3. Describe the devices Steinbeck uses to create atmosphere in Of Mice and Men.
The story is set in California’s Salinas Valley and the action takes place on a large ranch during the Great Depression. One of the ways Steinbeck creates atmosphere in the novel is the way in which he uses nature as a background and ‘medium’ of his characters. Nature is seen in minute detail. The opening of the novel illustrates this and the description is full of nostalgia. The tone is simple and immediate:
‘There is a path through the willows and among the sycamores, a path beaten hard by boys coming down form the ranches to swim in the deep pool, and beaten hard by tramps who come wearily down from the highway in the evening.’
There is a poetic element to Steinbeck’s style, as seen in the following quotations: the sycamores have ‘mottled, white, recumbent limbs’, the ‘rabbits sat as quietly as little grey sculptured stones’, a heron is ‘stilted’ and a lizard ‘makes a great skittering’. He uses various literary devices including similes and metaphors, onomatopoeia and personification. The closeness of man to nature is emphasised in the novel and Lennie is seen frequently as a bear or a dog; the imagery emphasising the simple responses of his nature.
The settings are simple in detail but powerfully symbolic. The secluded spot in the woods by the stream is the uncomplicated world of Nature; the bunkhouse is the bleak home of hired working men trying to make sense of their lives and gain comfort in a limited environment; the barn is the place of working life, of seed and harvest, birth and death, the harness room with Crook’s bunk symbolises social constraints; the ‘little place of our own’ about which George and Lennie dream is the Paradise we all yearn for.
The Essay on John Steinbeck Life Man Married
John Steinbeck's theory of naturalism and his view on human and environmental fate effected many of his most famous works, such as Of Mice and Men, and his most successful book, The Grapes of Wrath. Both his early family life with his mother and father, and his life once he started his own family effected his views on life. His parents died when he was a young man and he was married several times. ...
Light is another very important element in the novel which Steinbeck uses to create atmosphere. The natural light of the sun and the artificial light of the interiors is an important part of the author’s unvoiced commentary. The action begins on the evening of a hot day, continues with George and Lennie talking in darkness and half-darkness with the fire lighting the trunks of the trees until the ‘sphere of light’ from the fire grows smaller. The next day they go to the ranch house and we are told at 10 o’clock in the morning ‘the sun threw a bright, dust-laden bar through one of the side windows, and in and out of the beam flies shot like rushing stars’.
The poetic element of Steinbeck’s style is balanced by the realism of the language his characters use. His writing is mainly simple and direct but sometimes the tone becomes lyrical.
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Moods: Powerlessness, helplessness
Especially in the first chapter Steinbeck foreshadows EVERYTHING that will happen in the book in the first chapter. Key event that builds the mood:
The mood of powerlessness is shown and foreshadowed throughout the novel: “Of Mice and Men” in many ways. For example, Carlson killing Candy’s dog. Carlson is a ranch hand and Steinbeck has DELIBERATELY made his character into the typical ranch hand that you would get in 1930s America. Steinbeck uses the event of Carlson killing Candy’s dog as a way of setting the mood of powerlessness and to foreshadow Lennie’s death at the end of the novel. For example, Lennie is killed because he can’t fit in with the 1930s America migrant worker world, this is shown through dialogue where George mentions that him and Lennie had to flee Weed because he touched a girl’s skirt and she saw it as rape. Lennie is also killed at the end of the novel because he accidently kills Curley’s wife through no DELIBERATE intent, the fact that Lennie doesn’t really know what he is doing emphasizes Steinbeck’s mood of powerlessness, Lennie is going to be locked up no matter what he does and it also shows he can not fit in with their society. This bares a direct correlation to Candy’s dog’s death where Carlson (the typical ranch hand who symbolizes a typical ranch hand at the time – therefore he symbolizes typical society) distinctly says: “that dog stinks” and “you need to get rid of ‘im” as the dog does not fit in with the norm (the “norm” is symbolized by Carlson) and therefore he is shot even though Candy begs Slim for him not to be killed because he loves the dog. These moments create the mood of powerlessness, helplessness and sadness in the novel because Steinbeck shows that no matter what Candy or George do, they are powerless to stop what happens.
The Essay on How does Steinbeck present Lennie and George
How does Steinbeck present Lennie and George in the 1st chapter? Lennie and George’s father and son like relationship is clearly one of love, although from the beginning we sense George’s frustration due to Lennie’s constant childish behaviour. George is very protective over Lennie, “Lennie for God’s sake don’t drink so much!” because he has been told to look after him by his “Aunt Clara”. George ...
Steinbeck creates atmosphere brilliantly in Of Mice and Men.� He uses the verb as a descriptor, and by including contrasts, similes and metaphors, the recurring themes of light and sound and suspense, he creates a very vivid atmosphere.� The characters which he used are also described in such a way that he infers a sense of atmosphere in the book.
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First of all, Steinbeck uses themes of light and sound.� At the beginning of chapter one, describes the scene very vividly, using such phrases as, �fresh and green�, �yellow sands� and �golden foot-hill�.� These are soft colours, and so imply a peaceful, tranquil atmosphere.� Then, he uses such phrases as �pounded� which breaks the tranquillity and implies another atmosphere through the use of movement.
The light is again used �flamed with the light of the sun�, and this is presenting us with a different atmosphere, but using the same method.� Again, sound is used directly afterwards, �rustled�, to give a change of atmosphere.� This interrupts the natural calm again, making the place very vivid to us.
Once again, �half-darkness� is used with reference to light, broken by a sound, �whisked�.� This creates a sense of atmosphere again, and Steinbeck uses this method throughout the book.� Like the start of the chapter, the end finishes with light too, �the red light dimmed on the coals� and it is interrupted by sound, �yammered�.
The Essay on The Pearl-John Steinbeck
Symbolism embodies an abstract idea or concept by using an object or character. In the parable, The Pearl, Steinbeck uses symbolism extensively to create and develop the novel’s themes. The pearl of the book’s title is a symbol, which develops from a paradise of hopes and dreams, to a destructive centre of evil. The key symbol of the pearl generates the theme of the destructive nature ...
Steinbeck�s fascination with sunlight is borne through into chapter two.� �Bright dust-laden bar�, and �the sun square� are both used to focus attention on a certain area highlighted by light, so a certain atmosphere is created.� More sunlight is described, �rectangle of sunshine�, which is again followed by an interrupting sound, �screech�.� This is used a lot.
At the end of the chapter, �the sunshine lay in a thin line� is used to create atmosphere in a different way ;to show the passage of time.
In chapter three, we still have a reference to light at the beginning, broken by sound, to portray an atmosphere, �evening brightness� – �thuds and clangs�.� This is continued where a main beam of light, �threw its brightness straight downward� and this creates an atmosphere where only the main characters and illuminated (i.e. featured) and everything else, in darkness, is peripheral to the story.
animal imagery is also very important in creating atmosphere.� By describing people and things using it, Steinbeck can paint a vivid picture of events which every reader can relate to, because we all have experience of animals.
��������������� Lennie is described as �the way a bear drags his paws�.� This immediately gives the reader an idea of what is meant.� �Snorting like a horse� is used too.� As we go through the book, more and more animal imagery is used, especially regarding the relationship between Lennie and George.� This is important in atmospheric description, because the relationship is central to things happening around them, and gives us reasons for many of the twists of the plot, so it is imperative that we understand and have a picture of how George and Lennie interact.� Their relationship is a �master and dog� one, and the animal imagery used is vividly describing the atmosphere in which George and Lennie co-exist.
��������������� Animal imagery is not only used to describe the characters, but also their movements, which give us an idea of the overall atmosphere.� For example, �Lennie lumbered� shows us that there is tension and that the atmosphere is heavy.� The movements of other characters like Curley are described using animal imagery too.� We get an idea of the atmosphere in the bunk-house when Curley is described as a �terrier�.� It is the power of Steinbecks language which makes the image vivid for us.
The Essay on The Wars Animal Imagery
Sigmund Freud once argued that "our species has a volcanic potential to erupt in aggression . . . [and] that we harbour not only positive survival instincts but also a self-destructive 'death instinct', which we usually displace towards others in aggression" (Myers 666). Timothy Findley, born in 1930 in Toronto, Canada, explores our human predilection towards violence in his third novel, The Wars. ...
The descriptions of people are very important in creating atmosphere too.The contrast between George
