Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, first published in 1937, is a novel set in the context of the 1929 Great Depression in America. The Nobel Prize-winning author tells the compelling story of George Milton and Lennie Small, two drifters in search of work, with the skilful use of various narrative techniques. Animal imagery is the most important technique successfully employed by Steinbeck to vividly portray the characters’ physical and behavioural traits in the book. Language is another narrative technique successfully used by Steinbeck to illustrate the uneducated background of the itinerants in the context of the Great Depression. Steinbeck’s powerful use of animal imagery and language enables him to emphasise traits of the characters and
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This technique refers to the author’s writing style and the foundation of characterising one of the novel’s major characters, Lennie Small as well as depicting the stark reality of the ranch hands’ life. Animal imagery is the most important narrative technique in the novel as it is effectively utilised by Steinbeck to describe physical and behavioural qualities of the characters. Thus, this enables the reader to create powerful mental images with strong impressions of the characters and their traits. In the book, mentally-disabled Lennie is strongly associated with animals as he is often directly compared to an animal or described in animal terms. The first time Lennie appears in the book, he is immediately compared to a bear, "...and he walked heavily, dragging his feet a little, the way a bear drags his paws” (p. 4). This foremost comparison by Steinbeck is the significant first step of Lennie’s characterisation through apparent physical and behavioural description. The bear imagery enables the reader to visualise Lennie as a physically strong yet simple-minded person, referring to the simplicity and aggressiveness of an animal’s behaviour. The accidents of Lennie killing his mice by pinching their heads emphasise that he often reacts in an instinctive way of an animal as he unleashes his physical strength without considering the cause-and-effects. Lennie’s enormous physical strength is also exhibited with direct comparisons to animals, for example, he is described as “strong as a bull” (p. 23) and his hands are referred to as “huge paws” (p. 63). Steinbeck utilises animal imagery to symbolise Lennie’s uncontrollable strength due to his intellectual disability. Moreover, Lennie is compared to “a terrier who doesn’t want to bring a ball to its master” (p. 10) when he refuses to give George the dead mouse in his pocket. This animal imagery is utilised to reinforce the
This technique refers to the author’s writing style and the foundation of characterising one of the novel’s major characters, Lennie Small as well as depicting the stark reality of the ranch hands’ life. Animal imagery is the most important narrative technique in the novel as it is effectively utilised by Steinbeck to describe physical and behavioural qualities of the characters. Thus, this enables the reader to create powerful mental images with strong impressions of the characters and their traits. In the book, mentally-disabled Lennie is strongly associated with animals as he is often directly compared to an animal or described in animal terms. The first time Lennie appears in the book, he is immediately compared to a bear, "...and he walked heavily, dragging his feet a little, the way a bear drags his paws” (p. 4). This foremost comparison by Steinbeck is the significant first step of Lennie’s characterisation through apparent physical and behavioural description. The bear imagery enables the reader to visualise Lennie as a physically strong yet simple-minded person, referring to the simplicity and aggressiveness of an animal’s behaviour. The accidents of Lennie killing his mice by pinching their heads emphasise that he often reacts in an instinctive way of an animal as he unleashes his physical strength without considering the cause-and-effects. Lennie’s enormous physical strength is also exhibited with direct comparisons to animals, for example, he is described as “strong as a bull” (p. 23) and his hands are referred to as “huge paws” (p. 63). Steinbeck utilises animal imagery to symbolise Lennie’s uncontrollable strength due to his intellectual disability. Moreover, Lennie is compared to “a terrier who doesn’t want to bring a ball to its master” (p. 10) when he refuses to give George the dead mouse in his pocket. This animal imagery is utilised to reinforce the