Skill and Craftsmanship in the Works of Steinbeck Essay

Ponyboy is gold. He is helpful and smart, but he’s a greaser and well that’s fine to some people...to others it’s just not acceptable. Even though Ponyboy and Johnny hit the road after Bob was killed he still deserved better. Ponyboy had potential and he is going places, I can tell. Ponyboy has had many losses in his life, Mom, Dad, Johnny, and Dally, but he is strong. That’s all he is going to need to be.

After running for a while they stopped in another parking lot with a fountain in the middle. While in the parking lot a blue mustang that belonged to the Socs that beat up Johnny a long time ago pulled up. They stepped out and started to insult Johnny and Ponyboy, Ponyboy snapped back and they grabbed him and shoved his head in the found as stated, “They grabbed my arm and twisted it behind my back, and shoved my face into the fountain. I fought, but the hand at the back of my neck was strong and I had to hold my breath. I’m dying, I thought, and wondered what was happening to Johnny.” This showed that those Socs were even going to kill them just because they talked back, but they were also drunk which also shows how dangerous drunk Socs are. To save Ponyboy Johnny had to kill the Soc and afterwards they both had to run out of town to avoid being arrested. This changed Ponyboys identity into a outlaw.

When Ponyboy returns home at 2 a.m. in the morning, Darry is agitated and begins to yell at Pony and Soda, all in a fit of rage. Darry slaps Ponyboy, causing him to run away with Johnny. Later after Ponyboy calms down, he begins wondering whether running away from all this was a good idea. When these boys wander into a park within the neighborhood, the Socs’ Randy, Bob, and three others confront them, and after they exchange derogatory remarks, the tension intensifies after Ponyboy spits at the rival gang. The Socs grab Ponyboy and attempt to drown him in a fountain. His gang member Johnny, feeling anxious and terrified because Bob had brutally jumped him on a previous occasion, spontaneously stabs Bob, causing his accidental death (Coppola 11.30). Johnny and Ponyboy, now feeling frightened and without a clue of what to do next for they are well aware that those who take life in Oklahoma face execution on the electric chair, decide to seek the counsel of Dally, who gives them some cash and a loaded gun and asks them to hide inside an abandoned church in Windrixville. While staying there, Pony decides to cut and dye his hair to disguise.

Then Ponyboy runs out the door, finds Johnny, and goes to the park. There, however, the two young greasers run into randy and bob, with a huge group of their Socs friends. One of the Socs friends hold pony boy’s head under a cold water fountain, and Ponyboy blacks out. When he comes to, he is lying on the ground next to Johnny. The bloody corps of bob is next to them. To save Ponyboy, Johnny had to kill bob.

The author shows Ponyboys instincts when the church starts on fire. Ponyboys says, “But he never heard Dally’s answer, for we had reached the top of Jay Mountain and Dally suddenly slammed on the brakes.” This quote defines how Ponyboy makes a rash decision to go and save the kids on Jay Mountain, even before Dally has stopped the car. After leaving the car, Ponyboy makes another rash decision trying to save the children in the fire. After the children are free and Pony and Johnny are exiting the church a beam falls on Johnny, Ponyboys says, “Then I heard Johnny scream, as I went back for him.” Ponyboys instincts are brought out greatly in this quote, the author almost makes it seem as if it is second nature to Ponyboy to help save people, leading to the next characteristic of

At the end of the book Ponyboy finally comes to terms with the deaths of Johnny and Dally, and he finally realizes that violence is not the answer when he makes up with Darry. Darry and Ponyboy are shouting at each other, and Ponyboy asks Sodapop to take his side. This causes Sodapop to rush out of the house, and Ponyboy and Darry chase after him. When they finally catch up Sodapop tells them he feels sick of being pulled apart by their fights. Ponyboy sympathizes with Sodapop as he says in the text: “Darry and I did play tug of war with him, with never a thought to how much it was hurting him.” Ponyboy suddenly understands what his fighting with Darry has done to Sodapop, and later in their conversation Ponyboy realizes why he never got along with Darry: “I saw that I had expected Darry to do all the understanding without even trying to

In Of Mice and Men, the Steinbeck theme of bullying and cruelty are demonstrated through the relationships of the farm workers, how they talk to each other and treat each other. It is contrasted by the accidental violence of George. Steinbeck makes it seem almost

The novel Of Mice and Men written by John Steinbeck is set in America in the 1930’s and it describes the lives of migrant farmers as they go from farm to farm looking for jobs. It also shows the loneliness of the characters and the hard work that they put in. The main characters of the book are Lennie, a man-child, and George, a small man but very powerful character that takes care of Lennie in their journey. Also when they get to the farm they meet the bosses wife who is very lonely and looks for company in the workers. Steinbeck uses characterization to bring his characters to life using various techniques.

Towards the middle of the story, a boy named Johnny had killed a Soc that was drowning Ponyboy. He and Ponyboy fled the city to another town, and hid in an abandon church there for a week. When they were going to leave, they realized the church was on fire and there was kids trapped inside. Johnny and Pony were good friends and they decided to go help the children. After they rescued the children, they had to escape the burning, ravaged building. A flaming, steaming hot beam from the ceiling fell on Johnny. After this happened, Pony passed out, “ I leaped out the window and heard timber crashing and the flames roaring right behind me. I staggered, almost

I. John Steinbeck used his personal experiences as a laborer to write many of his novels like Of Mice and Men and The Grapes of Wrath.

In this novella, I developed a thesis statement, which is: The pearl kept Kino moving forward because it represented hope during a period in his life. I chose this thesis statement because one of the aspects that makes this story move forward is Kino’s hope and greed; even if this greed is based on his hope. Steinbeck quotes: “Every man suddenly became related to Kino’s pearl, the schemes, the plans, the futures, the wishes, the needs, the lusts, the hungers of everyone, and only one person stood in the way and that was Kino, so he became curiously everyman’s enemy” (Steinbeck, 27).

In the novella, ‘Of Mice and Men’, the characters of Slim and Curley are created to have a strong influence on the other workers’ lives. While both the characters make an impact with the way they are presented, Steinbeck portrays them both very differently. He does this by giving the reader different impressions when each of the characters are introduced, the idiosyncrasies the author has given them, the way they treat others, how the rest of the characters react to the characteristics of Curley and Slim and why they influence particular characters.

In the novel “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck, people are portrayed to not work hard enough to achieve long-term goals or dreams that they have set for themselves. This idea is shown multiple times throughout the story. It starts with Lennie and George wanting to purchase their own farm, to do this they will need to make enough money to get the farm started. They show no effort to make progress on this dream of theirs, they spend all the money they make on women and beer. Lennie’s dream is to tend to and take care of the rabbits on the farm they hope to one day own, his problem is that he has a problem with animals. When Lennie pets an animal he usually ends up killing it, and he makes no effort to show a little more care for the poor

John Steinbeck’s book Of Mice and Men is an extraordinary novel with unique characteristics. The novel is about an uncommon friendship between two extremely different individuals who are living and working together. This story belong to the genres tragic realistic fiction, historical fiction and drama. The linking between the novel and The Great Depression emphasizes throughout the story, which makes the novel very realistic and down to earth. The author touches on several themes such as: the unreachable American dream, the economic injustices, loneliness, friendship and people’s propensity for cruelty. In this book review, we will get into a deeper understanding of what the actual story means.

‘Of Mice And Men' by John Steinbeck is a classic novel, tragedy, written in a social tone. The authorial attitude is idyllic, however, as the story develops it changes into skeptic. It is evident that Steinbeck knew the setting and places he is writing about.