Literature Analysis #2

1. Briefly summarize the plot of the novel you read.


     Of Mice and Men By: John Steinbeck is a story about two men to journey off to find work as farm hands in order to earn enough money to start their own farm. The two men (George and Lennie) and very different. George is smaller but very smart and has very "sharp, strong features". Lennie is very tall and has a sort of featureless face. He also has a mild mental disability and doesn't seem to know his own strength.  The two men work of the farm where they befriend a few people and try to stay away from Curley the farm owners son and his wife. They share their plan to own land with their friend Candy but swear to tell no one else of the plan.  While the other men are away, Lennie goes to the barn to pet a few puppies but accidentally kills one. Curley's wife tries to help Lennie but Lennie accidentally kills her too. Lennie back to the road that he and George walked on the way to the farm and hides. George finds Lennie and before the other men can find Lennie and hang him, George kills his friend as an act of mercy. 




2. Succinctly describe the theme of the novel. Avoid cliches.


     The theme of this novel is Brotherhood. The bond that Lennie and George have shared since they were kids is one that can never be broken.  George acted as Lennie's older brother for all of his life.  He helped Lennie through difficult times and protected him when he got into trouble. Lennie was always there for George too, though of course not in the way that George was there for him. Lennie was the best friend that George had and vice versa. 




3. Describe the author's tone.  Include three excerpts that illustrate your point(s).


The author's tone is one of hope. In everything that happens the characters are always looking to the future and knowing that one day everything will be better. 

"Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They don’t belong no place. . . . With us it ain’t like that. We got a future. We got somebody to talk to that gives a damn about us. We don’t have to sit in no bar room blowin’ in our jack jus’ because we got no place else to go. If them other guys gets in jail they can rot for all anybody gives a damn. But not us."

 “S’pose they was a carnival or a circus come to town, or a ball game, or any damn thing.” Old Candy nodded in appreciation of the idea. “We’d just go to her,” George said. “We wouldn’t ask nobody if we could. Jus’ say, ‘We’ll go to her,’ an’ we would. Jus’ milk the cow and sling some grain to the chickens an’ go to her.”

"The rabbits we're gonna get, and I get to tend 'em , cut grass an' give 'em water, 'an like that... It ain't no lie. We're gonna do it. Gonna get a little place an' live on the fatta the lan'."

4. Describe five literary elements/techniques you observed that strengthened your understanding of the theme and/or your sense of the tone.  Include three excerpts that will help your reader understand each one.


Foreshadowing: Candy's dog being shot foreshadows Lennie's own death.

"He pulled the trigger.  The crash of the shot rolled up the hills and rolled down again. Lennie jarred, and then settled slowly forward to the sand, and he lay without quivering."

Dialogue: The way the characters talk brings you into the time setting of the novel.

"A guy sets alone out here at night, maybe readin’ books or thinkin’ or stuff like that. Sometimes he gets thinkin’, an’ he got nothing to tell him what’s so an’ what ain’t so. Maybe if he sees somethin’, he don’t know whether it’s right or not. He can’t turn to some other guy and ast him if he sees it too. He can’t tell. He got nothing to measure by. I seen things out here. I wasn’t drunk. I don’t know if I was asleep. If some guy was with me, he could tell me I was asleep, an’ then it would be all right. But I jus’ don’t know." 

Tone: The tone always reminds you of how hopeful George and Lennie are that everything will turn out alright in the end.

"We'll have a big vegetable patch and a rabbit hutch and chickens. When it rains in the winter, we'll just say the hell with goin' to work, and we'll build up a fire in the stove and set around it an' listen to the rain comin' down on the roof."