The Effectiveness of the Opening Section of Mice and Men...

The Effectiveness of the Opening Section of Mice and Men by Steinbeck The story is set in California in the 1930s, during the depression in America. There was little work, no money so everyone was depressed. There is a place called Soledad a few miles south is the Salinas River, where we are introduced to George and Lennie. George and Lennie are itinerant workers which move from ranch to ranch searching for work. At the ranch they receive a bed which is situated in a bunkhouse and they are given basic food. The story opens with the positive scene of a beautiful river bank and all the nature that surrounds, golden foothill slopes curve up to the strong and rocky Gabilan Mountains. Then in the†¦show more content†¦with sharp strong features. This description of George suggests that he is alert and intelligent, and this continues throughout the story. Lennie however is described using animal adjectives for example he behaves similar to a horse and bear, which ties together the nature scene in the beginning, this also continues throughout the story. The characters start to show their true characteristics and relationships when they speak to each other. The language they use reveals that they are uneducated. You can tell this because it is colloquial, containing slang and swearing and the way the writer spells certain words phonetically, which helps to capture the American accent. Blubberin like a baby! Jesus Christ! A big guy like you. One of the ways the opening section is effective is that is gives you clues which suggests, that there could be problems ahead, George refers to trouble in Weed in this section. Then Later in the story George tells Slim that when they used to work in Weed, Lennie and him had to flee and hide in an irrigation ditch to avoid an angry mob, because Lennie got accused of raping a girl, were in fact he was only stroking her dress because he likes to stroke nice soft things, which ties in later which results in him killing the puppy, which was given to him by Slim by stroking it too hard, Later in the story he kills yet another thing, Curlys wife. He didnt mean to