John Steinbacks 'Of Mice and Men' is a tale of two travelling workers in the harsh depression years of 1930s America. Steinback uses a 'Cyclical Structure' upon finishing the book I noticed many similarities between the first and last chapter

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A Comparison of the First and Last Chapter.

John Steinbacks ‘Of Mice and Men’ is a tale of two travelling workers in the harsh depression years of 1930s America.  Steinback uses a ‘Cyclical Structure’ upon finishing the book I noticed many similarities between the first and last chapter.

The first similarity was the location. In Chapter One Steinback mentions a deserted place near a non-flowing pool, and then introduces both Lennie and George, the same happens in the last chapter but this time Lennie is alone having run away from the ranch. Lennie is shown to the readers as simple-minded and so Steinback uses this to an advantage;  ‘His huge companion dropped his blankets and flung himself down and drank from the surface of the green pool; drank with long gulps, snorting into the water like a horse… Lennie dipped his whole head under, hat and all, and then he sat up on the bank and his hat dripped down on his blue coat and ran down his back… Lennie dabbled his big paw in the water and wiggled his fingers so the water arose in little splashes; rings widened across the pool to the other side and came back again, Lennie watched them go. ‘Look George. Look what I done.’ Steinback mentions the drinking of the pool water later in Chapter Six.

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The second similarity that I noticed was of the dream that Lennie and George shared. Just like a little child, Lennie likes the idea of their dream and asks for it to be repeated on numerous occasions. The most significant times are mentioned in the book; at the beginning where they both feel that they are able to achieve the dream and at the end, just before George shoots Lennie.

Lennie has this ‘problem’ where once he holds onto to something he can’t let go. In Chapter One George and Lennie are running away from a ranch in Weed, due ...

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