Steinbeck’s Love Of Nature Is Very Clear In The Novel.

1. Steinbeck’s Love Of Nature Is Very Clear In The Novel. By Bryony and Adam

2. Describing the Scene, Section One “… the Salinas River drops in close to the hillside bank and runs deep and green” “A stilted heron laboured up into the air….” “The rabbits hurried noiselessly for cover” “In front of the low horizontal of a giant sycamore…..”

3. The Shooting Of Candy’s Dog • The shooting of Candy’s dog, is the shooting of the weakest character at that point in the book. Candy’s dog is shot in the back of the head so he wouldn’t feel anything, “He wouldn’t even quiver.” • Then at the end of the book George shoots Lennie in the back of the head, this repeats the whole shooting the weakest character. “The hand shook violently, but his face set and his hand steadied. He pulled the trigger.” • This also backs up the idea of evolution. Survival of the fittest. As Candy’s dog and Lennie are the weakest they were not able to survive, just like what happens in the wild. • This shows us that John Steinbeck sees the part of nature that we see as fearsome and powerful and uses it to describe what life was like at that point in time.

4. The Ranch Wouldn’t Work Without Animals • Characters that don’t feature predominantly in the book rely on the uses of animals in their everyday lives. • Slims and Crooks' jobs would not exist if it were not for the mules in the stables (low class horses). • All the men who are quite lonely use the animals as friends, Slim is always off tending to the horses in the stable, Candy has his dog and then after its killed is promised a puppy and Lennie also is always thinking about either rabbits or his pup. • During the depression the people wouldn’t have the money to go out and socialise, so they use the resources they have available to comfort them; the animals and the land

5. Animal Friendships • During the book we are given many examples of friendships between man and animal. These friendships are long lasting and full of mutual respect and affection. For example the relationship between Candy and his dog. This relationship has lasted since Candy’s dog was a puppy. “I had ‘im ever since he was a pup.” • You can also tell that there was lots of care and affection between man and beast. “The swamper watched him until he was settled.” As well as this there is a lot of respect between the two as when Carlson shoots the dog Candy says that he regrets not doing it himself. This shows us that Candy respected his dog so much that he thought that he should of killed the dog as they had been through everything else together. • These relationships show us the reality of what life was really like back then as there closest relationships were with animals, who wouldn’t judge them and would always be there.

6. Animals Were Used To Show The Escalation Of Lennies Killings. • At the beginning of the book Lennie killed a little mouse, by petting him to hard. “Jus’ a dead mouse”. Then later on near the end of the book Lennie kills a small puppy that is only about 4 days old by once again patting him to hard. • “Lennie sat in the hay and looked at a little dead puppy”. Then finally he kills Curley’s wife while petting her hair. “And then she was still for Lennie had broken her neck”. • This shows us the way that Lennie escalated from a small mouse to a bigger puppy to Curley’s wife. If he had continued to live and George and Lennie ran away the next logical step would be that he would kill again as he would never learn.

7. “The deep green pool of the Salinas River was still in the late afternoon.” “A water snake glided smoothly up the pool, twisting its periscope head…” Describing The Scene, Section Six “The heron stood in the shallows, motionless and waiting” “…the brown, dry leaves on the ground scudded a few feet”

8. Full Circle