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.