OF MICE AND MEN - BY John Steinbeck

OF MICE AND MEN - BY John Steinbeck

The Author:   

Real name is John Ernst Steinbeck

he was born in 1902 in Salinas - California

Studied marine biology at Stanford University

Held several jobs including laboratory assistant, fruit picker, construction worker at Madison Square Garden in NYC and he was a reporter for NEW YORK AMERICAN

During this time he wrote short stories

1929 wrote his first novel "Cup Of Gold"

1930 he found a publisher

1935 he became a full-time writer

during World War II he was a special writer for the United States

1940 he won the Pulitzer Prize

1962 Steinbeck was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature

he died at the 20^th of December in 1968 in NYC

The Book:

is about a story of two travelling farm workers, who yearn for some sort of home

it was published in 1937

divided into 15 chapters

Setting:

plays in the beginning of the 20^th century on a ranch near Soledad - California

Main Characters:

LENNIE

very large, strong but gentle man with a large face, pale eyes, wide shoulders and the mind of a child

is very forgetful

loves stroking nice things, specially animals

works on ranches and travels with George, who looks after him

cannot think how to do things himself, but he always obeys orders

GEORGE

is a small and quick man with a dark face, restless eyes and a thin nose

is Lennies friend and looks after him and tries to keep him out of trouble

is very honest

CANDY

is an old man, who works on the ranch too

lost his hand years ago while doing his job as farmer

becomes friends  with George and Lennie

has a very old dog

CURLEY

the son of the owner of the ranch, where George and Lennie work

is always looking for fights for showing, how strong he is

doesn't like Lennie

CURLEY'S WIFE

a pretty young woman who tries to make all the men on the ranch falling in love with her

also flirts with Lennie, but she doesn't realize, that he is very simple

Plot:

story starts in one evening at the Salinas River

George and Lennie worked on a ranch in Weed (a town nearby)

Before they arrive at the ranch where they are going to work for a month

And they become friends with an old man called Candy and meet Curley , who wants to fight with Lennie

George and Lennie meet Curley's wife

Lennie is fascinated of her and loves her, since he has been seen her the first time

Lennie gets a little puppy from another man one the ranch

George tells this man (his name is Slim) about Lennie

Candy, the farmer, has a very old dog that hasn't got any teeth and can hardly move

The other man doesn't like this dog, because he smells worse

Candy doesn't want to shoot his dog, because he has got him since he was a puppy

This job was undertaken by another man on the ranch

Candy tells George: "I should have shot my dog myself, I shouldn't have let a stranger shoot my dog."

One day, Curley provokes a fight with Lennie and Lennie injures Curley

On a Sunday afternoon, Curley's wife begins to flirt with Lennie in the barn

She wants him to stroke her hair

When he strokes too strong she starts screaming and Lennie wants her to stop

He shakes her stronger and stronger and so, he breaks her neck

Lennie runs away, back to the river, where the story started

Another men find the dead woman and her husband Curley knows, the Lennie must have killed her

He decided to kill him and starts looking for him

George knows, where Lennie is and sends the other men in the wrong direction

He steels a pistol of one of the other men and goes to the river alone and finally he find Lennie there

George shoots Lennie in the back of his head, so that he is dead immediately and doesn't feel any pain

Conflict:

is the inner one of George

His friend Lennie has killed Curley's wife

If he doesn't shoot Lennie, Curley would do it

Then George maybe feels guilty like Candy, who has not shot his old dog himself

But to kill his friend is not easy for George

Point of view:

omniscient narrator

Further Analysis:

written in Past

colloquial style

tone is mostly serious, sometimes emotional

scenic mode (often direct speech, action presented in detail)

some stylistic devices:

repetitions (Lennie often repeat, what George tells him)

interior monologues (Lennie speaks to himself many times)

ellipses (e.g. <But not us.>)

Sources:

The book

German one

Dictionary

Microsoft Encarta 2001