Archetypes In Of Mice And Men Essay

There are multiple types of archetypes that are present in all forms of literature. In the book, “Of Mice and Men,” by John Steinbeck, he demonstrates each archetype in a different character. There is the hero, the innocent, the wise man, the femme fatale, the outcast, the villain, and the caretaker. Some common characteristics of the Innocent are that they are pure, full of virtue, honest, and full of positive energy. Since they are so innocent and likable, they are often taken advantage of, or are a target. In “Of Mice and Men,” John Steinbeck portrays Lennie Small with traits that are common to the Innocent archetype. Steinbeck portrays Lennie with the characteristics of the Innocent archetype. For example, Lennie is immature, simple, …show more content…
For example, in the movie “The Lion King,” Pumbaa would also fall into the category of the Innocent archetype. He is emotional, loud, destructive, and simple like Lennie. In the movie, Pumbaa cries about things that anyone else would consider unimportant except for a child, and Timone has to console him and act as a parent-figure. The same is true for George and Lennie in “Of Mice and Men”. For example, Lennie cries when George takes the mouse away from him that he wants to pet in his pocket as they are walking along to the ranch and George has to go and comfort him and to get him to stop crying he promises him a puppy. I believe that Lennie is portrayed the same or very similar in the movie as I pictured him from how Steinbeck described him in the book. I pictured Lennie to be significantly bigger than George, since George was described as small and Lennie was describes multiple times as a bull. In the book, the author described him as having big hands like ‘bear paws’, and when he was touching Curly’s wife’s hair, his hands were big just like bear paws. So I think that the casting directing did a good job in casting the actor they did to play