Of Mice and Men

Photography ProjectBy: Cody Otero andBrittany Butterworth

The American Dream

The lockers here represent everybody’s American Dream (the house, the picket fence, living off the “fata the land”, etc.) The locker with the lock on it represents Lennie and George’s dream. They had it all planned out, but in the end they couldn’t get it. That’s why there’s a lock on it.

Danger: Crime Scene

This picture is pretty self-explanatory. There are a lot of bad things that happen in the barn. So the “Crime Scene” tape is basically like a “Keep Out” sign, as well as a “Crime Scene Investigation” sign.

Beans and Ketchup

This picture is dedicated to the first chapter of the book, when Lennie is talking about beans and ketchup. The picture also has an underlying meaning. Notice that they are hugging, and – in the book – they are always mentioned together. This represents Lennie and George, as well as, the obvious, beans and ketchup.

In The Brush

The guy on the ground (Cody) represents Lennie. There are two places in the book where they are in the brush and this can used with either of them. The guy in the picture could either be sleeping like in the first chapter (where they are camping) or dead like Lennie in the last chapter.

Ace Card

As everyone knows, George’s favorite game to play is Solitaire. This card – like Lennie mentioned – is double sided. But this card is different. The black and white side represents George and his boring self. The colorful side is Lennie, because he’s very bright, fun, and vibrant.

Clara Bridge

Aunt Clara isn’t mentioned a lot in the book, but we got a lot from it whenever she was. Clara is very strong and supportive of Lennie throughout the book, and that’s why we chose a bridge to represent her.

Crook’s Room

While Lennie, Candy, Crooks, and Curly’s Wife are all in Crook’s room, we can see that Crooks is very lonely. The way we interpreted that through the picture, is by showing a group of people in the middle hugging, and then off to the side is one lonely, sad person (Crooks).

Special thanks to the 2nd period Drama Class.

Curly’s Wife

Curly’s wife goes out into the world everyday, putting on a charade of happiness. But as we can see in Chapter 5 when she’s talking to Lennie, she’s not anything like that inside. She’s upset, lonely, and mistreated. This picture shows the TRUE reflection of Curly’s wife.

Lennie Owns

We wanted to incorporate the fight scene between Lennie and Curly, but without showing just a picture of blood running down someone’s hand. The perfect way to do this was through the cast that Curly wore in the movie. By putting the words “Lennie Owns” on the cast, as if he had signed it, it allows the viewer to know who beat him up and who is in the picture (if they read the book).

Death Sentence

This picture is pretty self explanatory. The two guns in the picture are for two different beings. One for Lennie, and the other for poor Candy’s dog. Both shot with the same gun, Carlson’s Lugar.

Old Penny

This is a picture of an old penny amongst many new pennies. The old penny, of course is Candy. He’s old and handicapped, therefore stands out from the rest.

The Rabbits, George.

This is a picture of a rabbit in its cage. As we all know, the rabbit kept Lennie trying to stay out of trouble. The cage represents the struggle of getting the rabbits and how he can’t get them, because he died.

Red Dress

During a flashback of George and Lennie in Weed, Lennie grabs a lady’s red dress and she can’t get away. This scarf represents that lady in the dress, and the tree is Lennie. The lady cannot get away from him in the book, just like in the picture.

Somebody Got A Ringer

This is dedicated to Curly’s wife as well. We talked, in class, about how it was ironic that she says this in the barn right before she gets killed. So we put that to use in a picture with the “grave ringer”.

THE END :)