Of Mice and Men Critical Analysis
This paragraph will be about the disgust and horror which is conveyed during chapter 3 of, Of Mice and Men during a fight between Lennie and Curley. Towards the end of the novel the fight begins where Curley ‘slashed at Lennie with his left, and then smashed down his nose with his right’, already this quote shows the power of Curley in this fight and the sheer harshness and magnitude of the whole situation.
The word ’smashed’ used is onomatopoeia, meaning it’s spelt how it sounds, so the reader can almost hear the impact of the punch on Lennie’s face and are made to feel sympathy towards Lennie as he did nothing wrong and fear for what may happen to him at the hands of Curley. In addition ‘slashed’ and ‘smashed’ give alliteration to this sentence adding rhythm for the reader to read and helping the tension to further build up to the climax of the fight.
These words the writer has chosen to use create clear imagery in the readers mind as they are bitter words and also are commonly associated with ‘horror’ movies which adds to the way terror is shown in this quote. ‘Lennie gave a cry of terror. Blood tricked from his nose’ is another quote conveying horror in this chapter. These derogative sentences are both short and snappy which demonstrates the action throughout the scene and are used by the writer to make a point and add impact to the novel, also they make a point and are building up tension for what is yet to come in the scene.
The use of the word ‘blood’ could also have provoke a strong reaction on the readers emotions as it is a world strongly associated with pain and death. In addition the use of the verb ‘cry’ makes you feel great empathy towards Lennie as at this point you know about his learning difficulties and a huge man like him ‘crying with terror’ tells the reader just how fearful a situation he is in. The writer conveys his ideas by the language he uses and the structure of his sentences to convey horror and disgust throughout this scene.
