Mice Of Men

Steinbeck uses poetic language to build the imagery of the opening scene of the farm. Steinbeck uses descriptive language to portray to the reader an almost dreamlike image of the settings. For example, instead of brief sentences, he uses long sentences that have slow and lethargic feel. The beautiful, ideal scenery is a backdrop to the relationship between George, Lennie and the other workers on the farm. The language Steinbeck uses in the opening scene is in simple contrast to the dialogue between the workers. Steinbeck tries to create this contrast between the background and the interactions between characters to highlight the roughness that exists on the farm. Through his description of “Golden Foothill slopes”, a river that “runs deep and green” and “sycamores with mottled, white, recumbent limbs”, Steinbeck is showing the natural beauty of the setting. The dialogues between Lennie and George uses swear words, as George tells Lennie “Jesus Christ, you’re a crazy bastard!” Through this contrast, Steinbeck also provides a blunt backdrop to the violent language and feelings that characters like George have due to the time fame of the novella.

Steinbeck uses improper grammar in his dialogue to demonstrate the backgrounds of the men. Steinbeck used language that illustrates the uneducated backgrounds of Lennie and George. In their dialogue, he spells words incorrectly to show how the characters pronounce the word. This gives the dialogue a realistic style. The realistic pronunciation shows how the workers talk in usual life. It seems very silly but it is not silly for them. For George and Lennie, wrong pronunciation and other slang words are everyday life. For example, “Jes’” instead of “Just” and “awready” instead of “already” are purposely chosen to demonstrate how the men speak. Since this story is during the Great Depression, Steinbeck put lots of wrong spelling and grammars to illustrate the uneducated workers’ life. George and Lennie are of this