the writer's craft in Of Mice And Men

nature starts and ends the novel

• balanced- starts with life and dreams, ends in death 
• Lennie described as an animal and natural to die outside 

contrast between nature and bunkhouse 

• nature- warm, twinkling, long flowing sentences 
• ranch- rectangular, shorter broken up sentences 

nothing goes right for G and L

• whenever they think of a break it ends up going badly 
• violence builds up all the time- mice-dog-hand-girl-Lennie

novel written like a play

• entrances and exits are key moments
• each chapter one location and set over long weekend 
• characters have specific visual qualities
• six chapters with 3 acts
• denouement 
• vernacular- specific dialect of south 

tragedy

• no way out of their lonely tedious lives 
• themes doomed in the novel- relationships, racial harmony, dreams,quality of life

lennie is doomed

• unintended violence with consequences 
• lennie 'dont know the rules' according to G
• fits of anger

George knows trouble is inevitable

• more intelligent but rapped in the lifestyle, knows whats happening- 'i think i knowed from the very first' 
• tells L keep his mouth shut 
• make emergency point- the brush 
• wary of C wife straight away 

no one happy at the end 

• G kills L, L kills C wife 
• Candy- not sharing the dream with g and l
• crooks- inferior black man
• curley's- hand is knackered 
• whit and carlson- always percieved as idiots 
• slim - regret that G found L 

realistic 

• literate magazine readers 
• crooks reads law book 
• language doesnt automatically express ignorant 
• offensive only to reflect the time at which society as a whole was racist 

C wife- no name 

• wants recognition and attention buts gets none- symbolised by name 
• prostitues have a name and role 

place names are meaningful

• Soledad- lonliness in spanish 
• weed- deprives other plants of space and food (where L did a 'bad thing')

novels title is revealing 

• quote from Robert burns poem- things often go wrong 
• plans always fail, no matter how well planned failure is inevitable. 

• born 1902 in salinas valleys- worked on ranches, loved animals, had a dog 

sensitive to loneliness

• lived the life of the ranchers
• sensitive to loneliness and knew the importance of love and companionship 

book keeps getting banned

• 1990's- language, racism,questioned morality,violence 

novels point: 

• outline to predatory world 
• Darwinism- survival of the fittest 
• naivety 
• impossible American dream 

american society was racist 

• segregation 
• common language used 
• lynchings without trial of balck men 

nightmare american economy 

• 1920's- economic boom- low unemployment, low inflation, low interest rates
• wall stree crash 1929- 1930's economic depression- overfarming, poverty, banks 
• american dream dead- no equality or persuit of happiness- rich rich and poor poor 

hollywood on a rise 1920's and 1930's 

• Curley's wife like many dreamt of becoming a movie star
• became mass entertainment
• 1927- first talking picture released 
• escapism from reality of depression 

FDR and the 'new deal' 

• relief, recovery and reform (1932)

world was in a mess 

• economic depression affected EU 
• steinbeck wrote in 1937- civil war spain, nazi becoming in power - WWII brewing 
• about world increasingly filling with chaos- story was something everyone could relate to.