Literary Devices

Imagery: The use of words to paint an image in the readers mind. The use of descriptive words to remind one of a specific sound or scent. Basically using words to make the reader feel like they are a part of the story, where they can smell, hear and see everything in a scene.
Eg. "... on the valley side the water is lined with trees -- willows fresh and green with every spring..."

Characterization: describing the nature of a character. Giving a character a distinct personality and 'character'.
Eg. "She had full, rouged lips and wide-spaced eyes, heavily made up. Her fingernails were red. Her hair hung in little rolled clusters, like sausages."

Motif: a distinct pattern in literature or art. A design or pattern. OR a dominant idea/theme
Eg. The importance of having a friend, or the depression. I am not sure how to find an exact quote that would get this message across.


Foreshadowing: to give a glimpse of the future without actually stating it. A reference to the ominous future.
Eg. The fate of Candy's dog seems to somewhat foreshadow the fate of Candy himself. The dog is old and achy and needs to die, people don't want him around anymore. It think that this relates to Candy because he is also old, achy, and sooner or later will become useless and people wont want him around.

Zoomorphism: referring to an animal's mannerisms when talking about a human.
Eg. "...the girl lets out a squawk... Well, this girl squawks and squawks."

Suspense: a pause that is filled with tension and anticipation, when readers are sitting on the edge of their seats, just waiting to see what will happen next, sometimes they are scared but sometimes they are excited.
Eg. When the ranch Carlson left he bunkhouse to shoot Candy's dog and George starts to play cards with Whit: "They took places opposite each other at the table under the light, but George did not shuffle the cards. He rippled the edge of the deck nervously, and the little snapping noise drew the eyes of all the men in the room so that he stopped doing it. The silence fell on the room again."

Mood: The general feeling of a scene or entire book. An atmosphere or a specific context.
Eg. When Carlson went out to shoot Candy's dog, the bunkhouse seemed to have a sorrowful air about it. "The silence fell on the room again."

Round Characters: A character in a fictional story who is totally and completely described in every way possible by the author.
Eg. "The first man was small and quick, dark of face, with restless eyes and sharp, strong features. Every part of him was defined: small, strong hands, slender arms, a thin and bony nose."This is the first description of George, this describes the physical aspect of his character, but later in the book he is described more thoroughly.

Flat Characters: A small character who does not change much throughout the story.
Eg. I think Curley's wife fits this description because she came in as a young woman who seemed trapped and desperate for attention, and she left as an ever so slightly older woman who seemed trapped and desperate for attention.

Character Foils: When an author has two characters who are very opposite to each other, this helps to bring out their characters.
Eg. "The first man was small and quick... Behind him walked his opposite, a huge man, shapeless of face..."

Symbolism: the use or study of symbols.
Eg. I am not quite sure where Steinbeck used this, but a guess would be with George's card playing, it may have represented the fact that life is a game of chance, either you score big, or you don't.

Dialogue: a written conversation in which two or more characters or people are talking.
Eg. ""Glad to meet ya," the big man said. "My name's Carlson." "I'm George Milton. This here's Lennie Small.""

Setting: The place in which a story or event is set, or placed.
Eg. The main setting in Of Mice and Men is the ranch.

Theme: The general idea of a story, what the story is about.
Eg. "The white kids came to play at our place, an' sometimes I went to play with them, and some of them was pretty nice. My ol' man didn't like that. I never knew till long later why he didn't like that. But I know now."

My Ending for Of Mice and Men

It was dark out now and Lennie looked around, petrified and alone. He sat underneath the great sycamore tree and listened to the quick skittering of a lizard as it made its way up the tree. He sat and watched the water, it did not move or ripple, it just sat there, like Lennie, quiet and alone.
         Lennie knew he had done a bad thing, he knew he had hurt Curley's wife, but he didn't care, he wanted to pet his puppy, the one he had clutched in his hand. He sat, with his dead pup, and watched the water to nothing, he sat and he listened and he remembered. Lennie remembered that he was supposed to go hide in the brush he remembered that he was supposed to tend the rabbits, and then he remembered George; his only real friend, the only person who knew his story even better than he did himself. Lennie remembered that George had told him that if he were to do another bad thing he wouldn't be allowed to tend the rabbits, but he had done another bad thing, he knew it, and that meant he wouldn't be tending no rabbits.
           Lennie stood up, he clutched his pup to his chest, all the while staring at the motionless surface of the water. A single tear traced it's way down the side of Lennie's unshaven face and landed on his pup's nose. Then Lennie knew, he knew everything was wrong, the world just wasn't fair, and so, out of hopelessness and rage, he threw his pup with everything he had left in him, it hit the water without a sound, and was sucked under, then the water moved.

            A few miles away George was panicking, the group of men had already looked south of the ranch and were now headed north, the way they had come to the ranch, the way that he had told Lennie to run if he ever needed to. The men walked in silence, the only sound that could be heard were their footsteps on the rock path and the skittering of a lizard nearby. George walked at the back of the group and he found the silence to be the most deafening sound his ears had ever heard. He knew there was no way to avoid the inevitable, but he didn't like it. As they trudged on he could sense that they were drawing nearer to the river that didn't seem to move, the one he and Lennie had slept beside the night before they went to work at the ranch. This unsettled him for he knew that Lennie would be there, he knew there was no way to tell him to run, not enough time to help him. And so he marched on in silence. After a few more minutes of this they came across a flattened section of tall grass, the men all looked at one another and nodded, they crouched down and drew their guns out from their coats. Curley pushed George into the lead, as he move forward his heart rate quickened, he knew this was it and there was nothing he could do to stop it. George poked his head out from behind the tall green grass, ever so slowly, and when he finally caught a glimpse of the sandy river bank what he saw astounded him. Lennie was not there, all that was left of was the small form of a pup floating in the water, alone, silent, peaceful, but dead all the same.

Lennie in a Nutshell

Lennie is like a little boy, he has no sense of right and wrong, but a fairly good intuition. By this I mean that he does not know whether or not something is a good or bad thing to do, unless someone tells him, usually George. Aside form this, he can sense when something is not right, or a person is not a good person, take Curley for example. Right off the bat Lennie could tell he wasn't going to like him or get along with him, he knew that Curley was a bad man. Lennie acts like he hasn't a worry in the world, even when he thinks of something that might be worrisome, he just forgets about it soon afterwards. Whenever they talk about their plans to buy that little house he seems giddy with excitement.

I think this is exactly how Lennie feels inside too, he feels like he cant be alone, or he might do something wrong. I think he feels elated every time he hears word of their little house, with a couple acres and bunnies of every colour. You can just picture his eyes lighting up and a smile creeping onto his face ever so slowly, just slowly enough that if you were to watch him, only for a second, you wouldn't notice.

I think Lennie is a lost puppy inside and out. He has left his home on a whim, had a friend with him the whole way, and now that whim is starting to prove itself a good one. I think this is why Lennie is so, almost, transparent, although I hate to say that. I think that since he is so much like a little boy or a puppy that he cant hide what he is feeling and mask it with something else, he has no choice but to be an open book.

The Turning Point

For me, I think that the major turning point in this section is when Lennie fights back, when he stops cowering and starts to defend himself, specifically this part:

"Lennie took his hands away from his face and looked about for George, and  Curley slashed at his eyes. The big face was covered with blood. George yelled again, " I said get him."
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."

I think that this point is important because it is not only the point at which there becomes a reason for Lennie to get in trouble, but it is also the point where George starts to tell Lennie what to do. He tells him to fight, so Lennie does. In the long term this is not a good thing, first of all because Curley could tell someone what Lennie did if he was provoked, and secondly because now Lennie feels bad about what he did. I think this might indicate that the past might repeat itself, mostly in the way that George will forget why he doesn't boss Lennie around, but also in the way that Lennie will forget too.

My Dream Life

I dont really know what my perfect life would be, I mean, I haven't lived it yet and I don't think anyone has, ever. I know that I want to live near a beach, where I can hear the small waves rippling through the rocks on the shore, and see a small island off in the distance where I can sail to whenever I want. I want to be able to hear birds and see the stars at night. I want to be able to lie on my back and just be, just be there, in that moment and forget about everything else, I want to fall asleep in a hammock every night with nothing but moonlight and crickets.

On a less peaceful note, I want to be able to just put on a hat and know everything I need to know without having to go to school. I don't want to have to do anything, I want to be able to choose and decide what I want and need to do, and not be told that I have to do anything. I don't want to have to go to school everyday, I want to put on that hat every now and then and just know whatever I need to, or want to. I want to decide what I want to learn more about and choose what isn't as important to me.

I also want to study space, and find a clean energy source to help save the world. I want to be a symbologist and a cryptographer. I want to know all about coded messages and symbolism. I want to be a circus artist and perform every day. I want to go to learn everything there is to know and I want to remember it forever. I want to study the power of the human mind, and I want to prove that people have souls. I want to be a marine biologist and study animals. I want to work at an animal rescue centre and care for animals. My only problem is this; How can I do all of this in just one lifetime?

Characterization of George Milton

George:

Quote One:
"The first man was small and quick, dark of face, with restless eyes and sharp strong features."
This quote tells us that George, the first man, seems to be alert and fit, also, from the piece indicating that he was the first, we can kind of see that he might be somewhat of a leader.

Quote Two:
"Finally George seemed satisfied. He unrolled his bindle and put things on the shelf, his razor and bar of soap, his comb and bottle of pills, his liniment and leather wristband. Then he made his bed up neatly with blankets."
This shows us that George is not only a leader, he is organized. He also seems to be deprived of luxuries and things that aren't basic essentials for human survival. He does have a few extra things, like his pill bottle, liniment and his leather wristband. But he doesn't have anything that he would have and inclination to be emotionally attached to.

Quote Three:
"George lay back on the sand and crossed his hands under his head, and Lennie imitated him, raising his head to see whether he was doing it right."
This seems to further emphasize that George is a leader, it also shows that Lennie wants to be like him, it shows that Lennie seems to, almost, idolize him.

Overall George seems to be quick-witted and fairly intelligent for a ranch worker. He seems to know how to keep both himself and Lennie alive and he seems to be the leader.

Characterization of Curley's Wife

Three quotes that tell you a little bit about Curley's wife;
1: "She had full rouged lips and wide-spaced eyes, heavily made-up. Her fingernails were red. Her hair hung in little rolled clusters, like sausages. She wore a cotton house dress and red mules, on the instep of which were little bouquets of red ostrich feathers."
       This quote tells us that Curley's wife is a bit of character, and by that I mean a flirt. She seams to dress up regardless to where she is, for instance, right now she is in the middle of a ranch where there is a ton of dirt, mud, and animals. We can also see that she likes the colour red and she seems to like to show off a bit.

2: "She put her hands behind her back and leaned against the door frame so that her body was thrown forward."
       This just further emphasizes that she is quite flirtatious.

3: "Lennies eyes moved over her body, and though she did not seem to be looking at Lennie she bridled a little."
       And this just further emphasizes her personality and character.

Overall, from these quotes, we can tell that Curley's wife likes be show off a little, she is very flirtatious, and, as some of the characters call her, a tart.

Section 1 Review

Honestly, so far, I have not enjoyed this book. I realize that I am only 16 pages into it, but it is, quite frankly, boring. All that has happened is Lennie, the thug-like man, and George the small brainy one, have found a place to warm up canned beans and sleep. All I know about them is that Lennie got in some trouble at the last place they worked so they had to leave, and that George is fed up with Lennie but at the same time feels responsible for him. Lennie is a forgetful person, he cant even remember his own mother. There has been a lot of imagery describing things like the water, and small sounds. It seems to be set in a suburban rural area where there are a lot of farms. I think that this book has lived up to my expectations because as soon as I heard it was based in the time period of the Great Depression I thought it would be, well, depressing and slow paced. I personally have trouble reading books that don't start off with an exciting introduction. When they start by talking about a river and a lizard it turns me away. I have also learned, over the years, that highly acclaimed academic authors tend to sound like they are reciting a speech someone else wrote for them. Either that or they go into way to many details that would be great in a poem, as long as that poem was less than three pages. When an entire book is written with such vivid detail it can be neat to read, but it also seems hard to

understand an actual plot when more than half of the text in used to describe a bed, river, worm etc. I will try to read with an open mind. I know a few people who have said the beginning of Steinbeck novels are slow but that they get much better as you get into them, so I will try to keep that in mind.

This is the cover of the book, and
by the sounds of it the picture
on the cover is the place where Lennie
and George sleep for the first night that
we meet them.

In terms of their dreams they want to have enough money to buy a little house with a couple of acres, a cow, some pigs and a garden. I don't really think that this will happen, but you never know right.

Questions I have about the Book:

1. Why can't Lennie remember anything?

2.  How long have Lennie and George known each other?

3. Why are people from their old workplace looking for them?

I know this whole thing has sounded utterly negative, but I will try to be more positive as I get into it, I am just not there yet.

Mice and Men Prediction

                Of Mice and Men, so far my guess is that this book will be about a boy who works on a farm in Soledad California. I think that this boy is probably lonely, I do not think that he has very many friends or people who care much about him. I also think that this book will be largely based around the Great Depression. I believe it will be set in the 1930s and that it will tell the story of this boy and his experience in this time period. There is also the possibility that this book could be about a young boy who has some friends, just not a lot of money. From what I have learned thus far I know that people who worked on farms got paid horrible wages and that the farmers made a great profit because the amount of labour the underpaid workers put into their jobs. I don't really know what to expect, but I think this story will involve great sadness and helplessness. I think there will be that daunting sense of uncertainty, the one you get when you know something is wrong, when intuition tells you that there is something going on that you don't want to be a part of. But this feeling is also of the unknown, and people don't like the unknown, we all like to know what is happening and why. When we are in the dark we want to see the light again, I think this will be a huge driving factor in this novel. I don't think that in the way that people wont know about the Great Depression, I just think that they wont know what is coming next and what they can do about it.