Steinbeck utilizes vivid character, situation and feeling descriptions to allow his readers to empathize with his characters and to express that through empathy is the only way that humans can see the perspectives of one another. Claim: Throughout the book, it is very clear that Steinbeck sees a great importance in writing character descriptions. Establish Evidence: Within the first two pages of the book, for example, Steinbeck makes a half-page description of the two main characters George and Lennie. Evidence: Steinbeck states that “The first man was small and quick, dark of face, with restless eyes and sharp, strong features. Every part of him was defined: small, strong hands, slender arms, a thin and bony nose.”(2) Analysis: Steinbeck’s …show more content…
It is common knowledge that feelings are the foundation for empathy. Because of this Steinbeck, in great depth, outlines how characters are feeling in certain situations so the reader can process the given feeling and incorporate it into their imagining of the story effectively. Establishing Evidence: The biggest way that Steinbeck conveys how characters are feeling is through the character sharing their feelings with someone. On page 72, Steinbeck described how the stable buck Crooks felt due to being separated from the white workers based on his race: Evidence: “‘S'pose you didn't have nobody. S'pose you couldn't go into the bunkhouse and play rummy 'cause you was black ... A guy needs somebody to be near him.’ He whined, ‘A guy goes nuts if he ain't got nobody. Don't make no difference who the guy is, long's he's with you. I tell ya,’ he cried, ‘I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an' he gets sick.’” Analysis: Obviously, the feeling that Crooks experiences the most is loneliness, and through the preceding quote, we can see that Steinbeck cares about how descriptive he is in sharing Crook’s feelings to properly place the readers in Crooks’ shoes. Through that same quote as well, we can see that Steinbeck likes to use repetition as a device to describe a character’s feelings and emotions. Crooks persistently repeats that