Symbolism In The Red Pony

Symbols are often a way to connect the reader to the general theme of a novel, the book Indian Horse is a story of a young Indigenous boy named Saul Indian Horse and all the troubles he went through growing up. Richard Wagamese the author uses symbols like hockey, family and friendship and culture to reinforce a major theme that love can never be broken. The most important symbol in the book is the game of hockey and Saul’s never-ending love for it. While Saul was forced to attend a residential school called St. Jerome’s, he discovered that he is a naturally gifted hockey player.

Crooks is the only black man on the ranch, and is often discriminated against by all the other workers at the ranch. He is usually excluded from many activities that all the other men participate in, and is ignored by most of the workers. “I ain’t wanted in the bunk house…cause I’m black…” This quote shows how the other men who work at the ranch reject and isolate Crooks, and how he is forced to have his own bunk house, since he isn’t allowed to reside in the same bunk house as the other workers. Crooks leads a harsh, lonely life, only because the

In the novel, ‘Of mice and Men’, John Steinbeck uses allegory to represent different themes and messages. An allegory is a story, poem or a picture which can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning. While reading Steinbeck’s book I noticed different metaphors such as the usage of animals and Curley’s wife. Throughout the whole book the reader can notice many animals mentioned such as rabbits, mice, the puppy and the old dog. Curley’s wife is also a sort of symbol. She represents the way in which the women were treated and looked upon in those days. The animals and Curley’s wife all symbolize different things in life in the 1930’s USA. They all symbolize the hopes and the dreams that the characters share which motivates and drives them

Even though Crooks, a black stable hand, has been around the Ranch longer than most people and he is still probably one of the most lonely. This lack of contact with other people has made him severely bitter especially when people enter his personal space. He creates his personal space with books because it helps him cope with the loneliness. So when Lennie tries to befriend him he freaks out by exclaiming, “You got no right to come in to my room. This here’s my room. Nobody got any right in her but me.”(68) In addition to Crooks being lonely he is also segregated from all the other workers. He lives in the barn with the animals instead of the bunkhouse with the others. It’s also very hard for Crooks to associate with the others, because during the time period blacks are seen as a lower class of people. When Crooks states, “Guys don’t come in to a colored man’s room very much.”(75) It shows how little contact he has with the others because of how segregated he is. This segregation mirrors the Jim Crow laws that were active during this period. Crooks’s treatment on the ranch represents the racial discrimination against blacks in

John Steinbeck uses symbolism to signify ideas and qualities by giving them a meaning. For instance, Candy’s dog. Candy’s dog represent the fate awaiting anyone who has outlived his or her purpose. Candy’s dog is old and weak so he is no longer needed in the world. Although, Carlson promises to kill the dog painlessly, his insistence that the old dog must die supports a cruel natural law that the strong will dispose of the weak. “That dog of Candy's is so God damn old he can't hardly walk. Stinks like hell, too. Ever' time he comes into the bunk house I can smell him for two, three days. Why'n't you get Candy to shoot his old dog and give him one of the pups to raise up? I can smell that dog a mile away. Got no teeth, damn near blind, can't eat. Candy feeds him milk. He can't chew nothing else." Candy knows this lesson, for he fears that he himself is coming to an end when he will no longer be useful at the ranch.

During the 1930s, discrimination was present in many forms, from racial to sexual. Through Curley 's wife, John Steinbeck demonstrates the feelings of a typical woman during the Great Depression. Initially, Steinbeck provides a biased perception about Curley 's wife. She is described as a "‘jail bait '" (Steinbeck 32) and a "‘tart '" (28) by George in that she is very flirtatious and can get the men in trouble. She always appears in a red amorous dress and uses her excuse of looking for her husband to converse with the men. However, they do not sympathize with her at all. As stated in George 's quote, "‘ranch ain 't no place for a girl '" (51), she is forced to live in a male dominated society where her freedom and dreams are limited.

He creates this effect because referring to men as boys makes you feel like Curley’s wife still has a child’s mindset. Steinbeck also makes us feel like Curley’s wife knows she isn’t very high on the ranch hierarchy when she says to Crooks, Candy and Lennie ‘They left all the weak ones here’ this makes the reader feel as if she has included herself in the ‘weak ones’ by the use of the word ‘all’ and as these four characters are the only people left on the ranch at this particular point in the book this is all the more likely to be the case. Steinbeck also shows that Curley’s wife isn’t very high up in the order of the ranch through the way she picks on Crooks as he is the only person on the ranch whom in below Curley’s wife in the ranch hierarchy. ‘she turned on him in scorn’ by the use of the word ‘scorn’ Steinbeck shows us as the reader that Curley’s wife thinks that Crooks is worthless as would have most people in the 1930’s . This is because since slavery was abolished black people’s right had changed little. Steinbeck also references to slavery in his use of the word ‘whip’ and in the sentence in which it is used ‘waiting for him to move so she could whip at him again’ makes the reader feel as if she is a slave trader and she is using a whip to get the slaves back in line after an outburst. Steinbeck uses this word to show that no matter how bad women’s rights were in the 1930’s the rights of the black American were always going to be worse.

1. “ Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world.

John Steinbeck, author of many classic American novels, greatly influenced modern American literature. Steinbeck often referred to the Salinas Valley of California in his writing. He often referred to the settlers and the adversities they had faced during the migration to the Salinas Valley area. With novels such as Of Mice And Men and The Grapes Of Wrath, Steinbeck explained the harsh reality of the severe hardships the settlers faced to accomplish the American Dream. These novels share many similarities in regard to their themes. To understand Steinbeck's work, we must first understand Steinbeck.

John Steinbeck was born and raised in Salinas, California, a town well known for farming and being poor. Its thought that his many conversations with the migrant workers of the area inspired a lot of his work, such as “Of Mice and Men”, a

John Steinbeck’s 1949 novella entitled Of Mice and Men uses many significant symbols to convey meanings about the human condition. Such symbols include hands to represent labour, cards to signify chance and taking a risk, and finally, rabbits to suggest ideas about achieving one’s hopes and dreams. Symbols are a key central device in delivering meaning, as they consistently repeated throughout the narrative and are typically associated with the novella’s many characters.

     John Steinbeck wrote about what surrounded him. At the time he was writing, the nineteen-thirties, a great depression was plaguing the United States. Many people were out of work. Many farmers were losing their farms and homes. An extreme drought had also wrecked the farms of the Midwest and made them into what is now referred to as the "dust bowl". It was a terrible time to be poor, and most were. People died of malnutrition every day. In California, where Steinbeck resided, migrant workers dominated the workforce. Thousands traveled from all around to pick fruit in the farms of the Salinas Valley for minuscule wages. Thousands more could not find suitable

Almost all the characters symbolize a certain type of discrimination but the strongest characters that portray discrimination in society is Candy and Candy’s dog, Crooks, and Curley’s wife. Candy is an old man that worked on the ranch until he had his arm cut off and was incapable of doing any heavy work and his dog was too an old, smelly dog who couldn’t do any work because of his age. Candy and his dog are a symbol of how the old, disabled, or infirmed are not valued in society nor are they wanted. Just like Candy’s dog can be replaced by a new, young pup, Candy can be replaced by a younger, stronger, and more capable worker. Crooks is a negro stable buck and represents discrimination of race. Crooks has his own corner of the stable where he sleeps and puts all his things in because the other men don’t want him in the bunkhouse because he is black. “‘Why ain’t you wanted?’ Lennie asked. ‘’Cause I’m black. They say I stink. Well, I tell you, all of you stink to me.’(68)” White people have power over him so if he makes any mistake he can be easily cut off and canned. This is shown when Curley’s wife shuts him down in a conversation, “Listen nigger. You know what I can do if you open your trap?” There is also Curley’s wife who represents discrimination of gender. Curley’s wife is a sweet, young girl who lives on the ranch with Curley where there are no other women but her so she tries to talk to the men. But since she is married she isn’t allowed to talk to anybody but Curley or she’ll be accused of being a flirt or a “tart”. Not only does

The Red Pony by author John Steinbeck is a very notable book for young adults. The central and recurring theme of the four stories told within this short novel is life and death. The stories also deal with conflict between old and new. Unlike most novels for young adults this book is different because John Steinbeck does not try to soften or hide old age and death, but instead presents these themes as they are in reality. The stories tell how the main character, Jody Tiflin, becomes more responsible as he deals with the disappointments and sadness, as well as the successes of real life.

In my opinion Steinbeck drew the subject matter from his own experience of working on ranches, he was interested in special kinds of relationships among men working on