George and Lennie feel they are different as they have friendship ‘’because I got you to look after me and you got me to look after you.’’ Symbiotic relationship – they need each other. 

• Most ranch workers are lonely ‘’guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliness guys in the world’’ –key theme of novel 

• DREAMS- ‘’… A little house an’ a couple of acres an’ a cow and some pigs’’, ‘’ live off the fatta the lan’ ‘’they can live off of their own income and have independence. (American Dream)
• Rabbits = symbol of dream for Lennie. This is endearing and deeply pathetic. All Lennie wants is something he can love/hold/caress. But on many levels, as readers we sense that this is unattainable for him. 

• They left Weed because Lennie was believed to have assaulted a women ‘’just wanted to feel that girl’s dress- just wanted to pet it like a mouse’’ evidence to suggest Lennie is the one who gets them into trouble. Explicit link between mice and girl –motif runs through the novel.

CHAPTER 2: THE CLAUSTROPHOBIC SETTING OF THE BUNKHOUSE

• Rectangular building: claustrophobia

 • ‘white-washed,’ ‘unpainted’ not very cosy or lived in, more like a place where you would put animals 

• Quite sparse in contrast to the freedom of chapter one. Confined, impersonal, very basic 

• Candy and his Dog Old, swamper (cleaner) ‘Stick-like wrist but no hand’ – disability seems to be a symbol of the character –also implies effects of the harsh life of ranch 

• The dog seems to have similar characteristics to his owner - they’re both ‘old’ and ‘lame’ 

• Gossip! – gives him friendship, role within the ranch. (old man can’t work) Boss 

• Little stocky man 

• ‘I never seen one guy take so much trouble for another guy’, insight into G&L’s close friendship •

• ‘Stable buck’ 

• ‘Nice fella too’ 

• Racism is a habit e.g. often use term ‘Nigger’ 

• ‘Got a crooked back where a horse kicked him’ 

• Two disabled characters (Crooks, Candy) suggest how rough ranch life is.

• The employees that are crippled are symbols of the violence of the place. Symbol of Segregation on the ranch, and segregation in 1930’s USA

·         Curley ‘he wore high-heeled boots’ –inferiority complex – needs to establish his status through heels

• ‘Lennie don’t know no rules’ Lennie is a threat to the other characters because he doesn’t conform to society’s norms

Curley’s wife• Has no name implies low status of women in 1930s America

• ‘… Curley’s married … a tart.’ Slim

• ‘Rouged lips’ Finger nails are red. – wants to appear sexy. Connotations/represents lust and danger. Is she trying to attract attention? Implies promiscuity. 

• ‘She put her hands behind her back and leaned against the doorframe…’ implies she wants physical attention. Is she posing like a film star? 

• ‘The rectangle of sunshine in the doorway was cut off.’ Pathetic fallacy implies she is bringing something negative to the scene- ominous- she brings darkness. 

• Wearing ‘red mules…little bouquets of ostrich feathers.’ Inappropriately dressed for a ranch. • George calls her a ‘tramp’ and ‘jail bait’.

• Lennie’s reactions ‘Lennie’s eyes moved over her body’ He was ‘fascinated’ by her ‘he smiled admiringly’.

Slim  • ‘His authority was so great that his word was taken on any subject’. Highly respected. • Highly skilled.

• ‘… Understanding beyond thought.

• ‘…majesty only achieved by royalty.’ He is compared to royalty- motif - metaphor to imply he has very high status.

• ‘His ear heard more than what was said to him…’ 

 • The fact that Slim drowns four of his pups and keeps the biggest implies that life in the ranch depends on the survival of the fittest.

THE BUNK HOUSE: CHAPTER 3

• Candy is hopeful of a brighter future when he offers to contribute to George and Lennie’s American dream. Dream unites men, offers hope and stops sense of loneliness but Steinbeck makes clear that the dream is bound to fail.

• Candy regrets not killing dog himself: ‘I ought to have shot that dog myself, George…’ feels as if he was a coward for not doing it himself. It’s his responsibility/duty. >> Foreshadows George’s decision to kills Lennie himself rather than leave him to the mercy of others at the end. 

• CURLEY/LENNIE FIGHT ‘Curley was flopping like a fish on a line’ – simile, Lennie is the bear that caught the fish. Foreshadows another act of violence by Lennie. Same fish simile used to describe Curley’s Wife when she dies. 

• ‘His fist lost in Lennie’s paw’ – animal imagery - this surprises the men because they didn’t knew how strong Lennie actually was. 

• ‘Lennie covered his face with his huge paws and bleated with terror’ – more animal imagery - relates back to the beginning when he asks George if he should go live in a cave. 

STABLE: CHAPTER FOUR

• Crooks: Black, crippled, represents black segregation in 1930’s USA. Has his own room within the stables so he’s away from the white workers. He reads - implies he is intelligent/ educated. Joins games of the white people but on their terms. 

 • Steinbeck presents Crooks as a character that should be admired, he has noble qualities, appearing better educated and with more pride than the white men but yet he is black so is treated worse then everyone else. Steinbeck is thus showing 1930’s racism (not advocating it.) 

• Crooks realises G and L can at least escape loneliness because they got each other ‘its jus bein with another guy’ •

 Crooks represents Loneliness / isolation due to racism. 

• Crooks is cynical or even realistic - thinks that no ranch worker will ever get their American dream ‘Nobody never gets to heaven. Nobody never gets no land’ ‘I seen too many guys with land in their head’ ‘I seen guys nearly crazy with loneliness for land’

CHAPTER FIVE: CURLEY’S WIFE

• ‘Red ostrich feathers’ C’s Wife – danger, likes the incident in weed. Colour red makes explicit link between the two girls as girl in Weed wore a red dress

• Curley’s wife: ‘ I get awful lonely’ (85) Her dream: ‘I coulda made somthin’ of myself.’ 

• ‘I never got that letter’ – deluded 

 ‘her body flopped like a fish’ - simile, comparing her to a fish like Curly was compared to a fish when Lennie crushed his hand. (Bears catch and eat fish) 

• The dead puppy at the beginning of the chapter foreshadows what happens to Curly’s Wife. ‘he pawed up the hay until it partly covered her’ (animal imagery)

• George dosen’t want Lennie to end up in prison ‘s’pose they lock him up and put him in a cage.’ – animal imagery – reflects a backward approach to caring for those with severe learning difficulties in 1930s America.

• End of chapter ‘the barn was darkening gradually’ Pathetic fallacy/ symbolic since loss of hope and death has occurred. 

CHAPTER 6: THE TRAGIC CLIMAX BY THE RIVER

• Cyclical – novel begins and ends at the same place – highlights the end of their dreams and the way they are trapped.

• Lennie - ‘Silent as a creeping bear moves.’(animal imagery) 

• Heron ‘swallowed the little snake while its tail waved frantically’ whereas in the beginning the animals live in harmony. Garden of Eden again > Lennie can escape to here, but he can’t escape from death

• ‘the sun had left the valley’ 

• ‘The mountains seemed to blaze with increased brightness’ – like hell instead of Eden? – Ominous, dramatic

• The sun ‘is leaving the valley’ implying that the American dream has left this place and the hope is all gone. Symbolism/pathetic fallacy. Lennie’s vision of Aunt Clara, and the ‘gigantic rabbit’ - shows his imagination and his vision of the American dream 

• ‘His voice was monotonous’ as if he had done it many times before – George is trying to hide his sadness from Lennie. The dream is like a fairystory that is recited repetitively to children: it’s never going to come true.

• ‘Guys like us got no fambly.’ … ‘But not us’ ‘I got you. We got each other’

• ‘I gotta’ – G. as if giving himself the confidence to kill Lennie 

• Why does George kill Lennie? - A mercy killing • Like Candy with his dog, George feels Lennie is his dog and his responsibility. 

• George kills Lennie like Carlson kills the dog ‘ back of the neck where the spine meets the neck’

‘the crash of the shot rolled up the hills and rolled down again’ – sound is used

End of the novel is a good example of the tragic genre. Lennie dying is inevitable in the harsh world of the novel/1930s America

• Lennie got into trouble before in Weed. 

• Soledad means loneliness, and George is always playing solitaire. He ends up alone.

• The heron ate the snake.
• The death of the dog foreshadows the death of Lennie. 

• Events are foreshadowed throughout. Eg: Lennie kills mouse, then puppy then girl.