Allegory In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

     Using the two main characters of the novel Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck shows that in life, responsibility must be taken in moderation. George takes on the challenge of caring for Lennie. In doing this, George loses a job in weed and is often short-changed when it comes to food and other amenities. Eventually, George realizes where he could be without Lennie and kills Lennie to free himself of the responsibly. Lennie, in a life where he has always been protected by loved ones, looks for responsibility in dependent pets. Each time he is given a chance with an animal, he always cares for it with gentile love. Often times, Lennie’s strength would be too much for the animal and they would fall under his powerful hands. In the end, both men see that they were not capable of conquering the tasks at hand. George

American journalist David Grann once said, “You want the story to be about something, have some deeper meaning, but there is also an emotional, almost instinctual element, which is, does this story seize some part of you and compel you to get to the bottom of it?” Every piece of text has a meaning that goes deeper than the page it is printed on. Of Mice and Men is an example of this. Of Mice and Men was written by John Steinbeck in 1937. The story takes place in California during the Great Depression, a time where it was laborious to be anything close to successful. Everyone believed that with a minimal amount of hard work and money saved up, the American Dream could be at their fingertips. The two main characters George and Lennie struggle to get land to call their own. Lennie is driven by his dream of tending rabbits, but he makes it challenging when he is the main reason of their setbacks and complications as they move from job to job. Fortunately, George is always there to clean up the mess. Of Mice and Men is studied as an allegory because the characters symbolize problems more substantial than the ones Steinbeck clearly writes about. John Steinbeck zooms in on other problems that America struggles with besides the enticing desire for just materialistic things. Steinbeck criticizes racism, the mistreatment of those who are disabled, and the disrespect of women.

The idyllic nature of one’s dream compels them forward, albeit an almost impossible one. The continual use of vivid imagery greatly immerses the reader; the reader could see George and Lennie’s “little house and a couple of acres” (14) and smell “the bacon and the hams” (57). Steinbeck appeals to the senses to show the alluring qualities of their dream. George’s repetitive depictions of their own land shows the importance of their dreams; without it, there would be no plot, no story, no desire to progress. It would be a story of two nondescript men, wandering aimlessly across the vast American west. Steinbeck chooses to incorporate imagery throughout the story to emphasize what the fruits of one’s labor will result in. The dreamlike setting of George and Lennie’s farm shows the impossibility of it, as a place that perfect would not be in the mortal world.

John Steinbeck, an American novelist, is well-known for his familiar themes of depression and loneliness. He uses these themes throughout a majority of his novels. These themes come from his childhood and growing up during the stock market crash. A reader can see his depiction of his childhood era. In Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck shows the prominent themes of loneliness, the need for relationships, and the loss of dreams in the 1930s through the novels’ character.

An allegory is a work where characters are symbols of ideas. They may symbolize anything from honesty to sadness. In an allegorical novel these characters and the ideas they represent form together to suggest a moral. The novel, Of Mice and Men is one of these allegorical novels. Its theme or moral is about friendship: the friendship of George and Lennie. The actions of the characters that represent ideas in the story bring about the chance for George to show his caring and love for Lennie in a powerful way making the story allegorical. All of the characters play a part in the novel whatever their size of the role that connects them allowing Of Mice and Men to function as an allegory.

In John Steinbeck’s novel, of Mice and Men, there are a multitude of motifs that corresponded with the real life problems they were facing in that day. Reoccurring elements in this narrative include the predatory nature of human existence, corruption of women, loneliness and companionship, and the different kinds of strengths and weaknessses.

“Within the covers of the bible are the answers for all the questions men face.” (Ronald Reagan) The seven deadly sins listed in the bible are lust, wrath, sloth, gluttony, envy, pride, and greed. Although these are the major sins, there are lesser sins that are still bad. These sins were taught by the early Church to be unforgivable, but it is shown in the bible that these sins are completely forgivable by believing in Jesus.

John Steinbeck’s 1949 novella entitled Of Mice and Men uses many significant symbols to convey meanings about the human condition. Such symbols include hands to represent labour, cards to signify chance and taking a risk, and finally, rabbits to suggest ideas about achieving one’s hopes and dreams. Symbols are a key central device in delivering meaning, as they consistently repeated throughout the narrative and are typically associated with the novella’s many characters.

John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men is a novella full of symbolic elements. Throughout this story, readers can find symbolism for many 1930s American struggles, such as discrimination and economic depression, and many of these representations are still relevant today. The novella also contains symbolic embodiment of multiple opposing ideas, such as peace and violence, life and death, and hope and failure. The symbolism in this story is mainly represented through the settings and characters, as well as through the allegories of several foreshadowing events.

In the story “Of Mice and Men” the main point that the author is trying to make about human life is that oppression does not only come from the hands of the strong or powerful. Many of the characters in this novella share that they are lonely. They have no real companionship with anyone because they don’t stay in one place long enough and they desire comfort from a friend. Part of that makes them weak and they seek to destroy those that are weaker than them to feel powerful. They are rendered helpless by their isolation.

John Steinbeck 's Of Mice and Men explores many different and complex theories, all while telling a simple story of two men and one dream. George is practical, cautious, and small, but sharp and socially able. His companion is one of very different statures: looming and strong, possibly too much for his own good, and has the ability to kill but possesses the mind of a child, and blessed but cursed with a mental illness that detaches him from society. The pair on the run from one job to the next have the common dream of a place to call their own home. However, no matter where they end up, George and Lennie are constantly pressured to maintain a spot on the social ladder, using their different strengths and abilities, but all while being hindered by their disadvantages. In this novel, although many characters have different strengths and weaknesses that that make them unique, Steinbeck reveals that in order to have authority and power, one must prove themselves to be useful in their environment and ultimately gain the respect of others around them, which is made evident through the differences of the ranchers on the farm, characters treatment on the farm due to usefulness, and the struggles that many characters face in order to have and maintain power.

Many concepts in this passage symbolize different things. For example, the trail that Slim leads George down represents that George had to move on from Lennie and realize that he would be better off without him even though he was his best friend. The trail may also symbolize the beginning of a new life for George without Lennie; moreover, George would no longer be able to gain the money for his dream house as quickly as he perceived he would when Lennie was alive, so he would now have to work even harder to obtain his original goal of a beautiful house with various animals.

Another way, Steinbeck shows How Gorge is a true friend to lennie is through how reliable he is to Lennie. An example of this is Lennie was left alone with Curley's wife in the barn and accidently killed her, by him doing this it made all the workers want to kill him. But instead of them killing Lennie George went off and “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 lay without Quivering,” (106) This quote shows how Gorge is a true reliable friend because A true friend will do whatever they think is good for you. Just like how George went off and killed lennie, so that way he didn’t have to go through even more hell. This shows readers that

In “Of Mice and Men”, John Steinbeck uses literary elements which still appeal to readers today. Throughout the book, Steinbeck tells the story of two homeless farm hands during the Great Depression, named Lennie and George. Lennie, a big dopey man, who doesn’t know the extent of his own strength is lead by George, the smarter of the two, as they travel across California in search of work. During their travels, George and Lennie experience constant discrimination and work only to pursue their dreams. Furthermore, throughout the novella, Steinbeck uses symbolism to show how activities such as discrimination and dreaming are part of the human condition, and have persisted throughout time.

Of Mice and Men is a great story, the characters seem so real and it has great imagery. It’s a great novel with a lot of detail about two friends and their life on a ranch bucking barley, one dumb, and one smart. It also has three themes which are loneliness, responsibility, and friendship.