Saskia
Mar 21, 2012
Book Reports / (a character in trouble and their ending) Critical Response English - Of Mice and Men [2]
Task: Choose a novel which features a character in trouble, and explain how ending is inevitable. Show your personal reaction to the end of the novel and include quotes to support your answer... Please give me any advice you have xxx
MY ESSAY:
A book which I have recently read which has a character in trouble is, 'Of mice and Men' by John Steinbeck. The trouble steadily progresses throughout the book and came to a dramatic, inevitable ending when one of the characters, George, kills his close companion, Lennie Small as an act of kindness before he suffers for a crime he did not mean to commit. Lennie is the character who causes most of the trouble in the book, though he does not understand the consequences of his actions and does not mean to cause trouble.
The first trouble that happened in the book was the trouble that happened in Weed. This trouble was caused by Lennie when he frightened a girl there by clinging onto her red dress because he liked the feel of the material it was made of. Some men in Weed chased George and Lennie and were going to kill them but they managed to hide until the men gave up. George and Lennie then set off to find somewhere else to live and work.
A sign that the ending was inevitable was when the book shows that Lennie enjoys to touch things that feel nice, like the girls dress in Weed and also mice. However, many of the mice Lennie catches die because Lennie is unaware of his own strength. This small aspect of the story is one of the first signs that Lennie is going to cause further trouble because he does not understand his own power.
When Lennie and George manage to get a job and a place to sleep on a ranch, they discover that the boss' son, Curley is a very irritable person and has a certain dislike for men who are bigger than him as he sees them as a threat. As soon as Curley finds an excuse to attack Lennie, he takes it. Curley repeatedly hits Lennie, backing him up against the wall until George encourages Lennie to fight back. Lennie is confused and grabs hold of Curleys hand and crushes his bones and is too afraid to let go. Although Curley agrees to lie about how he got his injuries and to not tell anyone that Lennie won the fight - in the fear of ruining his reputation - he still seeks to get revenge on Lennie the first chance he gets.
While Lennie and George are living there, Slim (another man who works on the ranch) gives Lennie one of his puppies to care for. Lennie enjoys looking after and playing with the pup though, later on in the book, he accidently kills it. At first, he didn't even realise that it was dead which shows that he had no intention of harming it.
The main trouble in which Lennie is involved in in the novel, is when he kills Curleys wife. There were signs throughout the book which indicated that Lennie would be involved in some sort of trouble with Curleys wife like the way she was flirting with Lennie and George and her love of attention. Lennie seems amazed by her at first but when George warns Lennie that he should not get involved with her, he tries not to. Though when Lennie is alone with Curleys wife in the barn one day, she insists on talking to him. When she allows Lennie to stoke her hair, he does and when he will not let go, she starts to panic and scream. He shakes her to stop her from yelling and he accidentally breaks her neck and kills her. When Curley finds out what Lennie had done to his wife he was very eager to get revenge for breaking his hand. Curley and his men set out to hunt down Lennie and kill him but George reaches him first. George decides to kill Lennie himself, in the most painless way possible, when Lennie is fantasising about a dream that he and George had always shared.
Personally, I found the ending quite emotional. Not only because Lennie dies and there was not anything George could do about it, but because Curleys wife dies alone, without fulfilling any of her dreams. One of the main signs of the book that shows that the ending was inevitable was the clue in the full quote of the title (which was from the Robert Burn poem, To A Mouse):- "The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men gang aft agley" meaning that even the most carefully prepared plans can still go wrong.
THANK YOUUUUx
Task: Choose a novel which features a character in trouble, and explain how ending is inevitable. Show your personal reaction to the end of the novel and include quotes to support your answer... Please give me any advice you have xxx
MY ESSAY:
A book which I have recently read which has a character in trouble is, 'Of mice and Men' by John Steinbeck. The trouble steadily progresses throughout the book and came to a dramatic, inevitable ending when one of the characters, George, kills his close companion, Lennie Small as an act of kindness before he suffers for a crime he did not mean to commit. Lennie is the character who causes most of the trouble in the book, though he does not understand the consequences of his actions and does not mean to cause trouble.
The first trouble that happened in the book was the trouble that happened in Weed. This trouble was caused by Lennie when he frightened a girl there by clinging onto her red dress because he liked the feel of the material it was made of. Some men in Weed chased George and Lennie and were going to kill them but they managed to hide until the men gave up. George and Lennie then set off to find somewhere else to live and work.
A sign that the ending was inevitable was when the book shows that Lennie enjoys to touch things that feel nice, like the girls dress in Weed and also mice. However, many of the mice Lennie catches die because Lennie is unaware of his own strength. This small aspect of the story is one of the first signs that Lennie is going to cause further trouble because he does not understand his own power.
When Lennie and George manage to get a job and a place to sleep on a ranch, they discover that the boss' son, Curley is a very irritable person and has a certain dislike for men who are bigger than him as he sees them as a threat. As soon as Curley finds an excuse to attack Lennie, he takes it. Curley repeatedly hits Lennie, backing him up against the wall until George encourages Lennie to fight back. Lennie is confused and grabs hold of Curleys hand and crushes his bones and is too afraid to let go. Although Curley agrees to lie about how he got his injuries and to not tell anyone that Lennie won the fight - in the fear of ruining his reputation - he still seeks to get revenge on Lennie the first chance he gets.
While Lennie and George are living there, Slim (another man who works on the ranch) gives Lennie one of his puppies to care for. Lennie enjoys looking after and playing with the pup though, later on in the book, he accidently kills it. At first, he didn't even realise that it was dead which shows that he had no intention of harming it.
The main trouble in which Lennie is involved in in the novel, is when he kills Curleys wife. There were signs throughout the book which indicated that Lennie would be involved in some sort of trouble with Curleys wife like the way she was flirting with Lennie and George and her love of attention. Lennie seems amazed by her at first but when George warns Lennie that he should not get involved with her, he tries not to. Though when Lennie is alone with Curleys wife in the barn one day, she insists on talking to him. When she allows Lennie to stoke her hair, he does and when he will not let go, she starts to panic and scream. He shakes her to stop her from yelling and he accidentally breaks her neck and kills her. When Curley finds out what Lennie had done to his wife he was very eager to get revenge for breaking his hand. Curley and his men set out to hunt down Lennie and kill him but George reaches him first. George decides to kill Lennie himself, in the most painless way possible, when Lennie is fantasising about a dream that he and George had always shared.
Personally, I found the ending quite emotional. Not only because Lennie dies and there was not anything George could do about it, but because Curleys wife dies alone, without fulfilling any of her dreams. One of the main signs of the book that shows that the ending was inevitable was the clue in the full quote of the title (which was from the Robert Burn poem, To A Mouse):- "The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men gang aft agley" meaning that even the most carefully prepared plans can still go wrong.
THANK YOUUUUx