Nature #1

From the very beginning of the novel the natural world is used as an active figure and backdrop to the narrative.  The opening description sets a tranquil setting, a near paradise, used, in the majority, by various animals: deer, herons, lizards, racoons, water snakes, rabbits and dogs from the ranch.  There is a path however that leads up to the pool and the worn limb of a sycamore that many men, boys from the ranch and tramps travelling the countryside have used.  There is a patch used for a campfire as well.  For the men that use this place Nature is a place of rest and retreat; an escape from their own world.  Steinbeck uses the word "beaten" when describing how the path has been made.  This is a hard word, a violent word and points to the nature of man, even in looking for paradise he beats his way there.

Summary Task: List the colours referred to and respond to their choice

Note that the writer connects Lennie, through simile and description, to nature - likening him to a horse, a bear and pointing to his treatment by George being, at times, like a dog.  Lennie is the bridge between Nature and Man and his "dabbling" of the water shows he has an effect upon the natural world that is also metaphorical of his effect upon the world of Man; his actions have consequences!

Summary Task: Which words that Steinbeck has employed make the place seem quiet?

As beautiful as the place by the pool is, Steinbeck also uses description of the natural world to foreshadow violence, or the threat of violence - even death.  Halfway through the chapter he writes, "The flame of the sunset lifted from the mountaintops and dusk came into the valley, and a half darkness came in among the willows and the sycamores."

The use of "flame" suggests destruction and beauty while the invasion of the darkness emphasises the threat of death, though this is only a half threat, a "half darkness".  Even so, paradise has been invaded by a darkness that wasn't there before.  Eventually the last line lays the final hint that peace is under threat "The sycamore leaves whispered in a little night breeze."

There are only three settings in the whole novel.  The pool-side, the bunkhouse at the ranch and the barn.  

Summary Task: What, if any, is the significance of the water snake and what allusions could you draw from its presence?