Of Mice & Men Analysis Essay

In John Steinbeck’s novella Of Mice and Men, two men, Lennie Small and George Milton, head out to a ranch near Soledad, California in search of a job. Lennie is a mentally disabled man of a large stature who George, a small, rational man, must take responsibility for, as Lennie causes a great deal of unintentional harm. The novella begins and ends in the same setting: the banks of the Salinas River where the two men spent their first night in Soledad. The use of a circle-plot ending allows Steinbeck to foreshadow future events of death and tragedy that Lennie causes throughout the novella.

John Steinbeck utilizes a circle-plot ending in order to foreshadow the trail of destruction that Lennie leaves. Both the opening and final chapters of the novella take place on the banks of the Salinas River, which runs near the Gabilan mountain range. In the beginning, Steinbeck describes the sycamores lining the water as having “…mottled, white, recumbent limbs and branches that arch over the pool” (1). At the end of the novella, Steinbeck states, “The sycamore leaves turned up their silver sides, the brown, dry leaves on the ground scudded a few feet” (99). By using the phrase “mottled, white…limbs” and “branches that arch over the pool” in the first quote, the audience can understand that the tree is healthy and strong. The phrase “brown, dry leaves” in the second quote describes the traits of a weak, dying tree. The tree’s transformation from healthy to weak mirrors the environment that Lennie creates. Once Lennie enters an area, devastation and grief follows, which is what the sycamore trees are displaying. Examples of this include when he kills his puppy, when he crushes the son of the ranch owner, Curley’s hand, and when he strangles Curley’s wife. The use of the sycamore trees in both the beginning and end of the novella allows Steinbeck to foreshadow the destruction that Lennie creates. Additionally, Steinbeck states, “His huge companion dropped his blankets and flung himself down and drank from the surface of the green pool; drank with long gulps, snorting into the water like a horse” (3). Towards the end of the novella, the author discusses how “Lennie came quietly to the pool’s edge. He knelt down and drank, barely touching his lips to the water. When a little bird skittered over the dry leaves behind him, his head jerked up and he strained toward the sound with eyes and ears…” (100). By using the phrase,