How far would two men go to accomplish their dream? Of Mice and Men, a novel about two men, George and Lennie an unusual friendship brings them together and their journey to reach their long awaited dream. Their dream, to have their own piece of land and have to answer to no one. The timelessness in Of Mice and Men due to is controversial and still relevant topics that appear in the book including; racism, discrimination against women and the importance of being hopeful when in situations that seem hopeless.
The racism shown towards Crooks is nothing but ordinary in the time the book is set in, blacks were almost completely separated from whites and were given unfair treatment. They could not live with whites and they could not eat with whites. The moment that racism towards Crooks was overly revealed is when Curley’s wife comes into Crooks room and he knows he can get into a lot of trouble if Curley sees her here so he says to her “You got no rights comin’ in
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The most important theme in the book is hope. Hope is needed all the time, now a lot of young college graduates find it hard and challenging to be successful in today’s job market and they hold on to hope that one day they will succeed. In Of Mice and Men George and Lennie had to hold on to the hope that one day they will get their piece of land. Every time something went wrong hope held them together. When Candy found out about George and Lennie’s dream he felt hopeful because for the first time he saw an opportunity to have somewhere to go after his eventual firing. Crooks even though the way his was treated had to stay hopeful for a better future, then when he heard of George and Lennie’s plans he saw a chance for a better life. Its hope like this that makes Of Mice and Men timeless because no matter what year it is there always have to be
‘Of Mice and Men’ is a novel about two men and their struggle to reach their dreams of owning their own ranch. George Milton and Lennie Small are best friends, and in despite of their differences they still manage to work together, travel together and tackle anything that gets in their way. Steinbeck uses nearly all of the characters in this novel to stress the importance of having a friend.
Though Crooks is a Black man he is a hell of a good worker, so he says himself. When he talks to Lennie and Candy he feels pleasure mixed with anger. When Curley 's wife comes in and threatens him, he feels small and scared and feels like he lost power and privileges over his room and realizes he is black and shouldn 't have back talked her. He knows what she could do to him for what he did, so she says her self. “She closed on him. “You know what I could do?”.....“Well, you keep your place then....I could get you strung up so easy it ain 't funny. '”(80, 81). Because she was a white female and the boss ' son 's Wife she had superiority over him and so he felt alone at that moment. He didn 't realize the cruelness of white folk when he was younger but as he grew older he did, mainly because of where he slept and the way he was treated. “ 'Why ain 't you wanted?”...“Cause I 'm black. They play cards in there, but I can 't play because I 'm black... '”(68). This
Racism was quite an issue during the time period in which this book takes place. Crooks, the only black
Relating to Crooks as an equal, they share the plan to buy a farm. Race is forgotten, until Curley’s wife appears. Forgetting to remember that he is black, Crooks’s orders her out of his room when she becomes belligerent and insulting. The backlash is immediate. Curley’s wife attacks Crooks in the most despicable display of racism in the novel. Warning him to remember his “place” and stay in it, she reminds Crooks that she can have him “strung up on a tree so easy it ain’t even funny,” implying that she has the power to kill him by accusing him of rape or some other heinous assault. The threat is chilling because Crooks knows it’s true. His word means nothing, and Lennie and Candy’s testimony would not save him from her false
This theme of of Mice and Men is that things don't always work out the way you plan, its developed through the characters dialogue and actions the throughout the book. The two main characters ,George and Lennie, despite their differences, form a family like friendship to face the loneliness that comes with being a Ranch workers. Lennie and George both cling to the hope that they can one day buy a small house throughout the course of the book. Their idea is first mentioned in the beginning, but it's clear the this idea was thought of before the book's plot line. "O.K. Someday- we're gonna get the jack together and we're gonna get the jack together and we're gonna have a little house and couple of acres an' a cow and some pig and--" This shows
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.
Regardless of how intensely the characters of this novel hope and dream, their plans do not find fulfillment. Due to the lack of fulfillment of their dream, the characters face loneliness setting each apart from the other. Unlike George and Lennie, the other character of Crooks has no one to support him and be there for him as Lennie and George have each other. In the story, Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck contrasts the loneliness and isolation experienced by Crooks, whom life has made abandon his dream of equality, with the closeness of Lennie and George, establishing a false sense of hope for the achievement of their dream, making the ending tragic because they lose both the dream and their unique friendship no
This is shown in the following text evidence, “Why ain't you wanted? Lennie asked. Cause I'm black. They play cards in there, but I can't play because I'm black. They say I stink” (68). Crooks isn't given a fair chance to show his capabilities, society automatically segregates him from the game because of his skin color. Not only was he not given the chance to interact in simple games with white people, he was ridiculed when he conversed with them. This is evident in the following text, “There wasn't another colored family for miles around. And now there ain't a colored man on this ranch an' there's jus' one family in Soledad. He laughed. If I say something, why it's just the nigger sayin' it” (70). At the end of this quote is obvious that the ranch hands and the boss mock Crooks because of his race, he is undoubtedly outcasted. Crooks is aware that he is a misfit at the ranch, the reader gets a sense of this when Crook says, “You go on and get outta my room. I ain't wanted in the bunkhouse, and you ain't wanted in my room” (68). This quote suggests that Crooks was segregated at the ranch, he is not even comfortable with people in his room due to his separation from white people. The deciding factor that makes Crooks an obvious social outcast in this period, is his race, causing discrimination against him, his segregation from the ranchers, and others mocking him, leaving him as a social outcast
There is a lot of racial prejudice shown in this novel towards Crooks, the black stable-hand. Crooks, the “more permanent than the other men” (67), had his own “little shed that leaned off the wall of the barn” (66) with “more possessions than he could carry on his back” (67). He, "ain’t wanted in the bunk house" (68) just because he is "black, they play cards in there but I can’t play because I’m black" (68). Curley’s wife would never call him by his name, and treated him awfully while abusing her position as the boss’ son’s wife. “’Listen, Nigger’, she said, ‘you know what I can do to you if you open you trap’"(80).
John Steinback’s Of Mice and Men is a book that describes the chase of the American Dream. Although achieving the American Dream is a great desire for all, seldom does it actually come true. George and Lennie, the two main characters in the book, have a goal of pursuing their version of the American Dream, as do many other characters. However, due to relationships and other conflicts, that dream is not achieved.
Themes are integral and fundamental aspects which render the literature valuable. They usually provide insight into the author’s perception and internalisations of the world in which they live. Set in California during the Great Depression, Of Mice and Men, by Steinbeck, illustrates the hardships experienced by individuals as they roamed the countryside seeking a way of living. The story focuses particularly on the two main characters, George Milton, a small, wiry, quick-witted man, and his companion, Lennie Small, an ironically named lumbering giant.
One of the themes shown in the book Of Mice and Men written by John Steinbeck is hope given to characters by having a dream. There are characters that had ambition of having their own life where they could be independent. Lennie, George, Candy, and Curley’s wife are those characters who make up the dream theme, they all want something different than what they already have, this is their dream.
Crooks explain how it feels like to be black. In of mice and men crooks says “s’pose you could not go into the bunk house and play rummy cause you were black”. During the time in which the novella was written white people had more rights than black people, during that time racism reached an all-time high. Also in the time of when the novella was written priest told there people that white people were the chosen race and black people weren’t. Racism was strongest in the southern states where the majority of black people lived, people like Jim Crow made laws which segregated white people from black people for example black people were not able to drink form the same water fountain as white .Crooks has many disadvantages because the colour of his skin. This means that white people are able to take advantage of him. Steinbeck perhaps decided to include this to reflect how terrible it was for the African American race through the character of crooks and other black men who were segregated because of their race. This is completely different to an inspector calls there is no racism. J.B Priestley was not concerned about black people; I can tell this by there is no black character in ‘an Inspector Calls’. Priestley was only concerned about socialism and capitalism. In Britain the number of black people declined because of new laws and restriction on African
Crooks was the only black man in the story. Everyone knows that up until the 1950’s when the civil rights movements were popular, that blacks were discriminated against and had no chance of becoming successful people. Crooks had worked at the farm for a very long time and was very lonely. He also got treated worse then everyone else. Curly’s wife was very mean to him. One time Crooks asked Curly’s wife to
Understand that Crooks is black, and this book takes place in a time in which African Americans weren´t walking around with pockets full of cash. Crooks worked and lived on the ranch. Heś discriminated throughout portions of the book, and appears to have a bitter personality. This is evident when Crooks has a little conversation with Lennie; (¨Well, go see your pup then. Don´t come in a place you aren´t wanted.) Pg 69. As you may have been able to figure out, Crooks was not the only African American to be discriminated against during the mid 19th century. There is still a good amount of discrimination in the world today, and there are plenty of people who may not really be too happy with being treated poorly. Crooks’ social status is still relevent, and needs to be given some thought.