Skip to main content

Describe the man who meets George and Lennie at the bunkhouse.

In the novel Of Mice And Men by John Steinbeck, the two main characters (George and Lennie) set out to meet their appointment at a new ranch they want to work on, but they are late. They were supposed to arrive in the morning but don't get there until the afternoon, so already Steinbeck has set a little ripple of tension running through the narrative. He then tells us about the man that shows them into the bunkhouse. The first thing we find out is that the man is tall. We are then told that he stoops from the shoulders, suggesting advanced age and a man tired from a lifetime of hard physical work. This conclusion is further confirmed when we are told that he carries a yard broom in his hand, and we can guess most of the rest before he begins to talk. Readers have already surmised that the man is an employee. The man must be left handed—this is the hand he uses to carry the push broom.


Then his dialogue begins, and, as expected by now, he uses simple language that is casual and informal in style, missing the endings from words such as 'expectin.' His descriptions, such as 'sore as hell,' also remind us of ranch hand talk rather than the speech of the professional classes of the time. Then readers see why the broom was carried in his left hand. He pushes out his arm from a sleeve and it seems it is missing a hand. George takes no notice and goes to the bed to put his things away. He gets cross when he sees a can of pest control powder and asks the old man what the beds are like, wondering if they are dirty and unhealthy. Then we see more of the old man's character as he replies. He is slow and methodical and calm in his response, taking his time to investigate fully. He is also measured and reasonable and conveys a sense of reassurance to George and Lennie. For example, he explains that the last guy was very clean and was probably just using the product to be on the safe side. We see how observant he is as he tells tales from the bunk house; seemingly he has a sociable nature and a sense of humour. We find out that he has a white stubbly chin and that everyone thinks of him as a 'swamper.' We know that he can't move very fast because Steinbeck describes him as shuffling out the door, rather than walking out.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Is there a word/phrase for "unperformant"?

As a software engineer, I need to sometimes describe a piece of code as something that lacks performance or was not written with performance in mind. Example: This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. Based on my Google searches, this isn't a real word. What is the correct way to describe this? EDIT My usage of "performance" here is in regard to speed and efficiency. For example, the better the performance of code the faster the application runs. My question and example target the negative definition, which is in reference to preventing inefficient coding practices. Answer This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. In my opinion, reads more easily as: This coding style leads to unmaintainable and poorly performing code. The key to well-written documentation and reports lies in ease of understanding. Adding poorly understood words such as performant decreases that ease. In addressing the use of such a poorly ...
Post a Comment
Read more

A man has a garden measuring 84 meters by 56 meters. He divides it into the minimum number of square plots. What is the length of the square plots?

We wish to divide this man's garden into the minimum number of square plots possible. A square has all four sides with the same length.Our garden is a rectangle, so the answer is clearly not 1 square plot. If we choose the wrong length for our squares, we may end up with missing holes or we may not be able to fit our squares inside the garden. So we have 84 meters in one direction and 56 meters in the other direction. When we start dividing the garden in square plots, we are "filling" those lengths in their respective directions. At each direction, there must be an integer number of squares (otherwise, we get holes or we leave the garden), so that all the square plots fill up the garden nicely. Thus, our job here is to find the greatest common divisor of 84 and 56. For this, we prime factor both of them: `56 = 2*2*2*7` `84 = 2*2*3*7` We can see that the prime factors and multiplicities in common are `2*2*7 = 28` . This is the desired length of the square plots. If you wi...
Post a Comment
Read more

What warning does Chuchundra issue to Rikki?

Chuchundra, the sniveling, fearful muskrat who creeps around walls because he is too terrified to go into the center of a room, meets Rikki in the middle of the night. He insults Rikki by begging him not to kill him. He then insults him by suggesting that Nag might mistake Chuchundra for Rikki. He says, "Those who kill snakes get killed by snakes."  He issues this warning to Rikki not to help keep Rikki safe but as a way of explaining why Rikki's presence gives him, Chuchundra, more reason to fear.  Chuchundra starts to tell Rikki what Chua the rat told him--but breaks it off when he realizes he might be overheard by Nag. He says, "Nag is everywhere, Rikki-Tikki." Rikki threatens to bite Chuchundra to get him to talk. Even then, Chuchundra won't overtly reveal any information. But he does say, "Can't you hear, Rikki-Tikki?" This is enough of a clue for the clever mongoose. He listens carefully and can just make out the "faintest scratch-s...
Post a Comment
Read more