A journey is a physical movement from one place to another and the emotional outcome that comes with it. Obstacles and challenges are faced by both George and Lennie in “ of Mice and Men” and the persona of “ I was only 19” In “ of Mice and Men” Curley is a huge obstacle for Lennie as he doesn’t like little big buys and likes to pick fights with them. Dialogue and colloquial language show that Curley doesn’t like Lennie, which is shown when Candy is talking to George and says; “ Curley’s like a lot of little guys. He’s alla time picking scraps with big guys.
Kind of like he’s mad at ‘ em because he ain’t a big guy”. George is also faced with a challenge of that affects him emotionally. He has the enormous task of figuring out what to do with Lennie after he kills Curley’s wife. “ Couldn’t we bring him in an’ they’ll lock him up? He’s nuts slim. He never done this to be mean”, this dialogue shows that George cares for Lennie and cares about him too much to see him hurt, let alone hurt him himself. This represents a journey as it shows the emotional connection between George and Lennie, and the path in which they have travelled together.
In “ I was only 19” the persona faces many challenges and obstacles after he comes home from war. Through use of repetition and rhetorical questions we are shown he faces many challenges and obstacles. “ And can you tell me doctor why I still cannot get to sleep? ” “ And what’s this rash that comes and goes, can you tell me what it means? The repetition of “ And can you tell me doctor why I still can’t get to sleep? ” shows the reader that he has trouble sleeping because of his experience and now mental disturbances from war.
The repetition of “ and what’s this rash that comes and goes. Can you tell me what it means” explores the anger and frustrations that the persona is facing. This is a journey because the persona faces emotional battles after war, with not sleeping and he faces the physical challenge of the rashes that come and go. Both “ I was only 19” and “ Of Mice and Men” relate to the concept of journey as they show a physical path from one place to another but also an emotional journey that they have come to deal with.