“The only difference between man and man all the world over is one of degree, and not of kind, even as there is between trees of the same species. Where in is the cause for anger, envy or discrimination?” –Mahatma Gandhi Discrimination is the practice of unfairly treating a person or group of people differently from other people or groups of people. There are many types of discrimination and it has been a problem throughout history. Because of this, there are also a lot of novels that criticize different kinds of discrimination. ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ discusses about racial discrimination, and ‘Of Mice and Men’ talks about discrimination towards women and old people.
First of all, ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ by Harper Lee criticizes the American
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Candy is one of the characters who majorly represent loneliness, who is older than any other characters on the ranch. The younger workers do not respect the elder and do not want do communicate with him. The characters say bad things to him as if he is useless. The old man’s only friend is his dog, but one of the workers shoots the dog because it’s old and stinky. Candy causes no harm to anyone but nobody likes him. He represents what happens to everyone who gets old in American society. They are let go, thrown out, and used up. Candy’s greatest fear is that once he is no longer able to help with the work, he will be thrown away like trash. Just like his old dog, he has lived beyond his usefulness. In the past days, old people were respected because as they have seen and learned a lot about the world, they were praised for their wisdom. However, in current days, since industrialization and modernization has dominated the world, people strive for manpower, new ideas and innovation. Because of this, old people are becoming isolated from the society since they don’t know what to do and where to go. As a result, the rate of seniors living alone is getting higher in most part of the world. People think seniors as obstacles and useless. They do not care about wisdom of life, but
Through the narrative convention of foreshadowing, Steinbeck uses the execution of Candy’s dog to predict what will occur to Candy himself, once his ability to work diminishes completely. Candy’s dog is a metaphor of himself. The dog represents the brutality of life on the land and the inevitability of becoming useless.
“Well, you keep your place then, n*****. I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain’t even funny” (Steinbeck 81). In the novella, Of Mice and Men, the readers are following the life of Lennie and George, who are migrant workers during the Great Depression. Migrant workers, unlike Lennie and George, primarily travel alone, and they go from job to job. George and Lennie have been together since they were younger, as Lennie would come along with George while he worked, so they had become inseparable. Lennie got them kicked out of many jobs, but they landed a spot as a ranch hand bucking barley. Once they became acquainted with the farm, Lennie and George become friends with a man named Crooks, but before that, they are introduced to the ranch by Candy. As the story progresses, a theme of isolation, discrimination, and loneliness on Candy, Lennie, and Crooks is revealed.
While working at the ranch they met a man named Candy, an old man who had lost his hand while on the ranch. One of the other really important symbols in Of Mice and Men was Candy’s dog. “Well-hell! I had him so long. Had him since he was a pup.
Candy is old and is missing a hand because of his looks others view him as less useful and more of a waste of space. At this part of the book Candy is talking about joining George and Lennie in their dream of owning a ranch. Candy is detrimental to this scene because his old age makes him start thinking about the future, of how pretty soon he will be kicked out due to his old age and inability to do his job. This will then cause him to want to help George and Lennie so he has a real home where he won’t be judged because of his appearance. Fear of being removed from the ranch soon, “‘They’ll can me party soon.
He hopes he will not work for someone else’s ranch anymore, enjoy his old age and “live of the fat of the land”. Candy also hopes he will be in a place where he will not be thrown out just because his
Discrimination if often based on many qualities and abilities. Some of the most clearly shown examples in John Steinbeck’s novel Of Mice and Men are gender, age and racial discrimination. The victims of these types of discrimination are Curley’s wife, who is unhappy and bitter about her life, Candy, the old, disabled swamper and Crooks, the black stable buck. Throughout the novel, these three characters face many hardships because they are harshly judged and often misunderstood.
He describes how the working men at the ranch felt in the novel. To the working men in the ranch, the relationship between Lennie and George seemed very unusual to them clearly showing the aloneness at the ranch between the men. He also uses Candy to illustrate loneliness by showing how lonely Candy gets after his dog was shot. Another character was Curly’s wife. She was shown lonely simply by saying she was the only woman on the ranch resulting her to make countless efforts of trying to make freinds with the working men.
In the novella, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, the diverse set of characters individually handle oppression on a daily basis. For these characters, racist, sexist and degrading remarks are normal for the time period (early 1900’s). The story is about two men, Lennie and George, trying to find work in a troubling economic time while also trying to overcome Lennie’s mental handicap. They also meet other people that have to overcome their own “setbacks”. The author shows oppression of the characters through their effect on others, actions, and their dialogue.
He’s without a hand and can’t perform work as well as he should be able to, and has nothing to live for. He does not go into town with the other men which contributes to his loneliness even further. Candy says, "You seen what they done to my dog tonight? They says he wasn't no good to himself nor nobody else. When they can me here I wisht somebody'd shoot me..."
Candy is old and vulnerable, shown indirectly by his life-long companion, a sheep dog, who is ‘dragfooted…..gray of muzzle’ and ‘blind folded’. Although the Candy has the dog ‘since he was a pup’, the dog ‘got old an ’a cripple’ that he is no longer useful to the ranch. Despite Candy’s deep-rooted attachment to her, she is eventually shot and killed, even though this action causes immense pain to candy. This mirrors the American society in 1930s, a world where everyone is judged by his or her ability to work, and where a man lost his value if he could not do that. As what Carlson says, ‘he’s all stiff with rheumatism…
Candy was the old one handed janitor on the farm. Candy only had $350 dollars to his name some of which came from the work he did, but mostly from what they paid him after he lost his hand on the job. Candy had one real friend on the farm; his old dog LuLu. He had, had the old crippled dog since he was a puppy. Lulu seems to be his peers enemy for all the other men in the bunkhouse are not to fond of the dog’s funky smell.
The saying “respect the older than you” wasn’t treated well at that time however, is now. With the conditions old people faced it meant it was much tougher for them people to get jobs. After they killed Candy’s dog for the reason that it was old, candy felt lonely especially since it was his only friend for a long period of time, he also hated the fact that he had no power to stop it, “candy looked helplessly at him for Slim’s opinions were law.” He was depressed when his dog is shot, “...he rolled slowly over and faced the wall and lay silent.” It reflected on the position candy was himself, filthy old, disabled, no use, features which candy and his best friend withhold. Candy and his dog was Quite similar to George and Lennie, thats because Lennie ain’t much good to George but Lennie has lived with him for a long time and is also his only friend, the same with Candy as said by Carlson “He ain’t no good to you, Candy. An’ he ain’t no good to himself.” Candy also plays a big part in the book; when he speaks you would consider him the narrator, this is because he is the source were George and Lennie are getting information about the ranch; “The swamper warmed to his gossip...” for that reason he is the gossiper.
Discrimination is a problem that plagues those whose qualities are vulnerable. There are many examples of discrimination in the novel, Of Mice and Men. The characters face discrimination in many different ways including racial, age, gender, and disability. Crooks, the black stable buck, is the victim of racial discrimination. Candy, the old swamper, is a victim of the age discrimination. The victim of gender discrimination is Curley's wife because she is a woman. Life of the victims is hard because of the things they have to go through. Lastly, Lennie is mentally handicap so he discriminated against because of that.
At an old age and only having one hand, Candy is a person that is easy prey. Candy is an old man who is worried that he may be kicked out of the ranch when he gets too old. He is also made to do things that he does not want to do. Carlson, a worker
From black people to white people, to the old and the young, almost every person was discriminated against in some way during the depression and even today. Steinbeck’s novel Of Mice and Men takes place during the Great Depression, 1940s era and describes a very realistic situation about characters who are simply trying to get by and chasing the “American Dream” but struggles with conflict within themselves and the outside world. Discrimination was a common theme of Of Mice and Men and greatly affected the lives of the characters in the novella. Some characters include: Crooks, Curley’s wife, and Candy. The novella is a realistic representation of discrimination in society.