ipl-logo

How Does Steinbeck Use Figurative Language In Of Mice And Men

571 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The dust bowl explanatory essay the affect and how it developed

Best friends are on the hunt to find a job during the Great Depression, will they find a job before it's too late? But finding a job and keeping one will be difficult when you have a mental disability. The novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck is about two friends who are jobless during the Dust Bowl and are struggling to live. They are trying to get jobs but work is hard to find at the moment and the Lennie, the friend with the mental disability, can't control himself so he can't keep one job. George and Lennie already had to flee one place because Lennie pulled up a womens dress.. The author uses point of view, figurative language, and diction to give the best description of the overall story and the historical connection. The author uses point of view to describe the historical connection because having the story be in third person omniscient lets the reader know all …show more content…

Having figurative language in a book makes the reader want to keep reading. A metaphor used in this book was, "Lennie covered his face with huge paws and bleated with terror" (63). This is comparing Lennie's hands to the size of paws saying that they are big and that he is hiding behind himself. Another example of figurative language in this book is a simile, "The shade climbed up the hills toward the top" (2). This is telling us that night time was

Show More
Related
932 Words | 4 Pages

John Steinbeck’s novella Of Mice and Men follows two migrant farmers and their experiences working towards their dream. The story takes place in the Salinas Valley during both the Dust Bowl and Great Depression, when jobs were few and far between. George and Lennie have a dream of owning land, which is inhibited by these conditions. On the farm they come to work on, they meet the sultry wife of the Curly, the boss’ son. She was deprived of achieving her dream or stardom, and is left constantly craving attention in any way she can get it.

Read More
498 Words | 2 Pages

By saying this, he wanted to give the reader a visual of how inky it was outside. I believe the author was effective because you are able to picture in your mind how it feels to try to see through a blanket and compare it to the story. Another example of a simile used in the story is “An apprehensive night slowly crawled by like a wounded snake…” (Connell 30). Connell

Read More
77 Words | 1 Pages

The novel starts with a rich depiction of the setting. Steinbeck utilizes graphic dialect to show that the area is a place of rest. The particular colors, foliage, and creatures that are specified make a relief, notwithstanding for those young men and men from the farms who beat a way to the water. For instance, Steinbeck utilizes the imagery to propose that this place is a position of solace and that the Salinas River is a

Read More
342 Words | 2 Pages

In the book, Steinbeck uses diction as the main literary device to describe the characters and what was going on. For example, he points out that George while talking about his dream “..repeated his words rhythmically as though he had said them many times before” (Steinbeck 13) . The author accents the words “rhythmically” and “repeated many times before,” which creates a sense of repetition, so it looks like George is not excited at all and even annoyed. With Lennie it’s different; he repeated many phrases such as “Go on George!”, no matter how many times he hears about the dream he is always wanting to hear it repeated, possibly to see his goal and not forget it(14). George’s and Lennie’s behavior is very different, because George thinks

Read More
757 Words | 4 Pages

The novella Of Mice and Men is a book by John Steinbeck on the lives of migrant farm workers working during the Great Depression, Lennie, who is developmentally delayed and George. The two have a dream of, what every farm worker has a dream of, land. A clearing is one of the prevalent settings.

Read More
716 Words | 3 Pages

Rhetorical Analysis Essay People’s realities are shaped by their experiences of failing while trying to achieve their dreams. For years people have shaped and/or destroyed their reality by trying to catch their dreams. People strive everyday to achieve their dreams, but in reality they never will. John Steinbeck uses many rhetorical appeals to help the reader understand how the American Dream can be with his experiences using ethos, paradox, and repetition.

Read More
230 Words | 1 Pages

Of Mice and Men is a book by John Steinbeck that contains a multitude of different characters all described and created with different, yet accompanying characteristics. Steinbeck uses diction, figurative language, and adjectives to give his characters attributes that otherwise would not have been there. Steinbeck uses similes to compare his characters to something simple, so that the reader can grasp a basic understanding of the characters. When he refers to Slim he says “His hands, large and lean, were as delicate in their action as those of a temple dancer” which gives the reader an artistic visual of how Slim’s hands would perform actions. Steinbeck also uses metaphors to offer a whimsical way to display his characters’ personalities.

Read More
664 Words | 3 Pages

John Steinbeck uses meaningful diction to expose the different manners by which vile humans and humble animals benefit from the forest. In the first two paragraphs of Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck describes the magnificent nature before introducing humans to the scenery. The scene takes place in spring right after winter, when nature is blooming again and it is at its best. Then the transition is very contradicting as the author uses adverse diction to display the careless humans. Steinbeck uses very mean and pessimistic diction to portray the humans as destroying and unhelpful.

Read More
1044 Words | 5 Pages

The book “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck is about two friends that are always working together. One of the three main characters, Lennie, is mentally handicapped, who has a muscular body, strong and tall. His other friend, George, is intelligent but unlike Lennie, he has a small body and he is smart. They move around and work together. Lennie and George try to find new jobs because they have been fired from their previous job that causes them to move to another city.

Read More
845 Words | 4 Pages

Ray Bradbury decides to use a decent amount of metaphors in The Veldt. For example a metaphor he uses in the story is, this bake oven with murder in the heat. The metaphor is helping the reader by Ray showing an example of comparing two things without like or as. In particular another metaphor would be, it seemed that at a distance for the past month, he had heard the lions roaring, and smelled their strong odor. Ray Bradbury uses metaphors very carefully in this story.

Read More
541 Words | 3 Pages

One of John Steinbeck most notable works, Of Mice and Men, a novella based on American life in the 1910s, tells the story of George and Lennie. Two ranch workers based in California who travel around the state trying to find work during the Great Depression. As George and Lennie are hired at a new farm, concepts such as friendship and violence appear in the novella. Steinbeck develops these ideas using elements such as imagery, syntax, and details. Towards the end of chapter one, Lennie and George had gotten into an argument, an argument bad enough for Lennie to suggest that he leaves.

Read More
745 Words | 3 Pages

To better understand the novella Of Mice and Men, the background of the story must be elaborated. The setting of the story takes place in the Salinas Valley, California during the The Great Depression in the 1930s. John Steinbeck, the author, tells about the protagonist, George, and the antagonist, Lennie, and their journey of constantly finding new work to pursue George’s dream to own his farm and “live off the fatta the

Read More
531 Words | 3 Pages

Is euthanasia ever okay in the world we live in today? In the book Of Mice and Men written by John Steinbeck, George shot Lennie to save him from future suffering and danger. In Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck uses symbolism and characterization to portray that George is right about shooting Lennie. Steinbeck uses symbolism to assert that George is right about shooting Lennie. In the ranch, there is a controversy about Candy’s dog.

Read More
1163 Words | 5 Pages

In the novella Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck often employs animal imagery to dehumanize Lennie, in order to allow the reader to justify George putting him down at the end of the novella. As Steinbeck’s use of animal imagery progresses throughout the novel, Lennie is dehumanized by being compared to an animal that only hinders George’s pursuit of happiness. Starting with Lennie’s introduction, Steinbeck influences how the reader perceives Lennie. During the reader's first encounter with Lennie, he is described as walking “heavily, dragging his feet a little, the way a bear drags his paws," (Steinbeck 2). Steinbeck’s diction invokes animal imagery by comparing Lennie’s movements to that of a bear, which immediately dehumanizes Lennie to the reader.

Read More
573 Words | 3 Pages

The book Of Mice and Men is full of puzzling examples of the human condition, from Lennie and his mental disability to Curley only caring about his social appearance. With characters like these two, the book exploits the human condition that concerns circumstances life has given you. John Steinbeck brings to life what being a laborer in the American depression meant to the men and one woman who had enough personality to stand out. Steinbeck shows the human condition of men while they survive in the American depression.

Read More

More about How Does Steinbeck Use Figurative Language In Of Mice And Men

Open Document