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Of Mice And Men Literary Devices

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Ruby Gravesen
ELA
Helbeing
February 21, 20223
Literary Analysis Of Mice and Men
The short novel Of Mice and Men written by John Steinbeck incorporates many themes within its pages. The short novel is set during the Great Depression and tells a tale of the threat and danger of believing in one's dreams, primarily the American Dream. The book teaches readers about the value of friendship and companionship, while teaching the sorrows of disaffection and solitude. John Steinbeck uses his writing style to put a morbid twist on the American Dream by using repetition and foreshadowing for later cure events. John Steinbeck builds up the themes of loneliness, alienation, and survival of the fittest through his characters.
John Steinbeck used the character Lennie Small to accentuate all the themes, Lennie is a large build man with an intellectual disability. Steinbeck uses plenty of repetition with this character, he has Lennie repeatedly asking to hear the “American dream”, and since Lennie is seen as unintelligent he asks his friend and companion, George, many questions with repetition; like a child that is asking or talking to a parent. …show more content…

Steinbeck uses the character Lennie as an example of the theme. As a result of Lennie’s mental disability, Lennie has the need to provide himself with sensory input; John Steinbeck has Lennie prove the input by feeling the need to pet and touch different textures such as mice. In the beginning of the story, the reader finds out that Lennie has stroked a mouse with his thumb so much that he kills the mouse. Lennie accidentally killing the mouse is an example of survival of the fittest, because Lennie is so large and much larger than the mouse that the constant stroking killed the mouse. John Steinbeck continues to use repetition with Lennie when George finds out Lennie killed the mouse. Lennie apologizes repeatedly which reinforces his child-like

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