Naturalism is a very intense style of literature that an author can use. With naturalism, the author is trying to convey knowledge acquired through the senses and experiences they them selves have been through. In the novel of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, he portrays elements of naturalism through his very own sights and experiences. During the depression John Steinbeck got a first hand dose of what it meant to deal with sordid aspects of life. Just like his book, he portrays his accounts using highly realistic settings, and brutal characters with foul mouths that deal with depressing issues of life. In the real world things happen, but in the world of Mice and Men, nothing ever seems to happen the way the characters hope.
Steinbeck wanted his characters to be brutal and fail to achieve their goals they worked so hard to get. He wanted the characters to have foul mouths and have bleak views of what life really is.
English: John Steinbeck
Grave site of John Steinbeck and family
English: Own Work. 2007. National Steinbeck Centre...As said from the genre paper of naturalism "Characters in naturalistic literature are trapped by their heredity and environment and end in failure." Dealing with vast emotions and massive challenges, characters like George and Lennie in the novel, ended in failure because of their brutal surroundings. If Curly's wife never intervened with Lennie after he killed the young pup, then she would not have ever died. Lennie was only driven by his basic urge to touch soft things. " Lennie's big fingers fell to stroking her hair. "Don't you mess it up," she said.""( Steinbeck 91 ). Steinbeck really placed the characters with brutal settings among brutal characters.
The setting of the book is highly realistic and greatly portrays what the time period truly represented. Steinbeck, once a migrant worker too, lived the experience of his literature.