In both of the novels, prejudice, in all its forms, is a key theme throughout; especially in the relation to the destruction of the innocent. In Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird, the innocent characters (or ‘mockingbirds’) are generally characters who are misunderstood by the harsh society in 1930s America. This ranges from a lack of understanding or knowledge about mental illness in the case of Boo Radley, to pure racism in the case of Tom Robinson. In Of Mice And Men, there is a bigger focus on sexism, but again the lack of understanding towards people with mental illnesses is repeated, this time, in the case of Lennie. These themes of prejudice set up both novels from the very beginning and run throughout until the inevitable destruction of all who are discriminated against.
Both novels open in a natural, almost idealistic environment. To Kill A Mockingbird is begun in the town of Maycomb, where the citizens are described as being in ‘no hurry, for there was nowhere to go, nothing to buy, and no money to buy it with.’ This would have been typical of the time the novel is set in, as during the great depression there was indeed, no money. The fact that the people are in no hurry could imply that they have nothing interesting going on, so no reason to hurry in any way, which could, in turn, become foreshadowing, as though later in the novel they may have a reason to. This could then represent them as being innocent, as they seem to be naive as to their surroundings and
The character in Of Mice and Men that is most similar to Tom Buchanan in The Great Gatsby is Curley. Curley and Tom Buchanan have many similarities throughout both books. These shared characteristics stem from one thing both men have an abundance of: privilege. Curley and Tom are easily two characters with the least amount of struggle in The Great Gatsby and Of Mice and Men.
John Ernst Steinbeck Jr. was an American author wrote many novels including one of his most famous, Of Mice and Men. Of Mice and Men teaches many lessons about the nature of human existence. Each relationship grows throughout this short story and end with a dramatic experience. All of the characters, including Lennie, George, Crooks, and Curley’s wife, admit, at one time or another, to having a profound sense of isolation, seclusion and loneliness.
8. Point of View: Of Mice and Men is told from a third person perspective, and is detached from the story. Steinbeck simply narrates the events as they happen in the novella.
The psychological approach views literature through the lens of psychology. There are multiple approaches to the psychological aspect of literature but the two most recognized are the Freudian and Jungian approach. The best approach to use when critically analyzing the novel Of Mice and Men, written by John Steinbeck, is the Jungian approach. Because the novel’s main theme is a struggle with the idea of “self”, using this approach allows the reader to understand the main character, its influences, and ultimately his actions.
Everyone has dreams, big and small. When one dreams, there is a scent of whimsical hope in the air mixed with the powerful drive for success to obtain their luminous goals. But, many times these luscious dreams end up in grief and pain instead of a promised joy due to the hurdles in life, such as the certain circumstances that society professes or the flaws in a person that restrains them from their aspirations. The writer, John Steinbeck, incorporates this ideology in his novella, Of Mice and Men by creating three pivotal characters. Lennie, Crooks, and George all have schemes that go wrong, and yet hope to illustrate their desires of fulfilling their American Dream and to be prosperous for their own independent purposes.
“Human beings are poor examiners, subject to superstition, bias, prejudice, and a profound tendency to see what they want to see rather than what is really there” ~ Scott Peck. Harper Lee’s novel To Kill A Mockingbird abounds with the injustice produced by social, gender, and racial prejudice. The setting of the book takes place in the 1930s, where racism is a big deal in society. In the novel Harper Lee uses a mockingbird as an analogy to the characters. The Mockingbird is a symbol for Three Characters in the book, Atticus Finch, Tom Robinson, and Boo Radley. The people of Maycomb only know Boo Radley and Tom Robinson by what others say about them. These Characters are then characterized by other people 's viewpoints. In the novel there are many themes that are adjacent to our lives, the one that is found in To Kill A Mockingbird is Human Conflict comes from the inability for one to understand another. “ You never understand a person until you consider things from his point of view- until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.” (39)
American journalist David Grann once said, “You want the story to be about something, have some deeper meaning, but there is also an emotional, almost instinctual element, which is, does this story seize some part of you and compel you to get to the bottom of it?” Every piece of text has a meaning that goes deeper than the page it is printed on. Of Mice and Men is an example of this. Of Mice and Men was written by John Steinbeck in 1937. The story takes place in California during the Great Depression, a time where it was laborious to be anything close to successful. Everyone believed that with a minimal amount of hard work and money saved up, the American Dream could be at their fingertips. The two main characters George and Lennie struggle to get land to call their own. Lennie is driven by his dream of tending rabbits, but he makes it challenging when he is the main reason of their setbacks and complications as they move from job to job. Fortunately, George is always there to clean up the mess. Of Mice and Men is studied as an allegory because the characters symbolize problems more substantial than the ones Steinbeck clearly writes about. John Steinbeck zooms in on other problems that America struggles with besides the enticing desire for just materialistic things. Steinbeck criticizes racism, the mistreatment of those who are disabled, and the disrespect of women.
Have you ever dreamed of becoming someone important or doing something exciting and memorable? Would you give up or refuse to let go of your dream until you achieve it? Has that obsessive under-minded your success? Many people have dreams that they want to accomplish, but there are obstacles individuals have to cross over in order to achieve their goals, such as facing reality. In the book of Of Mice and Men, written by John Steinbeck, the story is a tale of two drifters working from farm to farm, trying to make a living, and save some money to have their own place someday, which is their dream during the Great Depression. The characters face the hardships
“He shook her then, and he was angry with her. ‘Don’t you go yellin’,’ he said, and he shook her; and her body flopped like a fish. (91).These was one of the events that took place at the end of John Steinbeck’s book, Of Mice and Men. After endless catastrophes and tragedies, Lennie small, a giant mental handicapped, and best friend of George. He makes a terrifying mistake of killing of Curley’s wife at the ranch. The men at the ranch try to bring Lennie to justice by killing him brutally. So, George should make a right decision of what to do with Lennie. In the end, George did the right thing by killing Lennie because he killed a woman, Lennie was mentally handicapped, and men at the ranch would have killed him.
Friendship and companionship play a big role in people 's life and how they interact with others, and the world in general. How people build relationships is something that will stick with them for the rest of their lives. The less relationships that people build, the more lonely, and self-kept they become. Throughout the book Of Mice and Men, George, and Lennie are examples of the positive effects on building relationships, and Crooks is an example of the negative effects on not building relationships. Crooks represents loneliness, and not building relationships. George and Lennie represent dependence on one another, and an example of how to build a strong bond/relationship. Throughout the book Of Mice and
“To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee is an exceedingly powerful novel. It includes many significant minor themes such as racism and hatred which leave the reader to have grown more attentive to the past once they complete the book. The book takes place in Maycomb County Alabama during the great depression. During this period there was a great deal of hate and prejudice towards people of color, in addition to a great regard to social class. The novels protagonists, Atticus Finch a well-respected lawyer and his children Jeremy “Jem” Finch and Jean Louise “Scout” Finch are a few of the towns occupants who respect others regardless of social class or race. For this reason, Atticus has no objections
In both Lee and Steinbeck’s novels, prejudice is a key theme portrayed in a variety of different forms and is used as a way to degrade and discriminate the innocent characters. Lee’s title quotation ‘mockingbird’ represents those who are victims of prejudice, which is a large amount of characters as the novel is set in 1930 America, where the only properly respected people were white, mentally stable males. This is also shown by Steinbeck who uses the hopelessness of the Great Depression to put across how people were affected in their views and lives during that time. Both novels create prejudice against black people, those with mental disabilities or health issues and women, ostracising these people was not uncommon in this period, probably because these people were misunderstood by others due to lack of communication. Both Lee and Steinbeck use these minorities to portray how far prejudice is to blame for the misery and pain which develop as the novels progress.
One old man, one arm, one best friend- a beloved dog, who gets shot by a cruel rancher. The story Of Mice and Men written by social critic John Steinbeck is a discriminatory, depressing novella. Lennie, a grown man with special needs was promised to be taken care of by George after Lennie’s aunt Clara passed away. They had no choice but to flee the town of Weed after Lennie grabbed onto a girl’s dress because it was soft and refused to let go. The two of them went to get a job at a ranch so they could achieve their dream- to live freely by themselves in paradise. The boss’ son, Curley was a pugnacious man who was always ready to fight someone. George and Lennie’s relationship
There are many themes I found while reading of mice and men. They there are a lot of different people in the book, and mentioning of a lot of different topics. Theming is very important for a book it can set the mood or give you the chills, or even make you feel happy for the characters, of even put you in a bad mood, a good author can do all of these in a book which I feel are needed for a story. If you can make a reader have several different emotions towards characters it shows that they are connected to the characters and want the best to happen, or the worst in some scenarios, to these characters, making it a vital part of any story. With
The book Of mice and men was written in a period when people with mental illness were treated like outcasts. The people were