Of mice and men

OF MICE AND MEN

Genre: Fiction, tragedy
Type of work: Novel
Narrator: Third person omniscient
Time and space: California; Pacific Grove and Los Gatos ranch, around 1933.
Climax: The climax appears when Lennie accidentally killed Curley’s wife; almost at the end of the story. She was complaining about how lonely and unhappy she was, and Lennie asked her to pet her hair, and he was soforcing that she began to scream. To make her shut up, he tried to put his arm across her neck and cover her mouth; but he was so strong, that accidentally he broke her neck.
Analysis of characters:
Lennie Small: Travels with George. He is a giant of a man who unaware of his own strength. His mental deficiency manifests in an obsession to stroke 'soft' materials. There is irony in his last name, asit is "Small" while he is a very big man physically. Lennie is killed by George with a gun in order to be spared Curley's bitter revenge, Lennie having recently killed Curley's wife by accident in a barn. His mental deficiency is not specified, but he displays slight symptoms of autism, and as he hears voices in his head, could also have some form of schizophrenia.
Lennie completely dependsupon George, his friend and traveling companion, for guidance and protection. Gentle and kind, Lennie nevertheless does not understand his own strength. His love of petting soft things, such as small animals, dresses, and people’s hair, leads to disaster.
Lennie is doomed, and the reader must be sympathetic to him. Lennie is totally defenseless. His innocence raises him to a standard of puregoodness that is more poetic and literary than realistic. His enthusiasm for the vision of their future farm proves contagious as he convinces the characters and the reader that such a paradise might be possible. But he is a character whom Steinbeck sets up for disaster, a character whose innocence only seems to ensure his inevitable destruction.

George Milton: A small and quick, dark of face andhair, cynical ranch hand. He looks after Lennie and dreams of a better life. Although he frequently speaks of how much better his life would be without his caretaking responsibilities, George is obviously devoted to Lennie. George’s behavior is motivated by the desire to protect Lennie and, eventually, deliver them both to the farm of their dreams. He is short-tempered but a loving and devotedfriend, whose frequent protests against life with Lennie never weaken his commitment to protecting his friend. George may be terse and impatient at times, but he never strays from his primary purpose of protecting Lennie.
George is something of an idealist. Despite his hardened, sometimes gruff exterior, he believes in the story of their future farm that he tells and retells to Lennie. By shootingLennie, George spares his friend the merciless death that would be delivered by Curley’s lynch mob, but he also puts to rest his own dream of a perfect, fraternal world.

Candy: Is the swamper an aging ranch handyman. He lost a hand while working on the ranch and worries about his future there. Fearing that his age is making him useless, he seizes on George’s description of the farm he andLennie will have, offering his life’s savings if he can join George and Lennie in owning the land. He owns a very old dog who was shot at the hand of Carlson in an act of mercy. He comes at the defense of Crooks when Curley's wife would frame him, which would result in Crooks being hanged.

Curley’s wife: A young, pretty woman; sometimes called a "tart", “tramp” and “looloo” (slut) by the men. Shedoesn't have a name and is the only woman mentioned on the male-oriented ranch. She often flirts with the ranch men as a cry for attention and secretly hates her husband as he sees her as his trophy. Dressed in fancy, feathered red shoes, she represents the temptation of female sexuality in a male-dominated world. Steinbeck depicts Curley’s wife not as a villain, but rather as a victim. Like the...