The Discussion of Tittle on John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men

Zhou Fenghan

1. Introduction

This paper is mainly concerning a novel tittle， which was given by John Steinbeck， he had given it a finial name as ‘Of Mice and Men and before it was‘Something That Happened. The finial tittle is better when expressing the spirit of the novel. Due to the limitation of words， some specific aspects will be focused. In the paper，George and Lennies characterizations will be discussed. The theme of this discussion will focus on loneliness. For the literary techniques focus will be on foreshadowing and symbolization in order to support the idea of this paper. In the end of the paper， a conclusion will be giving.

2. Discussion

Tittle is important to a novel， and a good tittle should “like a good metaphor” as Robert described Percys words in his work， Percy also mentioned that a good tittle should not been confusing or obvious. A good tittle can help readers realize what the novel is about， but they cannot describe the exact meaning that the writer wanted to express （Robert， 1982）.

3. Characterization

George and Lennie are two extremely different people but are in a very good companionship. The first man George is mouse-like as it is described in the book： “small and quick， dark of face， with restless eyes and sharp， strong features”.

John characterize George and Lennie as a contrast， the latter one got a mouse in the way they went to the next job and want to keep it， but he was forced to give it up. The same destiny falls on George when he was forced to kill Lennie because Lennie made a tremendous mistake that he has to give his life away. Georges character is somewhat like a mice， clever and smart， while Lennies destiny is like the mice in the novel he didnt has his own life and got a pathetic ending.

4. Theme

Henry （1992） denied the theme as the major ideas that conveyed in a novel （P. 362）. Loneliness can be one of the ideas that John wanted to express in the novel. Loftis （1990） described that the recurrent theme can be loneliness. George also mentioned that they are “the loneliest guys in the world” when he talks to Lennie， in his words he thinks that they belong to nowhere， this caused their loneliness. The kind of loneliness expressed the most on Lennie， George is also lonely and this kind of loneliness goes to an extreme when Lennie was killed.

Loneliness exist in every character， the tittle “Of Mice and Men” can indicates this kind of loneliness， and make a foreshadowing to the theme， but the tittle “Something That Happened” shared little pity and loneliness of the novel.

5. Literary techniques

Foreshadowing and symbolization is the most frequently used techniques in the novel.  There are two significance of the tittle， according to Goldhurst （1971）， in the First place， it refers to naturalistic details in the novel， that is Lennies love for touch mice fur， it is a kind of foreshadows. On the other hand， the tittle is come from a poem To a Mouse wrote by Robert Burns， which may symbolized the futility of human endeavor （Goldhurs）. In terms of the literature techniques that discussed， the tittle “Of Mice and Men” has done a significant contribution to the foreshadowing and symbolization of the novel， to make a comparison “Something That Happened” is more like a description that lost the art of language.

6. Conclusion

In the aspect of the characterization， theme and literary techniques the tittle “Of Mice and Men” is more significant than “Something That Happened”. Using “Of Mice and Men” as the tittle is foreshadowing and symbolizing the major characters destiny in the novel， it is like a metaphor， in this aspect， it is more significant than “Something That Happened”.

References：

[1]Anne Loftis. A Historical Introduction to Of Mice and Men The Short Novels of John Steinbeck， by Jackson J. Benson， Ed.， 39–47[M]. Copyright， Duke University Press，1990.

[2]Robert F. MOSS. How novels get titles： Titles of novels[J]. The New York Times，1982：389.

【作者簡介】Zhou Fenghan， Bozhou Vocational and Technological College.

【基金项目】The Study of English Learning Motivation in College Students on the Mood of Multimodal  Project No. 2018bzjyxm03.