Connection+to+the+Novel

http://www.artic.edu/aic/resources/resource-artist/18181

The American Gothic painting by Grant Wood relates to George in "Of Mice and Men". This painting is drawn with exactness without a lot of color and emotion. This describes George in many ways. George takes things for what they are without straying from what needs to be done. Lennie makes life difficult for George as they are always on the run because Lennie can't control himself from doing childish things. George says to Lennie " You cant keep a Job and you lose me ever' job I get...An' that ain't the worst...you do bad things and i got to get you out"(Steinbeck10). George works hard and does the best he can with what he has, but Lennie makes it hard and this painting shows to me that life can be hard. This painting also uses Regionalism which explained American life as simple and rural. George is defiantly a simple guy in what he has and what he wants. George goes from ranch to ranch working and making what he can. Although Lennie does complicate things his life still doesn't seem to have a lot to it. What George wants is to "someday...have a little house and a couple of acres an' a cow and some pigs...an' live off the fatta the lan'"(Steinbeck13). His dream is so simple and pure and raw just like the American Gothic painting. (Annie) http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/sisterwendy/works/ame.html

Daughters of Revolution [] Grant Woods painting Daughters of Revolution reminded me of Curley in "of Mice and Men" by John Steinbeck. The meaning and background of this painting is very cynical and harsh. Curley only cares about himself and is always showing that he is better than everyone else in every way possible. Although I don't believe this was entirely Grant wood's intentions it comes off as a very harsh humorous peace pointedly making fun of an organization. In a way doing this painting put Grant Wood above these ladies who so completely annoyed him. Curley does the same thing every chance he gets. He was always trying to show his power and superiority over others. (Annie) Sunday //Sunday// relates to the character Crooks in John Steinbeck's //Of Mice and Men//. Crooks is a black man surrounded by only white men and simply because of that he is doomed to isolation on the ranch. Lennie even asks Crooks, 'Why ain't you wanted?' and Crooks says to him ' 'Cause I'm black. They play cards in there, but I can't play because I'm black. They say I stink.' (Steinbeck 65). Like the painting Crooks is in a depressed state. He explains to Lennie, 'A guy goes nuts if he ain't got nobody. Don't make no difference who the guy is, long's he's with you. I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an' he gets sick.' (Steinbeck 69). His extreme loneliness has filled him with misery. (Priscilla) House by The Railroad //House by The Railroad// relates to the situation between George and Lennie in John Steinbeck's //Of Mice and Men//. Lennie is a child who cannot adjust into the change of adulthood. George is an adult, but has Lennie weighing him down. Lennie is the agrarian culture. He literally is working on a ranch. George is the modern progress in society. A modern society always tries to preserve a little piece of historical significance. George tried to make Lennie a part of his future. Sometimes an antique structure is too weak and unstable to preserve. It becomes dangerous and a liability. Lennie does not understand how much harm and pain he cause, because he 'never done it in meanness' (Steinbeck 90). He doesn't know his own strength and because of that he ends up killing animals and eventually Curley's wife. Lennie becomes too dangerous and George decides to knock down the Victorian mansion, because the modern progress of the twentieth century is no place for a structure of the nineteenth century. (Priscilla)