Of Mice and Men
Prompt #25 · Of Mice and Men
Prompt Type: Theme + Device
Steinbeck uses animal imagery to describe Lennie and other characters throughout the novel. Analyze how this literary device develops the theme of how society dehumanizes the powerless and explores the boundary between human and animal nature. Explain how it contributes to the meaning of the work as a whole.
Quote 1
“Slowly, like a terrier who doesn’t want to bring a ball to its master, Lennie approached, drew back, approached again.”
Chapter 1
Argument
The simile comparing Lennie to a terrier establishes early in the novel how animal imagery reduces Lennie to a creature governed by instinct rather than reason, demonstrating society's dehumanization of the mentally disabled through linguistic categorization as subhuman.
Quote 2
“And she continued to struggle, and her eyes were wild with terror. He shook her then, and he was angry with her. "Don’t you go yellin’," he said, and he shook her; and her body flopped like a fish. And then she was still, for Lennie had broken her neck.”
Chapter 5
Argument
The simile 'her body flopped like a fish' uses animal imagery to describe Curley's wife's death, revealing how the literary device strips both victim and perpetrator of humanity—she becomes mere animal matter while Lennie's strength is rendered as brute, uncontrolled animal force.
Quote 3
“If we could keep Curley in, we might. But Curley’s gonna want to shoot ’im. Curley’s still mad about his hand. An’ s’pose they lock him up an’ strap him down and put him in a cage. That ain’t no good, George.”
Chapter 5
Argument
Slim's imagery of Lennie being 'locked up' and 'put in a cage' explicitly frames society's treatment of the powerless through animal metaphors, exposing how institutional responses to mental disability mirror the containment of dangerous beasts rather than the care of human beings.