Characterisation
In this paragraph I am going to be talking about how the characters prepare you for the ending of the novel.
Obviously, the actions of Lennie are extremely important in the work up to the ending. For example, first he kills a mouse. This is murder, but not on a very large-scale, but this starts off a dangerous cycle. In Chapter five, he murders (maybe accidental) something bigger, a puppy. This is socially unacceptable. But, the next victim of Lennie his killer grasp is Curly's wife. Although, I think she leads him on because she says
"Feel right around it there and to see how soft it is"
She obviously wants him to touch/stroke her hair and coincidentally, Lennie likes touching soft things so he jumps at first opportunity of touching and stroking her hair. But like in weed, Lennie gets carried away and wont let go. She starts screaming so he grabs her head and shakes her around. This breaks her neck. Someone who has just committed murder or manslaughter should be brought to justice and in this case, the 'mob' decide that he should be dead.
In the beginning, George is with Lennie all their time but midway through the novel he begins to socialise with others. So in other words, they drift further and further apart from each other. This gives you the impression that George and Lennie will not be together in the end.
Therefore one must die or go off on his own to somewhere else.
From the beginning you are aware that the relationship between George and Lennie must changed because presently, George is dissatisfied with the relationship but also Lennie cannot survive in this world.
Lennie is unable to control its own bodily actions without George being around. A good example of this is the event when George tells Lennie to 'Get 'im!'. This shows that Lennie needs George to survive and if their relationship needs to change then Lennie must be killed otherwise change is impossible.
Curly doesn't seem to be like big people. Because Lennie is new on the ranch and is also tall, Curly decides to a bully him. This shows that he doesn't fit in straight away. Curly has a it relationship with the Lennie but not like candy has with his dog, their relationship is tense. On Page 66 Curly says
“come on, you big bastard”.
Saying this proves that he obviously wants to harm Lennie.
Therefore he wants Lennie injured or at most, dead a. This prepares you for the ending because as soon as Lennie let go of his hand, all the ranch workers know they are not going to be able to keep Lennie’s anger and strength in.
Candy's dog symbolises Lennie. This is because the dog is useless, no good and totally reliant on candy. Equally, Lennie is no good, useless and totally reliant on George. The stage when candy's dog gets shot, prepares tells you that Lennie is going to be shot in maybe the same way.
Narrative Style
At the start of the chapter, the description of the surroundings is made up of a lot of ands. This is a lot like Hemmingway’s style of writing. It is written in a sort of a list.
In the first chapter, before Lennie and George appear, the descriptions of the environment are lazy and languid. This is used to calm you and make you picture the environment as a natural environment, which it is. But all of a sudden, when Lennie and George appear in the chapter, all the sentences go short. The lazy languid sentences that were being used before are now short and sharp sentences. The vowels are also shorter than before. This is repeated as well in the setting before Lennie kills Curly’s wife. Nothing changes when he starts stroking her hair but as soon as she says,
“Look out, now, you’ll muss it”.
The sentence structure changes yet again. This is because when she says that quote, she is nervous. It is the first sign that she is nervous Therefore the environment is disturbed so all the sentences that were long, are now short and sharp.
Plot-Development
In this paragraph I am going to be talking about how certain events work up to prepare you for the ending of the novel.
One of the main obvious examples of plot-development, is a cycle of animals that Lennie slowly works through. First, Lennie starts off with a mouse,
“Uh-uh. Jus’ a dead mouse, George. I didn’t kill it. Honest! I found it, I found it dead”.
This is what Lennie says to George when George finds a dead mouse which Lennie is stroking with his thumb. Later in the novel, in the barn, Lennie kills a puppy,
“He was so little”, said Lennie. “I was jus’ playin’”.
This is what Lennie says to Curly’s wife, coincidently, just before she dies. Going by what he said, I don’t believe that Lennie killed it purposely because he sounds sincere.
Finally, this is what Lennie says to George when he sees him at the Salinas River.
“I done another bad thing”.
I think that Lennie knows what he has done is wrong but not what is going to happen to him.
Curly’s wife is also another example of the plot developing which leads to the ending. Her interest in Lennie starts off as a simple interest but because Lennie seems really interested in her, she becomes more interested. Also I think that Curly’s wife’s view of Lennie crushing Curly’s hand was a sign of him protecting/defending her. This makes her interest in him develop some more. This leads to her going to see him in the barn in chapter five when the other ranch workers are playing horseshoes. But it ends in disaster, she lets her feelings out and says he can stroke her hair, but he doesn’t let go and so she starts screaming. Lennie then grabs her head and starts shaking her around. Therefore, breaks her neck. This is the event simplified but I have explained it in more detail in a different paragraph.
George, as the play goes along, gets increasingly involved with the community (the ranch workers). He does this by socialising with them and plays games with them. Equally, Lennie becomes increasingly out of control. I think that Lennie starts to lose control because George pays less attention to his needs. This shows that everything George does affects Lennie’s actions. Which is another example that they rely on one another.
Linguistic Devices
I am going to be discussing how the use of metaphors and images prepare you for the ending of the novel.
Foreshadowing is used in a number of ways:
Candy and his dog are both a good example of symbolism used in the novel. Candy and his dog foreshadow the end of the novel in many different ways.
Firstly, they are both totally reliant on each other.
This is the same in the case of Lennie and George. They are totally reliant on each other. George needs Lennie for company and, obviously, Lennie needs George because Lennie is not able to perform any function that requires any kind of skill.
Secondly, Candy’s dog gets shot because “he’s no good to anyone”
The idea to shoot Candy’s dog was Kenny’s (Carlson’s). He says that it is no good to him or anyone. Shooting it would just be putting it out of its misery
Thirdly, Lennie is absent when the dog is shot.
This is significant because Lennie is also going to get shot. Curly’s wife is also not present at the time but at this stage this is not relevant. I think that the absence of Lennie is used to show that Lennie has never actually experienced the murder of something or someone by anyone else. Therefore making him think that he is safe.
Fourthly, Candy doesn’t shoot his dog.
Candy views this decision as a mistake and wishes that he would of shot the dog instead of Kenny (Carlson). This is the only thing that distinguishes candy & dog and Lennie & George.
Solitaire and other card games are mentioned in the novel. These are used to foreshadow the ending of the novel. Solitaire is a one-player game, which symbolises loneliness. I think that the men play solitaire because it represents their isolated lives. The first mention of the game is in chapter two when George is talking to candy. He sits down by a table, so does George. George’s interest in the game is on and off. But later in the novel when he plays it, Lennie is always somewhere else, doing something different. Also, because George plays this game, it shows that he is going to be alone in the end of the novel because only people that play solitaire in the novel are alone or going to be alone i.e. Candy
Curly’s wife is a symbol of ‘the dream’
The idea of her is something that the men want like for example at the brothel. But the reality of her scares the men because they all feel a certain attraction towards her. This makes them fear and hate her because she has some power over them. They treat her as if she is an alien – she is the only woman on the ranch. This makes the men treat her as if she is not meant to be there so as a result, they ignore her. However, when she dies, the dream dies. This shows that she was a symbol of life and the only means of escape. But her dream was to become a movie star and be free. As we know, the only way of escaping off the ranch is through death. This ten leads to the death, so her dreams lead her to death. This then leads to the death of Lennie because George also wants to be free, from Lennie.
Lennie is compared to a bear throughout the novel, for example:
“Lennie dabbled his big paw”
This is the kind of action that a bear, or any other large creature, would perform.
The reason why Lennie is compared to a bear is because of the fact that the features of a bear are identical to Lennie.
They are both aggressive. An example of this is later seen in the novel.
They are both also strong, dangerous, slow, lumbering, stupid, clumsy, they are also a victim of their own strength (Lennie kills the mouse, puppy and Curly’s wife without realising he is doing so at the time). The idea of Lennie being hunted at the beginning and the end causes the death of Lennie in the end because Lennie is a comparison to a bear because he is a victim of his own strength and impulses, just like a bear.