Real Elements In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

In the story Of Mice and Men, four living things are killed. Two are shot in the back of the head, and the other two are killed by somebody else’s bare hands. As strange as it sounds, the killings were solutions for some characters and complications for others. In this story by John Steinbeck, there are many different realism elements that are relevant. These elements include a few specifics like the rejection of the idealized, larger-than-life hero of romantic literature, the avoidance of the exotic, sensational, and overly dramatic, and the focus on the ethical struggles and social issues of real-life situations. Overall, the three points that will be made are the three different elements of realism. Those include rejection of heroes, avoidance

This element means that the people in the story are ordinary, vulnerable, and do not save lives. If a character was in a big crowd of people, they wouldn’t stand out any more than anybody else. In realism, nobody stands out, and everybody is plain, ordinary, and simplified. George, Carlson, Candy, and Slim are in the bunkhouse together talking about somebody in a magazine article named William Tenner. William used to work on the ranch with Slim and all of the other workers. Despite hearing that his old co-worker’s letter is in a magazine, Carlson refuses to be a part of the conversation because of how bad Candy’s dog smells. Candy’s dog smells very bad and is getting old and worn down, so Carlson starts talking about how he can shoot the dog to end its and everybody else’s suffering. Candy has a strong connection to his dog that Carlson doesn’t care about. After the conversation about shooting Candy’s dog, Steinbeck says, “Candy looked a long time at Slim to try to find some reversal. And Slim gave him none,” (Steinbeck, 1937, p,47). Slim is a character who typically calls the shots throughout the story. He wasn’t the hero of Candy’s dog’s life. Candy’s dog is going to be shot in the back of the head because Carlson doesn’t like the smell and Slim isn’t a hero. Slim makes choices that he thinks will benefit the most people. Sometimes, the choice isn’t the best choice that could’ve been made, but it usually follows through with benefitting the most amount of