Explore the ways the writer presents relationships between Characters in Of Mice and Men

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Kowsar Farah

English Coursework

Explore the ways the writer presents relationships between Characters in “Of Mice and Men”

Of Mice and Men takes place in an agricultural labor setting, based in California. This is the kind of setting in which Steinbeck himself grew up. The novel was published in 1937. Steinbeck was interested in highlighting social issue which he experienced himself. It is in this context that of Mice and Men, take place. Steinbeck was fascinated with the nights of the round table which, in folk law, were said to be on a quest to find the Holy Grail. In several of Steinbeck’s books, his characters are engaged in a quest for something akin to a Holy Grail. For George and Lennie, this Holy Grail represents the pursuit of a dream; for a ranch of their own, where they can live in happiness and security.  

George and Lennie are exceptionally united by their shared dream of a better life on a farm where they can “live off the fatta the lan’,” as Lennie describes. George articulates this vision by repeatedly telling the “story” of the future farm to his fellow companion. Lennie believes unquestioningly in their dream, and his faith enables the hardened, suspicious George to imagine the possibility of this dream that becoming more of a reality. In fact, George’s belief in it depends upon Lennie, for as soon as Lennie dies, George’s hope for a brighter future disappears. To deal with this horror, both George and Lennie focus on the future; their ‘dream’ of their own ranch which is no fulfilled till the very last day.

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The friendship which George and Lennie is the most prominent theme throughout the novel.  Their friendship is initiated prom the very begging of the novel, “They had walked in single file down the path, and even in the open one stayed behind the other.” In this third paragraph you begin to realise there may be a chain of command in this relationship; George is the head and Lennie is the Follower. The stark that shared between George and Lennie, “Both were dressed in denim trousers and in denim coats with brass buttons. Both wore black, shapeless hats and both ...

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