Literature Analysis- Of Mice and Men GENERAL QUESTIONS: Of Mice and Men takes place around the 1930's. The story is about two migrant workers; Lennie who is mentally challenged yet large and strong, and George who takes care of Lennie and keeps him out of trouble. The two are travelling looking for work but George has a plan in his head of working for a prolonged period of time and after some time, settling down with Lennie and himself so they don't have to always be moving from place to place. Eventually they find work and meet several people where they are now working, such as Ca ndy, Crooks, Curly, and slim. After some time working at the new location, Lennie and George decide to let Candy in on their little secret of settling around where they won't have to work anymore. But all those dreams come crashing down when Lennie performs an act of violence against Curly's wife. Then Lennie is to be put down by George. The main theme(s) in the book is hope, and human struggle. Hope is apparent in all aspects of the book. The hope of being able to fortify and thrive rather than struggle to make ends meet, the hope of saving Candy's dog, which was eventually put down, (which in a way foreshadows Lennie's death) yet even though there are many things that do not allow them to succeed they still had a sliver of hope left in them, right up until the point where Lennie is killed. The diction, is very simple and easy to understand, the narration is in third person which in a way it works cause it makes it somewhat of a classic story. CHARACTERIZATION: There is indirect characterization that occurs whenever Lennie speaks. He speaks slowly and what he talks about is very childish and lacks much thought, and is very broken. It shows that he is somewhat slow and unable to communicate because of his retardation. Then there is George who's much more intelligent than Lennie, and when he talks he is a bit heated, so he's quick to anger, exemplified from the beginning pages where he blows off on Lennie for killing another mouse. The diction is always constant when Lennie is talking. Most likely to keep the fact that he is slow constant. Yet the Diction for the rest of the characters were constant. The Protagonists did not change whatsoever they started out the same and ended the same. and the narration made it feel like I was just watching events never really fully submerged into them.