Of Mice And Men Parallelism Analysis

Candy and his dog provide a parallel to George and Lennie ‘dog lifted his head got… to his feet to follow’ Candy’s dog relies on Candy just a Lennie relies totally on George. George and Lennie have an elevated version of this relationship-stopping any hatred towards George when he shoots Lennie. In the same way despite logic and reason both pairs cling to each other because in the depression that’s makes them different. Steinbeck uses Candy’s dog to show Candy. Candy's dog is described as ‘ancient’ and ‘painful’ with nothing to look forward to except death.

In John Steinbeck’s work, Of Mice and Men, Lennie is compared to an animal multiple times which degrades from his sense of humanity and leads to a greater gap between George and himself causing Lennie to become almost nothing to the reader, and to the other characters in the story as well. While George has sharp figures and is precisely described, Lennie is shown as more animalistic, and not really given a lot of traits and characteristics. Also, the other people in the ranch/farm approach Lennie with fear and caution.

“Go on, George! Tell about what we’re gonna have in the garden and about the rabbits in the cages and about the rain in the water and the stove, and how thick the cream is in the milk like you can hardly cut it.” (Steinbeck, 14). Of Mice and Men was written by author John Steinbeck. In this novel they explain Lennie as a innocent and a little slow. Lennie has someone who cares for him and his name is George. In the book Of Mice and Men lennie symbolizes innocence.

To prepare his readers for the death of Curley’s wife and Lennie’s potential danger, Steinbeck uses the literary device of foreshadowing. Steinbeck writes, “Well, he seen this girl in a red dress….he reaches out to feel this red dress an’ the girl lets out a squawk….I comes running, an’ by that time Lennie’s so scared all he can think to do is jus’ hold on….He was so scairt he couldn’t let go of that dress. And he’s so God damn strong, you know.”(41) Steinbeck uses this quote to show his readers Lennie's reaction when he is nervous. His readers learn that Lennie’s only thought is to hang on and squeeze

For instance, George told Lennie if anything ever happens to meet him at the brush by the river. This shows George’s nurturing instincts toward Lennie. Although the act alone was tough, when someone loves someone so much they often do things to protect them even though it hurts. Critics say that if George loves Lennie as much as he said, he could have avoided killing him. His love for Lennie is evident after he witnesses Candy’s reaction to his dog’s death and Candy’s words “I ought to of shot that dog myself, George. I shouldn’t ought to of let no stranger shoot my dog”(Steinbeck 61). George takes it upon himself to make sure Lennie dies with happy thoughts. He makes sure Lennie leaves the earth with happy thoughts by telling him about their dream house with animals and farmland. “An we’ll have maybe a pig an’ chickens… an’ down the flat we’ll have a … little piece alfalfa” (Steinbeck 105). People think that George and Lennie could have escaped from the men on the ranch but, even if they did, deep down George knows the American of which they had dreamt would never come true. George knows in his heart he could not let the men on the ranch kill Lennie. He knows this based on Candy’s experience with his dog. George wants to make sure Lennie does not die alone and in

George’s desire for independence, Curley’s wife’s desire to be a star, Lennie to be with George. Loneliness is another major theme in this novel. Crooks states “A guy goes nuts if he ain’t got anybody. Don’t make any difference who the guy is, long’s he’s with you” (Steinbeck 71). Although I think friendship is one that stands out the most to me. In the beginning of the book, we see how George and Lennie are friends, explaining how they want to get a farm together to raise chickens, rabbits, and pigs. We also see another friendship in the book between Candy and his dog. Candy’s dog is a “…dragfooted sheepdog, gray of muzzle, and with pale, blind old eyes. The dog struggled lamely to the side of the room and lay down, grunting softly to himself and licking his grizzled, moth-eaten coat” (Steinbeck 25). Even though we read about the dog in pain, Candy still accepts him as his best friend, helping him through all the pain. Before Carlson took Candy’s dog to shoot him, you see how Candy doesn’t want him to do it; but soon enough, Candy allows him. The song “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” by Randy Newman fits this situation between Candy’s dog and Candy. The lyric “You just remember what your old pal said. Boy, you’ve got a friend in me” (Newman) fits this situation perfectly because Candy will always love his dog no matter if he is dead or standing right next to

Like Candy, Candy’s dog is faced with the ultimate punishment for his age and disability. Candy’s dog is old and said to smell bad and isn’t worth anything, the dog is shot because of its disabilities. This event foreshadows Lennie’s fate at the hand of George. Both of these characters’ euthanasia is rationalized to put them out of their misery and to prevent future suffering from happening due to their disabilities. Which is almost a mirror image of George and Lennie’s relationship where George has known Lennie for a considerable amount of time and George knows that he is completely responsible of Lennie’s well-being and when that well-being is in jeopardy George feels a moral obligation just like Candy did when he gave permission to Carlson to shoot his dog. The euthanizing of Candy’s dog is a “foreshadowing of what will happen with Lennie and George” (Thomas Scarseth) because both Candy and George’s relationship to those dependent to them end with them killing them in order to save them from suffering.

It “was silent outside. Carlson’s footsteps died away. The silence came into the room. The silence lasted” (Steinbeck 48). The use of the repetition of silence and an abundance of short choppy sentences to slow down the pace of the story. This emphasizes the awkwardness of the silence and the loneliness that Candy feels. Candy raised his dog from a pup and had herded sheep with him. His dog was essentially the last companion he truly had. When Carlson puts the dog down, he essentially puts down Candy’s whole demeanor in this moment, as Candy now has no one. In the same way Steinbeck uses narrative pacing in the instance with Candy’s dog, he also uses it when George has to put down Lennie. When Lennie is on the run from Curley, he clumsily returns to the spot where George had told him to head to in case he got in trouble. When George found him at the creek, he talked and talked with Lennie, until, finally, he, “raised the gun and steadied it, and he brought the muzzle of it close to the back of Lennie’s head. The hand shook violently, but his face set and his hand steadied. He pulled the trigger” (Steinbeck 106). Steinbeck slows down the pace

John Steinbeck is an author that creates an illusion of life in animalistic terms. Throughout the course of the novella, animal characteristics are given to the character Lennie. The author compares the character to an animal along with explaining the physicality and interactive movement of the character. “These are made acceptable and indeed moving because of the genuine sweetness on feels in Steinbeck’s nature and because he sees these human beings as being at least as dignified as animals” (Allen 325). Human beings have instincts and behaviors that are similar to animals. Steinbeck’s personal interest of humans portray under the living qualities of animals. “Lennie dabbled his big paw in the water…” (Steinbeck 3). Steinbeck compares

Steinbeck’s character, Lennie, is large and strong, but his mind is weak and slow. His companion through the story, George, looks after Lennie and has plans for a good life for

Steinbeck fully develops the animal comparison at the end of the novel by drawing a parallel between Candy and his old dog and George and dog-like Lennie. Like Candy's useless old dog, after the incident with

     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

George and Lennie are different as they have each other for support, friendship and much more. Lennie is able to give George hope, hope that things will get better by continually talking about the dream of ‘livin’ of the fatta the land’. This in turn brightens George’s spirits and motivates him to keep on working hard and believing that ‘we got a future’. Even though Lennie helps George in many physiological ways, he also helps him physically. Lennie’s pure size and strength is so great that he is often compared to a ‘bear’ by Steinbeck; an animal which has immense power. This strength helps them gain work as ‘man, (Lennie) can work’. Without Lennie, George would have much difficulty finding manual labour jobs due to his small size.

The author, Steinbeck, uses his own personal experience to “serve as an inspiration…” (Johnson 1) when writing this particular story. His past experiences also helped him for the future. Lennie, of all characters, is the least dynamic. He undergoes a significant amount of change and develops throughout the story. He has been isolated with George throughout his life. His sole purpose in life is to make George happy and to own a farm with George and take care of the soft rabbits. Lennie is the most innocent and defenseless. He also is the largest and strongest, which does not help in certain situations. Lennie is the protagonist in the story. He gains the readers sympathy by his intellectual disability and helplessness. Lennie murders things by accident such as the mouse in his pocket, the puppy and Curley’s wife. He enjoys the touch of and somehow uses those murders and experiences to scare him from doing it again. George’s opinion means the most to him.

In the novella Of Mice And Men by John Steinbeck, the relationship between Lennie Small and George Milton is complex. Lennie and George are two companions who look for work and brave the hardships of the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression together. Although Lennie and George are both grown men, their relationship resembles more of a child and a single parent, or a boy and his dog. Lennie is portrayed as animalistic and childish through his behavior and Steinbeck’s comparisons. This reveals the crucial power dynamic in George and Lennie’s relationship.