Of Mice And Men Setting Analysis

How Setting Tells More than Just “Where” Every author and reader alike knows that a great novel uses setting to draw the reader in and create a believable, even if fictional, environment. But what is setting, and how does it work, what can be changed to achieve a certain effect? Setting is the collective term used to describe where and when a story or piece takes place. More often than not the setting of a story plays a crucial role in developing the plot and allows for a level of background information or backstory otherwise unobtainable by traditional conventions. Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, is an example of expertly utilized setting to create mood and plot. Of Mice and Men takes place in the 1930s, smack-dab in the middle of the American Great Depression, in the countryside of California. This very timeframe is one most people acknowledge as some …show more content…
While today such discrimination is rare and socially unacceptable, during the early 1900s and before such behavior was normal and acceptable. Overall, the setting in Of Mice and Men does more than simply tell the reader where and when the events happen, it also gives us an exact example of what the characters are going through and why they take the actions that they do over the story. Now that we know what setting is, and more specifically what the setting in Of Mice and Men is, why is it important? Besides the general setting of the Great Depression in California, the imagery used by Steinbeck to describe the individual scenes is so vivid it gives the story a whole new life and meaning, it creates mood and develops each character within the book’s world. For example, at the beginning of the book Lennie and George have just stopped on their journey at a small pond. This opening paragraph is a great example of the unique descriptors Steinbeck