How does Steinbeck present and use setting in of Mice and Men?
Introduction.
In the description of the settings in John Steinbecks 1929, Californian book OMAM sets the tone for…
The bunk house.
The people in the bunk house had no freedom, no luxury, just a place to live nothing special, more of a plain place to live. Steinbeck describes the bunk house as… “It was long, rectangular building, inside there were white washed walls, floor unpainted. In three walls there was there was small, square windows and in the fourth was a solid door with a wooden latch.” Steinbeck shows that the bunk was no place for freedom; it was more like a prison. As the American men in that time weren’t there for the fun they were there for the work and to get money.
In the novel the writer suggests that they would not get and luxury possessions at all, neither the beds being soft with quilts and matrasses. “Against the wall their where eight bunks, five of them with blankets and three of them showing their burlap ticking.” Steinbeck has wrote this to show the audience that, no one got the luxury’s back then, they had live and sleep in dirty and infested places, bugs and flies could get in, you could get ill, but this is one of the only places you could get a job, living on a ranch.
After Steinbeck had described that life was hard, and no one had luxury’s he still, mentioned the fact that the men on the ranch still had a good time and played games. “In the middle of the room stood a squared table littered with playing card and around it were old boxes for the players to sit on.” Steinbeck has made the audience see that there might be quite a bad side working on a ranch, but they can have a laugh and a drink as well.
The Term Paper on Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Every piece of literature created is influenced by the time in which it was written. A particular text is a reflection of the era or period in which it was born. An author is contained within a specific time in history, and his writing becomes the result of the social, economic or political milieu of that time. This is the reason why it is extremely important for a reader to determine the context ...
Crooks room.
Crooks room was a barn, because he was a stable buck. His room is very basic and is full of his and only his possessions. “And scattered about the floor were a number of personal of possessions; for being alone.” Steinbeck has used this in the text because he is telling the reader that because Croocks is black he is separated from everyone else and that he doesn’t mix with the other men on the ranch.
Because Croocks was a black, he wasn’t treated the same as any other men he had no freedom his bunk was a long wooden box. “Croocks’ bunk was a long box filled with the straw, on which his blankets were flung.” Steinbeck has used this in his novel because he is showing how black people were treated in 1930s California, how they didn’t mix with other men; they were always separated and never shared anything with white people.
Croocks knew he wasn’t really wanted on the ranch he knew that because he was black people didn’t really want to know him or speak to him, Croocks kept a book which showed him the rights black people once had in California. “And he had books, too: a tattered dictionary and a mauled copy of the California civil code for 1905.” Steinbeck wanted to show how much Croocks believed he could get rights again, he shows in the novel how because Croocks has kept this book he still believes segregation will end.
The barn.
In the barn, John Steinbeck shows a lot of Key Terms, like Pathetic Fallacy, Foreshadowing, Repetition, metaphors and imagery.
On the Sunday afternoon the barn was very quiet. Steinbeck uses pathetic fallacy for the animals to sense danger as Lennie walks into the barn after killing the pup. “The resting horses nibbled on the remaining of the wisps of hay, and they stamped their feet and bit the wood of the manger and rattled their halter chains.” Steinbeck has used pathetic fallacy to cause tension, so the reader will read on and find out what is going to happen. E.g. will Lennie kill something else? Steinbeck uses the Sunday afternoon because no one else is there only Lennie and the animals in the barn. So the tension builds up even more.
The Essay on John Steinbeck Lennie George Curly
Of Mice and Men By John Steinbeck Lennie- At a glimpse, Lennie appears as a huge brute, capable of great destruction. He is huge and capable of great destruction, but he is in no way a brute. He might be a bit mentally disabled, or he might just be very unintelligent. Whatever the reason, Lennie has the mind of a child. His impulses take control of him, like they would a child, and his enormous ...
As the barn is quiet there is noise coming from outside. Steinbeck uses this so all the effect is inside the barn. “From outside came the clang of horse shoes on the playing peg and the shouts of men, playing, encouraging and jeering. But in the barn it was quiet and humming and lazy and warm.” Steinbeck is making this scene effective so he can focus a bit on outside but not much, so all the main focus is on whether Lennie will kill something else.
At the end of section 5 the puppy is dead and lay in front of him, Steinbeck uses repetition to show you how Lennie handles it. “Lennie sat in the hay and looked at a little dead puppy that lay in front of him. Lennie looked at it for a long time, and then he put out his huge hand and stroked it, stroked it clear from one end to the other.” Steinbeck has used repetition to make it more effective by making out that Lennies big hands had killed the puppy in the quiet atmosphere.
In this section Steinbeck has made Lennie feel and be alone. “Only Lennie was in the barn, and Lennie sat in the hay beside a packing case under a manger in the end of the barn that had not been filled with hay.” Steinbeck has made another point about while everyone is outside playing horse shoes outside Lennie is in the barn alone.
The opening to section 1.
In the opening to this section 1, Steinbeck uses a lot of key terms, E.g. Pathetic fallacy, repetition and foreshadowing.
In this part Steinbeck uses a lot of repetition in this section to set tension for the novel; he does this by saying how lifeless and quiet Soledad is until George and Lennie come into the novel. “For a moment the place was lifeless, and then two men emerged from the path and came into the opening by the green pool.” Steinbeck has created uneasiness at the start of the novel because he wants the reader to feel that tension is building for what is going to happen the next day.
Right at the start he makes the setting of Soledad a dream setting. “A few miles of Soledad, the Salinas River drop in close to the hillside bank and runs deep and green. The water is warm too, for it has slipped twinkling over the yellow sands in the sunlight before reaching the narrow pool.” Steinbeck has made it sound so nice because he wants to reassure the reader that not everything will be like this.
The Essay on John Steinbeck Lennie Language Books
Books are the legacies that a great genius leaves to mankind, which are delivered down from generation to generation as presents to the posterity of those who are yet unborn these are the great yet true words from Joseph Addison. The author John Steinbeck was a man, who portrayed a nation during its worst period if time telling about the struggles of its people in Of Mice and Men, and in the novel ...
In this section Steinbeck uses Foreshadowing a lot, “Carrying in their lower leaf junctures the debris of the winter’s flooding; and sycamores with mottled, white, recumbent limbs and branches that arch over the pool.” Steinbeck has used the word like recumbent (lifeless, death) to tell us that death will happen, but we haven’t realised yet.
The opening to section 6.
John Steinbeck has used repetition of the first section to mirror the last section so George and Lennie walk out as they walked in.
At the start of section 6 he says “The deep green pool of the Salinas River.”
At the start of section 1 he says “The Salinas River drops in close to the hillside banks and runs deep and green.”
He has used the repetition to sense that someone might die in Soledad in Section 6, as he set the setting of uneasiness in section 1 of something or someone might die in section 2.
He makes the wind die so the tension builds also like section1. “As quickly had it come, the wind died, and the clearing was quiet again.” He has done this to make the setting quieter and to focus on what might happen of what Lennie might do.
Conclusion
Steinbeck has presented an uneasy read because of all the different feelings in Of Mice and Men, but has used a lot of key terms to bring the feelings together to get the 1930 Californian novel.
