Prose Text Assignment Of Mice and Men Essay

‘Of Mice and Men’ is about two basic needs – the need for companionship and the need to have something to look forward to. I agree the above statement, all of the characters in the story all experience some form of loneliness. Every one of the characters has a different dream in each one is trying to fulfil it in a different way. The story of Of Mice and Men was set in the period of American history called the ‘Depression’. This period of history lasted from roughly from 1930 to the start of World War 2 (1939). In this period nearly all the companies and banks went bust the stock market crashed and peoples savings disappeared when the banks closed. People very suddenly where very poor. Most people where unemployed, and with unemployment came poverty, hunger and homelessness. It was very difficult to buy food or pay the rent. In America during the ‘Depression’ men travelled in order to find work. Few travelling men could form lasting friendships because they had to keep moving on. A man travelling alone was more vulnerable to being attacked imprisoned or just very lonely. Of Mice and Men is a story based on two men who travel America together looking for work. George travels with his mentally handicapped friend called Lennie. The pair of them has nothing of their own, only the clothes they stand in and each other. Together they share a dream, that one day they will own some land of their own. They find work in a ranch in Satinas Valley, California. They meet of few people on the ranch but find it hard to make new friends. Their dream is soon ruined as Lennie misunderstands the difference between love and cruelty and becomes a victim of his own strength and power. He becomes friends with the only women on the ranch and forms a good friendship with Curley’s Wife. Their friendship soon turns to love and they start to develop a physical relationship, Lennie doesn’t know his own strength and grabs hold of her to hard and strangles her. Everyone finds out and Lennie is threatened with the prospect of being locked up in a mental institution or being executed by the government, so George saves him from this by shooting him. Crookes works as the sable buck hand on the ranch. He first appears in the story on pages 66-82. He is a crippled old man who gets his name from the way his spines bends (crooked). He has deep eyes and looks intense with his face, which is lean and wrinkled. On the ranch he is of a minority as he is the only black person on the ranch, which means he suffers a lot of prejudice remarks from other people. He is a very lonely man, and can often be bitter towards people he doesn’t trust. Particularly white people, as he’s not sure he can trust them. Crookes has is own room on the ranch, as none of the other men want him to stop in the bunkhouse. The only person Crookes can talk to is Lennie, although Lennie doesn’t understand what he is saying as he is mentally handicapped. Crookes seems to like tormenting Lennie and sometimes says some very nasty things to him. Crookes however has more possessions than the other men has he has been on the ranch nearly all his life. He has little money but still has managed to gather some things of his own e.g. books and a dictionary. He is a very proud man and doesn’t like to ask anyone for anything, even though he is crippled he still manages to keep his room neatly swept and is quite ‘aloof’. Crookes suffers from a lot of loneliness, as he is the only black person on the ranch. However he often has the chance to avoid loneliness but rejects it, Lennie tries to speak to him and befriend him but instead of trying to make friends he wallows in self-pity. He is very critical of other people an their dreams and hopes. He tells Candy he will help him fulfil his dreams, but afterwards when he has built his hopes up he tells him he was messing around and won’t help him at all. He has probably spent all of his life on the ranch and thinks there is no way for him to leave, so he has given up hope and lost ambition. George along with Lennie is the main character in the story. He is a short man but is very quick. He is ‘dark of the face’ and has eyes, which appear very restless. He is described as sharp and strong with body parts that are small and strong. His arms are slender and strong and he has a thin boney nose. George wears the same clothes as his companion Lennie; black hats, denim trousers and coat, and carries a blanket over his shoulder. George is rather a unsung hero of the story, he certainly lacks no courage. He has looked after Lennie for a long time, and spares his friend from loneliness. He stops Lennie from being locked up in a mental institution or being executed by the state government. He shoots Lennie but for his own good. Some people may think he did it for selfish reasons as h has looked after Lennie for a long time and is fed up of him. He did it because he cares about Lennie and didn’t want him to suffer loneliness and depression. He cares about Lennie and saved him from what he knows would be worse than death. George would have probably been able to make a good life for himself if it wasn’t for Lennie. George is an intelligent good thinking man, who is very sensible and used to taking charge. He cares a lot about Lennie and is always looking out for him, he is very cautious and warns Lennie about drinking the dirty pond water and tells him to be careful of the bedding at the bunkhouse in case he catches lice. George accepted the burden of looking after Lennie when Lennie Aunt Clara asked him. Without Lennie George would be very lonely, he and Lennie share a big brother-little brother kind of relationship. George has loyally stuck by Lennie throughout everything and having someone to look after and that depends on him makes George feel a better person. Georges longs for independence and would love to be his own boss. George is a kind hearted and compassionate person he sometimes gets frustrated but doesn’t have a bad temper. He is very careful on who he trusts and is very careful when he meets people. He has to be a good judge of character and know who to trust and who not to, because of his and Lennie’s past. George is kind to everyone but he hates Curley he knows that he is nothing more than a bully. He tells Lennie to keep away from him as they cant afford to loose their jobs. However he encourages Lennie to stand up for himself against him. The only thing in life holding him back is Lennie. Lennie is a big man; he has a shapeless face and big pale eyes. He walks slowly but heavily, emphasising how slow his mind is. He has very strong instincts and has bad feeling about staying at the ranch and pleads with George for them to leave. He shows a cunning side and often uses it in getting his own way with George. In the first part of the story Lennie shows us this by using emotional blackmail. George looses his temper so Lennie tells him he is going to live in the woods alone, so George feels sorry for him so he tells him to come back. Lennie has a lot of animal-like qualities, which shows us his strength. He looks up to George like a father or big brother and often copies his ways. As Lennie is mentally handicapped he is unaware of the he is a victim of prejudice remarks and is unable to elate to many people, this often makes his behaviour childlike. Lennie would rather have the company of animals. However is his made to be a likeable character, Candy likes him and even Crookes warms to him. Lennie doesn’t understand he needs to be careful with fragile things and is very heavy handed and doesn’t learn from his mistakes. He reacts very much like a child and often panics. Lennie’s major problem is that he doesn’t know the consequences of his own strength. Lennie doesn’t understand loneliness but if he knew what it meant then he would probably be very lonely but because he is mentally handicapped he has no understanding of this feeling. He understands the need to have something important to look forward to. Lennie’s dream is very important to him; he nearly knows it all his self. He his always-getting George to tell it him over and over again like a child who loves to be told a bedtime story. At the end of the story Lennie has two hallucinations, one with his Aunt Clara in and the other with a giant rabbit in. This could be the author’s way of outlining the abuse Lennie has suffered through his life. Or it could be Lennie conscience telling him that he has done wrong, even though he doesn’t understand how it was wrong. Curley’s wife is an important character in the story, but the author is showing ho little the men think of her by giving her no name. She is seen to be nothing more than one of Curley’s possessions. When we are first introduced she is dressed up as if she is going out somewhere important when in fact all she is doing is staying on the ranch. She has large lips which are emphasised by the red lipstick she wears, she wears lots of make-up, red nail varnish, red shoes, red ostrich feathers and has her hair fastened back in curls. She wears a lot of the colour red, which shows a lot about her. Red is a colour, which is associated with lots of different things, mainly blood that is a clue, her death is near. It is also associated with danger, which is telling you do not get involved with this person she is bad news. Red is commonly regarded as a sexy colour, she is probably trying to show her self to the men as in the story she is displayed as a Scarlet Women. Often she pretends to be looking for her husband but the men know that she is just looking for an excuse, as she is looking for company, as she is lonely, although the men see it as she is just flirting with them. She is the only woman on the ranch, which is a disadvantage, and often gets little attention from anyone including her husband. Many people may think she has it all a husband and a house, but she is just as lonely if not more than any worker on the ranch. She doesn’t think a lot of her husband, which probably means she just married him for the sake of it, the only things they have in common is that their both very selfish. Slim is one of the only people to be kind to her, George feels sorry for her but is worried on the effect she has on Lennie. However her and Lennie get on well and start to develop a physical relationship. Lennie who doesn’t know how to be careful with fragile things takes things to far and ends up strangling her. Candy is the first person George and Lennie meet when they arrive at the ranch. He is the swamper, which is like a cleaner, the lowliest job on the ranch. His name is even belittles him, it’s a girls name. He is a tall man who only has one hand. He is a victim also of prejudice remarks because of his age and disability. He is careful of everyone because he doesn’t want people to tease him. He never sticks up for himself, the only time he did was with Curley’s wife. He has a lot of dignity, which shows the kind of person he once was. Candy has lots of gossip on everyone, which could be seen as getting is own back on people who has upset him by making comments about people behind their back. He always tells the newcomers the gossip on everyone. He is a lonely person and the only companion he has is an old dog. The animal is old and probably needs to be out down but means a lot to candy as he is so lonely. Candy would love to leave the ranch and when he finds out about George and Lennie’s plan he wants to help, and offer to give them his savings, which would easily cover the cost of over half the farm. George, Lennie and Candy thought that in only a couple of weeks their dream to leave the ranch and own a farm would come true. All of the characters in this story are lonely the person I think is the most lonely is George. He has no real friends the only person he has to talk to is Lennie but he doesn’t fully understand what he is saying.