Wednesday, 3 September 2008

What are some examples of direct and indirect characterizations of George and Lennie in Of Mice and Men? John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men

Most authors
use indirect which includes


  • physical descriptions

"The first man was smalland quick, dark of face, with restless eyes and
sharp, strong features.  Every part of him was defined:  small, strong hands, slender arms, a
thin and bony nose.  Behind him walked his opposite, a huge man, shapeless of face, with large,
pale eyes, with wide, sloping shoulders; and he walked heavily, dragging his feet a little, the
way a bear drags his paws.  His arms did not swing at his sides, but hung
loosely."

  • characters'
    actions

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.  The small man stepped nervously beside him.


  • characters' thoughts, feelings, and
    speeches

"'Guys like us, that work on
ranches, are the loneliest guys n the world.  They got no family.  They don't belong no
place....With us, it ain't like that. We got a future." []

"For the
first timebecame conscious of the outside. He crounched down in the hay and listened.  'I done a
real bad thing,' he said. 'I shouldn't had did that.  George'll be mad. An'...he said...an'hide
in the brush till he come....'"

  • the comments
    and reactions of other characters

"Crooks
interrupted brutally. 'You guys is just kiddin' yourself.  You'll talk about it a hell of a lot,
but you son't get no land.  You'll be a swamper here till they take you out in a box.  Hell, I
seen too many guys.  Lennie here'll quit an' be on the road in two, three, weeks.  Seems like
ever' guy got land in his head.'"


  • occurs with statements by the author, giving
    his/her opinion of the character(s). [e.g. Steinbeck writes that Slim has "God-like
    eyes."]

Steinbeck writes that Lennie drags his feet the way
"a bear drags his paws."

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