How Does Steinbeck Use The Symbolism Of Hand In Of Mice And Men

In the book Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, the author uses the symbolism of hands as a motif throughout the novel. The men are known as “ranch hands”, Candy’s loss of his hand, Curley’s protection of a hand, and Lennie’s brute strength of a hand symbolizes something deeper in the novel about the way in which characters communicate within the world. For example, Candy lost his hand while working on the ranch and ended up benefiting from it with extra money offered by his boss. Curley likes to fight and is known as one who is handy with his hands, he loses this confidence once Lennie crushes his hand during a fight. Lennie shows this strength during a fist fight with Curley towards the end of the book. Throughout this novel Steinbeck throws

When Curley decided to lunge at him he grabbed his hand just in time and prevented him from punching him. Lennie was so angry that he can’t tell how hard he actually is squeezing his hand. Curley was soon sprawled on the floor, brittle and broken. Curley has lost more than just this fist fight, but also his dignity. Lennie doesn’t mean to cause this much damage, he just doesn’t know when to stop for he can’t control his natural strength. “Curley’s fist was swinging when Lennie reached for it. The next minute Curley was flopping like a fish on a line, and his closed fist was lost in Lennie’s big hand. George ran down the room. ‘ Leggo of him, Lennie. Let go!’ Blood ran down Lennie’s face, one of his eyes was cut and closed. George slapped him in the face again and again, and still Lennie held on to the closed fist. Curley was white and shrunken by now, and his struggling had become weak. He stood crying, his fist lost in Lennie’s paws.” (pg. 63-64) This quote describes the fight in detail, giving the reader a vivid visual of what happened. Lennie was obviously angry with Curley, for he was all beat up and he hadn’t even done anything to make Curley mad. He had to do what was right, and what was right is defending himself. When Steinbeck included this quote he was trying to help the reader infer that this is how Lennie usually handles his problems not only in a fight but

Instead of straight out saying Candy was too old to work anymore, Curley lost his confidence, and Lennie is insanely strong Steinbeck used another method. He included motifs on the main character’s hands to explain what they are in real life. Candy lost his hand so that the reader can infer he is becoming less needed at the ranch. Curley’s hand was crushed in the fight with Lennie so that the reader can infer that Curley has lost his dignity after losing the one thing that gave him confidence and a purpose in life. And Lennie showing his brute strength in the fight with Curley gave the author a clue as to how Lennie reacts to problems he faces in real life. To summarize, Steinbeck includes these motifs on hands so that the reader can put together the hidden clues printed throughout the novel on their