“‘In his novel Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck takes special care to engage the reader in the
Plot and make us think about the central ideas by using carefully considered narrative
Techniques.’ Discuss.”
Of mice and men is one of Steinbeck’s greatest works and was published in the 1930s.It was written during the great depression and has a theme of solitude throughout the book. There are several narrative techniques used in this book that encourage the reader’s perception of the events that occur and thoughts on different people.
Of mice and men was written from a 3rd person “omniscient” type point of view. It can be said to be written from an objective and impersonal point of view. Since it is written in 3rd person it engages the reader as the reader is encouraged to make personal judgements on the characters. At no point during this book does Steinbeck describe characters thoughts about each other. This leaves the book open to different types of interpretation by the readers. This also adds a sense of mystery to the book as we don’t know the hierarchy on the farm. In this book Steinbeck only vilifies two characters, Curly and his wife. The other characters are not described and are neither good nor bad. The tenses used during this novella vary. The tenses intertwine and complement each other. Offering useful information about past events. The earlier chapters of the book are written the present. This builds up the atmosphere for the rest of the novel and makes the reader feel more involved in the book. There is also an element of past tense, which makes the book partially non-linear. It is through this past tense that we learn of Lennie’s “condition” and the circumstances under which they left weed. Throughout the latter chapters of this book, Steinbeck resorts to past tense momentarily to provide back-ground information on people and events that had occurred. There is also a slight use of future tense in this novella. This is mainly used to describe...