Prompt: it has been argued that Steinbeck believes that people are naturally cruel. Discuss how cruelty is explored in the novella ‘Of Mice and Men’.
John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men fathoms the suffused effects of the Great Depression’; following two itinerant friends: Lennie Small and George Milton. The novella incessantly portrays violence through the deliberate use of circumstance and character’s temperament. The theme of cruelty permeates the plot, considering Steinbeck’s belief: “humans are naturally cruel”; which derives from the reasonable actions performed by the characters in the book. These primary and secondary characters explore cruelty through many stages, such as , the act of regretting someone’s presence, racism and segregation,
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George is seen taunting Lennie several times throughout the book, as Lennie’s actions always find George in hardships. This makes George indignant and he declares that “You can’t keep a job and you lose me ever’ job i get…You keep me in hot water all the time” [pg.12]. This signifies how much of a burden Lennie is to George and it is clear that Lennie feels like such, about himself as he says that he will “run away to a cave”, if George doesn’t want him. This is a form of emotional cruelty as George lacks the empathy towards Lennie’s disability and thus takes advantage of his condition by mocking him. Considering his disability, George shouldn’t complain about Lennie’s mischiefs but should appreciate his presence as many characters of the book are victimised by the current circumstances of …show more content…
Due to Lennie’s immense size; Curley falls in hatred with him and despises his every action. Such cruelty is emphasised when Curley is being teased by Candy and Lennie smiles at a memory of his own, to which Curley replies, “ ‘What the hell you laughin’ at?’... He slashed at Lennie with a left and then smashed down on his nose with a right.”[pg.70-71]. Curley’s pugnacious personality and his paranoia motivated him to attack Lennie; who was oblivion to his actions. However, after George’s instructions; Lennie does not hold back and defends himself by crashing Curley’s hand. Steinbeck explores the human nature of people during physical fights by deliberately provoking prejudiced arguments between characters. While Lennie does not intentionally show cruelty, the way he defends himself hurts Curley’s hand, thus demonstrating an accidental form of physical
Which then brings me to the next scenario in the book when a little more damage happening. “Let go Lennie” (Steinbeck 63) is what George shouted when Lennie was essentially breaking Curleys hand into little pieces. The quote resembles George having to keep Lennie from crushing Curley's hand even more. Lennie is strong but lennie can't seem to realize or make it click in his head because of Lennie's
Curley thinks that Lennie is making fun of him when he laughs so Curley throws punches as lennie tries to explain that he wasn't laughing at him. Eventually after a couple blows Lennie crushes Curley's hand in his own. Curley refuses to listen to Lennie and again immediately goes straight to violence and attacking Lennie. Had he listened he could have avoided a crushed hand, being embarrassed and shamed because he always bragged about being a great boxer.
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck is a great example of 1900’s literature, and a great reflection of the great depression with a tragic end. A lot of themes were displayed in this short story, and developed the plot as the story moved on. Characters in the book are developed mainly through these themes. Arguably the most crucial theme is Nature Vs Nurture, as it drove the climax of the story, and lead to the tragic ending of the book. Lennie Smalls in the story was born with a mental disability, in the times of the great depression, leading to Lennie’s ultimatum, and the theme of Nature vs Nurture.
John Steinbeck explores human experience in the novella ‘Of Mice and Men’ in friendship, loneliness and marginalisation. He does this through the characters as explained thought the paragraphs below.
Due to child like qualities, Lennie is a person which would be easy prey and a vulnerable person. Lennie is a vulnerable person who is quite dumb. His has an obsession for touching soft thing and this will often lead him in to trouble. But poor Lennie is an innocent person who means no harm to anybody. When he and Curley get into a fight Lennie is too shocked to do any thing. He tries to be innocent but, when told to by George grabs Curley’s fist and crushes it. George is Lennie’s best friend and Lennie does every thing he tells him to do as demonstrated in the fight with “But you tol...
John Steinbeck’s creative and carefully planned writing expressed the difficulties of oppression in this Era. Of Mice and Men explored the effects of systemic oppression on women,
Strengths and Weaknesses play a huge roll within the story. Steinbeck explores different types of strength and weakness throughout the novel. As the novel begins, Steinbeck shows how Lennie possesses physical strength beyond his control, as when he cannot help killing the mouse. Great physical strength is valuable in George and Lennie's circumstances. Curley, as a symbol of authority on the ranch and a champion boxer, makes this clear immediately by using his brutish strength and violent temper to intimidate those who look down on him. Lennie means no harm at all. The reason why George and Lennie had to leave in the beginning of the novel was because it was believed that Lennie attempted to rape a woman there. Rape was not the case at all, when Lennie expressed his love for the touch of soft things, such as a dress or a mouse, this panicked the woman causing a chain reaction, and causing Lennie panic also. When Lennie accidentally kills the mouse, it foreshadows the future of Lennie and Curley's wife.
In the novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck there are many events in the plot of the story that occur that prove that when man is cruel to man, some peoples lives are negatively affected. One instance in where this is proven true is when the men on the ranch and Curley's wife are cruel and discriminative against Crooks causing him to be the one to mourn. An example of how the men are discriminative towards Crooks is that he is forced to live in a shack away from the bunkhouse and also Crooks says that "They play cards in there, but I can't play because I'm black. They say I stink" and "I ain't wanted in the bunkhouse." An example of when Curley's Wife is critical towards Crooks is when she looks into his room to see what Lennie and Crooks are doing and then she states, shaking her head, that they left the weak ones behind. Also, she threatens to have Crooks hung because a black man should never talk to a white woman the way he just had. As a result of all of these discriminatory acts against him, Crooks feels unwanted and lonely because of his color and placement on the farm. Also those examples are part of the theme of the novel, people need to accept and understand those different from themselves, which also helps to prove the interpretation of the quote. Another example in this novel that proves that when man is cruel to man, the lives of people are negatively affected is when Curley picks on and tries to hurt Lennie. Curley chooses to fight Lennie because he thinks he won't fight back but because George gets angry and tells Lennie to fight back, he does. George being angry is not the only negative effect that Curley's teasing had on man, but also now Lennie is angry and in danger of getting in trouble and Curley himself gets hurt.
George’s struggles with himself become apparent at the beginning of the novel. Steinbeck clearly lets the reader know that George has conflicting feelings about Lennie. He believed, “ ...if he was alone he could live so easy. He could go get a job an ' work, an ' no trouble” (11). George is basically telling Lennie that sometimes, he wishes he could live
...e Lennie is scared and confused (and still dazzled by the farm memory), he doesn’t even try to protect himself. He just cries to George to make Curley stop. George just wants Lennie to stand up for himself, so he tells Lennie to ‘get him’. Lennie obeys George and, in the process, breaks every bone in Curley’s hand. (pg 69: Curley’s fist was swinging when Lennie reached for it. The next minute Curley was flopping like a fish on a line, and his closed fist was lost in Lennie’s big hand…”we got to get him in to a doctor,” he said. “Looks to me like ever’ bone in his han’ is bust.”) Slim threatens to make Curley the laughing stock of the town if he tells what really happened instead of saying that his hand got caught in a machine. I knew that somehow, somewhere in the storyline, Curley was gonna get into a fight with Lennie and Lennie was gonna hurt Curley badly.
Written in 1937, Of Mice and Men, by John Adolf Steinbeck Jr., American author and Pulitzer Prize winner, follows the lives of downtrodden farmhands, George and Lennie. As with many of Steinbeck's books, the themes in Of Mice and Men include his favored themes of class warfare and oppression of the working class. Steinbeck also focuses his literature on the power of friendship and the corrupt nature of mankind. In 1993, Professor Thomas Scarseth wrote a critical analysis of the novella analyzing many aspects of Steinbeck’s work including the presentation, themes, and writing style. In his essay, Scarseth explains the key themes of the Novella. He noted that the corrupted nature of man, the injustice of life, and the power of friendship were three important themes of the book. Much of Scarseth’s analysis contained numerous thoughtful insights. Were his insights and opinions valid, or were his, and Steinbeck’s, perspectives on these issues flawed?
The reader empathizes with him because Steinbeck’s characters say,“he ain’t mean” and sets him to be a favorable character the reader feels sorry for (41). The reader understands that Lennie doesn’t want to hurt or harm anybody but “he gets in trouble alla time because he’s so God damn dumb” and simply doesn’t understand what he’s doing wrong like the time he touched a girls dress which got both Lennie and George run out of the town (41). Finally he even gets killed to put him out of his misery by George for accidentally breaking Curley’s wife's’ neck, although all he actually wanted to do is to feel her
John Steinbeck’s novel, Of Mice and Men, shows the harmful effects of prejudice. Set on the California ranch during the Great Depression, the novel depicts characters who are discriminated against because of features that set them apart from other ranch workers. In particular, Crooks, Candy, and Curley’s wife are negatively affected by prejudice.
The novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck is about two people George and Lennie. They depend on each other and both of them experiences prejudice. This leads them to loneliness. They hated other people and thinks that they are bad people. In this novel, there are many occurrences where prejudice provokes loneliness, facilitates hatred and formulate stereotypes.
The theme of power in prevalent in John Steinbeck’s ‘Of Mice And Men’ and is presented and developed in many different ways. Power is first established in the title, which introduces the recurring wrath of fate implying that men, like beast, are helplessly fated to live a disempowered and isolated life. Some however seek comfort in their powerful dreams, and companionship in their romanticised fraternal bonds, most notably that of Lennie and George, whose unconditional love for another leaves the reader with questions regarding their own morality. Steinbeck’s powerful prose, a strong single plot line over a short time span drives the tragic events forward, and his depiction of the foreshadowing natural world gives the novella a certain aspect of duality.