Write an analysis of the opening chapter of Of Mice and Men. How effective is it at introducing the characters, themes and events of the novel?

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Asadullah Haider        English Coursework        Page

Write an analysis of the opening chapter of Of Mice and Men. How effective is it at introducing the characters, themes and events of the novel?

The opening chapter in Of Mice and Men is important because it gives us hints on what is to come later.  The novel starts by Steinbeck describing a calm soothing mountainside, then two men emerge; George and Lennie. They break the peace, the animals scatter and the two men make quite a bit of noise. Steinbeck is telling us that everything is alright, but then these two men come along and ruin everything; this is important later on as George and Lennie end up at this same place at the end of the novel, this is where their dream ends. It plays a significant part in the novel.

George, the first character to be introduced, is described as a “small and quick, dark of face” man with “restless eyes and sharp strong features”. This tells us that he is an intellectual man, who is presumably the leader. However, the second man Lennie is described as completely his opposite, a “huge man, shapeless of face, with large, pale eyes, with wide, sloping shoulders”.  This gives us the impression he is quite a large man, and is tired, maybe from walking a long distance. Lennie’s movements are compared to as being very animal like, “he walked heavily, dragging his feet a little, the way a bear drags his paws. His arms did not swing at his sides, but hung loosely”. This could again, tell us how big and strong he is, by comparing him to a bear. At the water’s edge, Lennie gets down and starts drinking from the surface of the pool drinking “with long gulps, snorting into the water like a horse”. This simile is another comparison of him to an animal as are his actions and his physical size and strength.

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The novel was written at the time of the great American Depression during the 1920-1930’s. The economy was falling, industry was hit hard. Quite allot of the population was out of work and living in poverty, farmers were struggling to make ends meet as crop prices fell by 40 to 60 percent. People were migrating elsewhere to find work; this is what George and Lennie are doing at the start of the novel. Most people believed that one day they would be successful and achieve their goals in life through hard work; this was known as the ‘American Dream’. ...

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