Of Mice and Men: Writer's Methods and Techniques (Edexcel IGCSE English Literature)

Writer’s Methods and Techniques

Rather than trying to remember multiple quotations from Of Mice and Men, it is better to revise the methods Steinbeck uses to convey his ideas. This means that you should focus your response on Steinbeck the writer, and the choices he makes regarding plot, setting and characterisation. For example, methods and techniques include structural choices or Steinbeck’s decisions regarding setting. 

Below you will find:

• Structure

• Narrative perspective

• Setting 

• Imagery and symbolism

Structure

Writing about structure is a useful way to explore a writer’s methods. Thinking about how Steinbeck has structured his novella means you will comment on Steinbeck’s methods and aims without the need to learn lots of quotations.

Foreshadowing

• Steinbeck foreshadows future problems in the introduction and rising action of the novella to create suspense, as well as to show the inevitability of problems on the ranch:

  • The protagonists of the novella are introduced as desperate, in need of work and dependant on each other, to illustrate challenges facing itinerant workers 

    • George refers to previous trouble, hinting at future problems

    • George repeats instructions to Lennie to return to the “brush” if things go wrong, suggesting he has doubts about their plan

  • Curley’s character, the main antagonist, singles out Lennie when they meet:

    • This foreshadows the incident later in the novella when Lennie hurts Curley’s hand

Climax

• The novella’s climax could arguably be seen when Curley’s wife is killed by Lennie:

  • This is a pivotal moment that leads to the tragic outcome 

• Steinbeck demonstrates Lennie’s inability to control his behaviour to highlight the futility of George’s plan

• The death of Curley’s wife further illustrates the vulnerability of individuals in such circumstances

Resolution

• The novel can be considered cyclical in structure:

  • Steinbeck begins and ends the novella in the “brush”, near the Salinas river

  • In this way, Steinbeck conveys ideas about survival of man against nature 

  • That George kills Lennie in the same place where they earlier spoke of hopeful dreams suggests their powerlessness to survive in their environment 

• The novella suggests the lives of such individuals are repetitive and without resolution

• Steinbeck illustrates the challenging circumstances and sense of hopelessness of itinerant workers during the Great Depression

Narrative perspective

• Of Mice and Men is told by an omniscient third-person narrator:

  • This allows Steinbeck to portray the inner lives of his characters objectively

• The narrator describes the landscape and the ranch from an external perspective:

  • He is thus able to describe the animals hidden from the humans

• Steinbeck builds characterisation by describing movements and appearance:

  • For example, Curley’s “glance was at once calculating and pugnacious”

  • For example, George stares “morosely” and Lennie walks “the way a bear drags his paws”

• The novella is driven by dialogue amongst characters who represent aspects of society:

  • Characters express discriminatory attitudes, feelings of isolation or powerlessness and their innermost desires and hopes

  • In this way, readers are able to see character motivations, such as when Curley’s wife expresses her loneliness to Crooks, and then her anger at his rebuke

  • Steinbeck repeats the phrase “Candy continued to stare at the ceiling” when his dog is taken away to emphasise his silent grief and lack of agency

Setting

• The novel is set in a rural area of California in order to depict circumstances resulting from the Dust Bowl and Great Depression

• The ranch is called Soledad (meaning “solitude” in Spanish), which highlights its remoteness

• The ranch can be seen as a microcosm of society:

  • Here, people from all walks of life are forced together with little option for alternative company

• The characters are displaced:

  • Curley’s wife, particularly, dreams of a big city where she is a famous star

  • She says “I tell you I ain't used to livin' like this”

  • Steinbeck shows how individuals like Crooks (who reads books and knows the law) do not fit in on the ranch

• Steinbeck describes the living conditions on the ranch to highlight the men’s desperation:

  • The mattress is infested with bed-bugs

  • The men have little privacy in the shared space 

  • Crooks is segregated and housed in the stable with the animals:

    • His area, though, is described as “swept and fairly neat” with books and reading spectacles on the shelf

    • Steinbeck highlights aspects of discrimination in this way

• In contrast to the oppressive atmosphere of the ranch, the characters dream of a place where they find prosperity and freedom:

  • George and Lennie’s dream is described in detail and repeated throughout

  • Their dream home is not luxurious but comfortable and plentiful: "a big vegetable patch” and “a fire in the stove” with cream so “thick” “you can hardly cut it”

  • This illustrates the men’s desires for independence as itinerant workers

• However, Steinbeck begins his novella in the “brush”, where animals hide from trespassing humans:

  • His description of the area suggests that life is a struggle for survival

  • The “brush” shows the small impact individuals are able to make on their lives

  • This conveys themes of powerlessness, especially in relation to the American Dream

Imagery and symbolism

Imagery 

• Steinbeck’s characterisations are rich in imagery in order to highlight key aspects of their nature:

  • When Curley’s wife meets George and Lennie, Steinbeck presents her as disruptive: “the rectangle of sunshine in the doorway was cut off”

  • At her death, the “light was growing soft in the barn”

  • Steinbeck evokes a poignant and melancholic mood with repeated patterns of sensory imagery

  • For example, in the scene when Candy’s dog is taken away to be shot, “silence was in the room again” and Candy “lay silent”

• Steinbeck creates vivid scenes with imagery that describes America’s rural landscape as beautiful yet brutal:

  • While describing the gentle beauty of the area he juxtaposes this with darker imagery to suggest hidden danger:

    • At first the place George and Lennie arrive in is “warm” and the water has “slipped twinkling over the yellow sands in the sunlight”

    • Steinbeck suggests power imbalances in the way animals and humans live together (“the limb is worn smooth by men who have sat on it”)

    • The mood changes when humans arrive, which connotes to disruption:

      • For example, the “rabbits hurried noiselessly for cover” and a “stilted heron labored up into the air and pounded down river”

Symbolism

• Steinbeck uses symbols throughout his novella to convey deeper ideas and messages about oppression and isolation

• A symbol that is used multiple times across the text is known as a motif

• Lennie is described with animal imagery to highlight his unwitting and uncontrollable physical strength: 

  • He is like a “bear” and a “horse”

• Lennie’s threatening nature is juxtaposed with his innocence, highlighted throughout the novella through his love for soft things and animals:

  • George motivates him with the thought of tending rabbits

  • In the introduction, Lennie accidentally kills a mouse he wanted to “pet”

  • Later, Lennie kills a puppy by mistake (and afterwards, Curley’s wife)

• Steinbeck uses parallel or mirror scenes to symbolise the growing problems on the ranch:

  • Lennie loses a job for touching a girl in a red dress, and later kills Curley’s wife, who is characterised with the colour red

  • Candy’s old dog is shot because it serves no purpose, and later Lennie is shot for the liability and burden he has become

• The repeated chant for independence and freedom is symbolised by the dream:

  • George’s desires for self-sufficiency are represented by his hope to “live off the fatta the lan’”

  • Furthermore, the dream describes abundance as George lists all the ways they will thrive

  • The farm has “a kitchen, orchard, cherries, apples, peaches, 'cots, nuts, got a few berries. They's a place for alfalfa and plenty water to flood it”

  • This refers to the American Dream, whereby each individual is entitled to freedom and the chance for success and prosperity