In the story Of Mice Of Men , a motif is used as any element that has symbolic significance In the story. Through Its repetition, using a motif can help you produce other narrative aspects such as theme or mood.
In this story of mice of men by john steinbeck the author portrayed the theme through the motifs by using the literary devices Bunkhouse , Hands, and Women to explain to you all to explain how in his mind these words are seen as in real life , or experiences that he goes through or maybe other people that go through It that see It this way too .!
The first motif that Steinbeck decided to repeatedly use throughout the story was “Bunkhouse” according to pg 59 he stated “We’d have our own place where we belonged and not sleep in no bunkhouse” .This shows how close George and Lennie were that they would go and get a place together it portray’s how good of a friendship him and Lennie have . The second quote of the motif Bunkhouse that Steinbeck stated on pg 95 was “I’m going into the bunkhouse ” (after Lennie killed Curley’s wife and George went to get the gun. It can be inferred from the description of the quote that the qualities of safety are valued by the author.
The second motif Steinbeck decided to repeatedly use throughout the story was “Hands ” his first quote was “His excitement increased until he pounded his knee with his hand “according to page 71 . The authors reference to hands serves primarily to ” Knowing your own strength” . The second quote Steinbeck decided to use for the motif of hands was “Lennie’s hand closed over her mouth and nose” on pg 91 . This shows that you can not be grabbing anything you want someone can seriously hurt .
The third motif Steinbeck decided to repeatedly use throughout the story was “Women” and according to pg 32 Steinbeck stated ” Bye boys”. It can be inferred from the description of the quote that qualities of woman being sexual objects are valued by the author. The second quote that Steinbeck decided to use for the motif of “Women” was “You stop it now you’ll muss it”. “You stop it now you”ll muss it up , he setted her head sideways and lennie’s hand closed ” all according to pg 91.
In conclusion Steinbeck decided to used all of these motifs In the book of mice of men because he wanted to show his readers different aspects of how he feels and looks at things he really expresses the fact that he feels that women are whores and always causing trouble , to feeling like with your body you should know your own strength and portraying the fact that its good to form a bond with somebody knowing that you got them and they got you and you do not have to worry about them leaving overall I would recommend you read the book first before watching the movie because their is a few differences from the book and the story and its fun to be able to pick them out as your watching the movie.
