“Of Mice and Men’s” main characters, Lennie and George are as different as night and day. That simile, along with others taken directly from text, is a technique John Steinbeck uses frequently and effectively in the story. The following comparisons using like or as are short in length, but they easily paint a picture and draw the reader into the story right from the beginning. One simile, from the first chapter, begins “Slowly, like …showed first 75 words of 526 total…

…showed last 75 words of 526 total…of his childlike intelligence and maturity, Lennie then falls prey to a woman and feelings he doesn’t understand. Why he is attracted to her couldn’t be stated more simply than the description of her sausage like curls and red heels. With just a sentence or two, and using a common literacy technique with a lot of skill, what will develop later in the story is introduced by Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men.”