Compare the Opening and Closing Scenes

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Compare the Opening and Closing Scenes

in Of Mice and Men

Of mice and men is a great novel written by protest writer John Steinbeck. It is a sad story about the life of two migrant ranch workers George and Lennie, and the conflicts between the reality and their relationship and dream. The opening and closing scenes are both set in the same place – Salinas River, however readers can sense totally different feelings from these two scenes. In this essay I am going to compare the opening and closing scenes of this novel focus on the following points: 1) the description of nature to evoke feelings, 2) The dialogue, and the way George and Lennie speak to each other, to explore how George change towards Lennie, 3) The dream George and Lennie share, to explore how Steinbeck protests against the reality.

The opening scene in of Mice and Men is happy and peaceful compared to the closing scenes.  Before the entry of the two main characters, Steinbeck gets the audience involved by describing the idyllic setting: the beautiful, colorful, peaceful and poetic evening in Salinas River. He creates the pleasant atmosphere brilliantly by sensational words like ‘deep and green’ water, ‘yellow sand’, ‘golden foothill slopes’, ‘fresh and green’ willows, ‘mottled’ sycamores. Just like a strong warm visual effect colorful oil-painting, the Willow Pool in Salinas River vividly present to us. It is also a calm peaceful riverside, little creatures like lizard, rabbit, coon, dears, heron are freely and actively wondering on the riverside. The feeling of relaxation in a warm afternoon is evoked and emphasized in depicting. “The water is warm too, for it has slipped twinkling over the yellow sands”; “…the leaves lie deep and so crisp that a lizard makes a great skittering if he runs among them….”

This untainted beauty of the nature and the relaxed serenity atmosphere that Steinbeck wisely opens with tending toward the Romantic. It suggests a purity and perfection sense→sense of purity to the reader that associates with the innocence of Lennie; indicates the idealized friendship and the romanticized dream between George and Lennie. On the other hand it helps to emphasize the changing atmosphere when two protagonists enter into the scene. By comparison to the same scene in the closing ending--scene it hints about the future trouble and the calm before the storm. The setting is also a symbol of a place free from society, a safe sanctuary for Lennie and George, where they can be themselves. That’s why George chooses to let Lennie come back here when he meets trouble, and even Lennie is finally killed by George in mercy here, the Salinas River does keep Lennie safe from the torture of being killed curly.

The description of the landscape also helps us to develop an understanding of the background of the great depression. “There is a path through the willows and among the ... sycamores, a path beaten hard by boys…., and beaten hard by tramps ….” “…the limb is worm smooth by men who have sat on it.” Boys working in the ranch swim here and tramps traveling pass here trying to get job, use it as a rest area. It shows the background of great depression, people struggle with financial freedom, they had to drift into the country for jobs in the farming industry.

The ending of the novel occurs at the exactly same place where the story started. The landscape is still the same; however they suggest a totally different feeling. “Already the sun had left the valley”; “by the pool among the mottled sycamores, a pleasant shade had fallen”. The sunset is normally symbolic the end of life, it is a subtle foreboding--indication of the impending death of Lennie. The changing landscape in the coming evening is also described in the other three plots. All these plots are following by the description of the chasing people coming nearer. Steinbeck uses the description of setting as an important tool to convey that Lennie’s death is impending. Readers can also notice that the peaceful and untainted atmosphere is replaced by violent – a heron ate a snake and waiting for another. The scene is not anymore slow and relaxed; instead “A far rush of wind sounded and a gust drove through the tops of the trees like a wave.” Dry leaves “scudded a few feet”; Things become swift and dramatic; they are signifying the turmoil George and Lennie have and are going to suffer.

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Apart from using the setting to underline the themes, Steinbeck is also accomplished--excelled in using creatures and their imagery to illustrate the themes and suggest the foreboding on what George and Lennie will suffer. In the opening chapter, as the human footsteps approached, the rabbits “hurried noiselessly for cover”; the heron “labored up” and “pound down river”. “For a moment the place was lifeless”. Creatures like lizards, rabbits, herons, coons, deers are in possession of the peaceful land, however when human being invaded, we can suddenly sense the tension in this scene -- the dangers can lurk--appear at every turn, weak creatures ...

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