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Quests In Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

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A quest that is doomed from its inception will always cause irreparable damage to its participants. Whether failure comes in the form of death or abandonment, at the deepest level, the questers realize that their journey is hopeless, creating an emotion that alters their behavior and character. In Thomas C. Foster’s How to Read Literature Like a Professor, his analysis of quests in literature, and in John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men’s tragic climax in which two companions must part ways in the form of murder, the harrowing effects of a journey with impossible aspirations are proven, both through the fundamental elements of quests across literature, and through the personal journeys of companions George and Lennie, the ending of which triggers …show more content…

As seen in Foster’s analysis of quests, he writes, “The real reason for a quest is always self-knowledge” (3). While most may think of self-knowledge as enlightenment, sometimes characteristics are revealed that are negative. Such is the case with George in Of Mice and Men. In the climactic scene in the clearing, George comforts Lennie, while preparing himself for what he knows he must do. Steinbeck writes, “George raised the gun and steadied it, and he brought the muzzle of it close to the back of Lennie’s head. The hand shook violently, but his face set and his hand steadied. He pulled the trigger” (106). One immediately feels the earth-shattering effects of this one gunshot, and the collapse of their quest it brings with it. Immediately it is proven that as George has the realization that there is no way out, and his quest has failed, his character changes; in fact he becomes more determined than ever. Not only does societal pressure break his resolve, the realization that his quest for freedom is in vain washes over him and removes the hope in his heart. George is clearly shocked and emptied as he absorbs the events occurring, as Steinbeck writes, “George sat stiffly on the bank and looked at his right hand that had thrown the gun away” (107). Steinbeck proves the effects of failure with the emotion he portrays through George in the final page of his

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“In the end you should always do the right thing even if it’s wrong.” (Nicholas Sparks). Even though George didn't want to have to shoot Lennie it was the right thing to do even if it seemed wrong. In John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men two migrant workers named George Milton and Lennie Smalls face hardships and lonely times to get their own American dream only to find all things don’t turn out as you expected them to. George made the right decision to kill Lennie because they were best friends and Lennie kept causing George trouble it was his only option.

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‘Lennie begged, “Le 's do it now. Le 's get that place now.”’ George concurs, places the Luger on the back of Lennie’s head, and shoots him. One of the most controversial aspects of George Steinbeck 's novel Of Mice and Men, was the death of Lennie by his friend’s hands. Many believe that George murdered him in Lennie’s best interest, yet many others believe that George was being selfish and with his act, removed the burden of Lennie.

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Knowing that Lennie has killed Curley’s wife and will be shot by Curley, George rushes to the river to get to Lennie first. The two men talk for a short while, then George silently brings the gun to Lennie’s head and shoots him. Steinbeck’s use of foreshadowing effective in this novel. Steinbeck

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In Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck many hard decisions were made. In this novel two Characters George and Lennie get kicked out of their last city and travel to soledad to start their new life. Lennie causes lots of commotion at the ranch which turns people against George and Lennie. At the end of the novel George kills Lennie which raises the question if he fairly weighed all of the options and if his choice was justified or condemned. One reason why this was a justified decision is that George only wanted the best for his best friend.

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Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world (Harriet Tubman). Throughout the novella, Of Mice and Men, the author John Steinbeck displays that having a dream may impact one to make better choices. Steinbeck shows this through the motif of dreams, characterization, and imagery.

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George and Lennie had already run from one place because of Lennie’s actions, and now they had to be on the run again. The question arose that a life of running from bad things was not a life at all. Also, George knew that if the ranchers were to catch Lennie, they would kill him as revenge for killing Curley's wife. At the very least, George would be thrown into jail and he due to his mental disability, he would not even comprehend the reason for his incarceration. George’s compassion for Lennie made him believe that there was no other choice but to shoot Lennie himself preventing Lennie from suffering the at the hands of the

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Imagine being able to tell someone to do something and they did it, no matter how awful it was. In John Steinbeck's emotional novel, Of Mice and Men, a grown man named Lennie is mentally challenged has a hard time telling what is right and what is wrong. He has a caretaker named George who has a short temper, however he tries his best to be patient with him. When George loses his temper it often cause Lennie to want to run away. Through all this they share a dream home where they can leave and go to the circus whenever they want.

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After all the anger that George has shown towards Lennie, he utters these words now so Lennie can die with a sense of peace. George does not want to pull the trigger, but he knows that the further consequences of Lennie’s actions will only worsen. To save Lennie from Curley’s wrath, possible imprisonment, and perhaps years of suffering, George takes Lennie’s

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During the Cold War, the protracted indirect conflict between NATO and the USSR, one of the most important factors in getting the upper hand was control of resources. Without easy access healthy supplies of raw materials, not only would military competition with the other great superpower be hampered, but consumption, the main driving force of the American economy, would be diminished. This was the rationale behind the famous ‘proxy wars’ of the Cold War; wars which were fought not between the superpowers themselves, but between one superpower and the allies of the other. One of the first of these proxy wars, and one of the most devastating for the indigenous people, was the Korean War.

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We gotta.” And George raised the gun and steadied it, and he brought the muzzle of it close to the back of Lennie’s head. The hand shook violently, but his face set and his hand steadied. He pulled the trigger” (Steinbeck 106). This reveals Lennie’s constant yearning for his dream, causing him to have excessively irrational behavior towards achieving it, which set him up for failure right from the start.

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"Of mice and men" a novel by John Steinbeck which will be discussed in this paragraph evaluating two specific points, one of them is that George did the right thing by killing Lennie for many circumstances to be discussed later; and the second is about George was not supposed to kill Lennie under any reason because the life of every human being must be respected by every person in the world. George, seeing that Lennie did not have the ability to live on his own, always got into very serious problems and seeing that neither of them could get ahead because of those motives as you can see in the next quote: "I done a real bad thing," he said. "I shouldn 't of did that. George 'll be mad.

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Hi, Nicole I was enjoying reading your post for this week. High-stakes testing is one of the biggest stressors in the education field. It’s a huge weight we bear every day. Although I am not full time in a single classroom, high-stakes testing worries me greatly.

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Of Mice And Men John Steinbeck’s novella ‘Of Mice and Men’ published in the 1930’s employs carefully considered narrative techniques that effectively inject sympathy within the reader. The chain of events are foreshadowed through speech, Death and Lennie Small. Curlys Wife soon becomes the instrument who destroys the dream. Steinbeck demonstrates this through various techniques including of foreshadowing, realism, symbolism, circular structure, significance of the title and setting.

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Most people would be angry or upset, however George cannot feel this way due to the consequences that may follow. When a character does feel a human emotion, they soon forget. “ ‘Forget the sad things.’ said George. ‘I always do,’ said Hazel”(44).

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That George got rid of the burden that Lennie was to him. On the other hand, George also knows what Lennie is capable of and knows what Lennie has done in the past. For example, the thing that happened in weed, “So he reaches out to feel this red dress an’ the girl lets out a squawk, and that gets Lennie all mixed up, and he holds on ‘cause that’s the only thing he can think to do” (Steinbeck 41). Lennie panics too much and just freaks people out, so George put Lennie out of his confusion. In the end, George murdering his friend was well justified.

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