Symbolism

Layers of Meaning

How is this symbol important in revealing a deeper meaning for

the characters, the novel, and humanity?
 What Symbols Stand For

š A symbol is often an ordinary object,

event, person, or animal to which we
have attached meaning and
significance.
 Red roses
symbolize love
š We use a picture of a skull and
and romance
crossbones to symbolize poison or
danger.
š We send red roses as a symbol of
love.
Where Do Symbols Come From?

š Symbols can be inherited or invented

š The most familiar symbols have been inherited,

meaning, they have been handed down over
time
 Symbols
elate to
w he defended himself in chapter 3 and his interactions with the “weak one

š In many cultures, a lion is a

symbol of power, courage š Can you think of some
and domination examples of how lions are
used as a symbol of courage
and power?
People throughout history have endowed ordinary objects with
meanings far beyond their simple meaning.

A crown symbolizes
royalty
Is Slim truly “the prince of the
ranch? Is he a good sport?
How do I know if it’s a symbol?

š Repeated appearance (motif)

Seems to be connected with a character or event

š
Author spends a long time on description
 JOHN STEINBECK // OF MICE AND MEN

Candy’s dog is shot because he is

smelly and old:

Both Slim (before the death) and Candy (after the death) utter similar
sentiments:
“I wish. somebody’d shoot me if I get old an’ a cripple.” — Slim
“I ought to shot that dog myself, George.” — Candy
Why do you think this is important?
What does the death of Candy’s dog is foreshadowing; furthermore,
what is the symbolic significance?
 “Live on the fatta the lan’”

Chapter Three

Chapter One “George, how long’s it gonna be till we get

little house and a couple of acres an’ a cow and some pigs and—” that little place an’ live on the
“An’ live off the fatta the lan’,” Lennie shouted. “An’ have rabbits. Go on, fatta the lan’—an’ rabbits?”
George! Tell about what we’re gonna have in the garden and about the rabbits “I don’t know”, said George. “We gotta get
in the cages and about the rain in the winter and the stove, and how thick the
cream is on the milk like you can hardly cut it. Tell about that, George.”
a big stake together. I know a
little place we can get cheap, but they ain’t
Chapter Two givin’ it away.”
“We gotta keep it till we get a stake. We can’t help it, Lennie. We’ll get out Old Candy turned slowly over. His eyes
jus’ as soon as we can. I don’t like it no better than you do.” He went back to were wide open. He watched George
the table and set out a new solitaire hand. “No, I don’t like it,” he said. “For two carefully.
bits I’d shove out of here. If we can get jus’ a few dollars in the poke we’ll
shove off and go up the American River and pan gold. We can make maybe a
couple of dollars a day there, and we might hit a pocket.”

n’t my crops, and when I harvested ‘em, it wasn’t none of my harvest. But we gonna do it now, and don’t you make no mistake about that. George ain’t got the money in town. That
James Truslow Adams, in his book The Epic of America, which was written in 1931, stated that the American
dream is "that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with
opportunity for each according to ability or achievement. It is a difficult dream for the European upper classes
to interpret adequately, and too many of us ourselves have grown weary and mistrustful of it. It is not a dream
of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall
be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what
they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position" (214-215).

The authors of the United States’ Declaration of Independence held certain truths to be self-evident: “that all
Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among
these are life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness." Might this sentiment be considered the foundation of the
American Dream?

Were homesteaders who left the big cities of the east to find happiness and their piece of land in the unknown
wilderness pursuing these inalienable Rights? Were the immigrants who came to the United States looking for
their bit of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, their Dream? And what did the desire of the veteran of
World War II - to settle down, to have a home, a car and a family - tell us about this evolving Dream? Is the
American Dream attainable by all Americans?

Some say, that the American Dream has become the pursuit of material prosperity - that people
work more hours to get bigger cars, fancier homes, the fruits of prosperity for their families - but
have less time to enjoy their prosperity. Others say that the American Dream is beyond the grasp of the
working poor who must work two jobs to insure their family’s survival. Yet others look toward a new American
Dream with less focus on financial gain and more emphasis on living a simple, fulfilling life.

Thomas Wolfe said, "…to every man, regardless of his birth, his shining, golden opportunity ….the right to
live, to work, to be himself, and to become whatever thing his manhood and his vision can combine to make
him.”

Source: Library of Congress

Symbols Throughout the Novella
What Theme(s) Do They Support?
Discrimination Loneliness The American Dream
Power Violence

Animals
Mice and Lennie’s puppy
Rabbits The Farm “Live on the fatta the lan’”
Setting/Places
The Gabilan Mountains (caves)
The Bunkhouse
Crooks’s room
Objects
High-heeled boots
Solitaire
Hands (Candy’s; Curley’s)
Gun
Characters
Lennie
George
Secondary characters