One of the most prominent examples of leading disappointing lifestyle can be found during the Great Depression that occurred in the 1930’s. Those who are unhappy are usually driven by their disappointment to make decisions that reflect the way they are feeling. Most of the time one has great expectations for one’s future and most succeed, but some dissatisfy. For one to be disappointed, it means that one is sad or displeased because one has failed to fulfill the expectation one hopes to reach. The word disappointment can be exemplified by the characters Crooks and Candy in John Steinbeck’s novel Of Mice and Men. A character in Of Mice and Men that suffers from disappointment is Crooks. Crooks is an African American stable hand who is assigned to work with animals in the barn because of Crooks race and class. Crooks is always neglected and excluded from everyone, therefore, he is angry when people invade his privacy …show more content…
Candy is a one-handed swamper that also gets ignored and discriminated like Crooks. Candy used to be a strong young man that was productive, but now Candy is left aging on the ranch with only one hand due to a machinery accident on the ranch. The other ranch hands disrespect Candy due to his physical handicaps and age. The only thing that really cheers up Candy is Candy’s dog. Candy’s dog is like a parallel version of Candy because of their many similarities like physical disabilities and age. The only thing that has a special place in Candy’s heart is Candy’s dog, and eventually, Carlson gets so annoyed by the dog Carlson shoots Candy’s dog in the back of the head, killing it. The quick and horrid death to Candy’s dog made Candy realize that he is going to share the same fate as his dog. Looking back on Candy’s life one can conclude that Candy is in a dissatisfied state about his life, given that Candy’s days of working are over and the only thing he loved is
As we journey through life, we must make difficult decisions, even when few options exist and the situation is grim. In John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, the decision George faces after Lennie accidentally kills Curley’s wife is complicated, as none of his choices are good. The importance of his relationship with Lennie forces George to look at the big picture and act in Lennie’s best interests, even though the action he must finally take will result in a weight that he will carry forever.
John Steinbeck, an American novelist, is well-known for his familiar themes of depression and loneliness. He uses these themes throughout a majority of his novels. These themes come from his childhood and growing up during the stock market crash. A reader can see his depiction of his childhood era. In Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck shows the prominent themes of loneliness, the need for relationships, and the loss of dreams in the 1930s through the novels’ character.
Candy’s dog is very precious to him, not only because he had been with him ever since he was a pup but also because he could see himself in the dogs place after a very short period of time. He was getting old and would be of no use soon. Just like the dog, everyone would be eager to get rid of him. He had lost his hand at the ranch. He is disabled, both, physically and mentally.
One week after Lennie's death, George sits in the dark corner of a bar. The room is all but empty and dead silent. All the windows are shut, through the small openings come beams of dull light that barely illuminate the room. George stares at his glass with an expressionless face, but a heavy sadness in his eyes. The bartender comes towards him and asks if he would like something else to drink.
Steinbeck upon creating the novel in the 1930’s seen and was experiencing some of the things he wrote on. In the beginning he introduced to us a friendship between two opposite men. One man, George Wilson, is a little man compared to his companion. His friend, on the other hand, was a giant who was naïve as a new born baby. His name was Lennie Smalls. Lennie Smalls was a character that Steinbeck used to allow his audience to see that although he had a good heart and was seemingly helpless, that one day his strength would be the cause of his downfall. Questions on whether or not Steinbeck’s readers should believe in the image in which it is given or primarily based it on the novel being written in a bad environment from the first of the novel. Steinbeck knew upon writing that readers tend to cling and fall for the caring, loving, and misunderstood bad guy trying to prove his innocence against all evil brought to him. So Steinbeck created Lennie to try and portray this character to his audience. Steinbeck had to be sure that all elements presented in the novel were able flow good and complete the recipe (Krutch 29-30).
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.
In conclusion, all of these characters from “Of Mice and Men” are lonely in their own ways. Candy is old and he lost his only friend, his dog. Crooks is segregated from the society because he is black and not allowed to be with the whites. Also last but not least, Curley’s wife is lonely because she is a woman and she is born with that. In our society, right now, women have a lot of rights, from getting jobs to voting. Blacks are no longer segregated from Whites, and our President, Barack Obama is black himself. Also, old people are respected a lot because we now understand, what they have been through.
This piece of literature portrays that false hope is a part of everyday life especially during the great depression. Every influential character in this novella seemed to have some sort of goal in their life that was discontented by the harsh reality of their life and the economy of the United States. George Milton expected for things to get better if he kept working hard, but then Lennie killed Curley’s wife, resulting in George euthanizing Lennie. Working hard and praying that life will get better isn’t always enough, which is the message of harsh reality that Of Mice and Men sends to the novella’s readers. Like everybody, George had a dream of happiness and comfort, which never became reality because of
The 3 themes in “Of Mice And Men” are loneliness, powerlessness, and dreams often fail.
Being lonely, bullied, and disabled are all problems in everyday life. People go through struggles like this just as Crooks did in the story Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. In this story, two main characters are searching for the American Dream. When they arrive to their job, they meet an African American man named Crooks. Crooks is mistreated by everybody around him and abandoned because of the color of his skin. Crooks faces many challenges throughout the story while dealing with the fact that he will never be treated the same as the others. The reader should feel sorry for Crooks because he faces many obstacles while being disabled, bullied, and lonely.
Disappointment is someone being sad or mad about something they have done or failed to do. Disappointment can be caused by other people’s actions. In the book “Of Mice And Men” by John Steinbeck, the characters of Crooks, Candy, and Curly’s wife all suffer from disappointment of life. Crooks suffer from disappointment from how nobody wants to play or talk to him just because he is black. Also Curly’s Wife suffers because women don’t have that much of rights so she gets treated badly. Candy gets also treated badly because he is old and only has one hand to use so he can’t do that much work. All of the people in the book get treated badly because the book “Of Mice and Men” is made during the time period that the great depression was so there wasn’t that much of rights towards women and black people.
Crooks is the last and final character shown in the novel Of Mice and Men and, shows that dreams don’t always come true. This novel took place back when race was a huge thing back in the day. He was treated much different than the other workers, in the novel. The different race affected his dream in the story he was treated like a nobody, because of his race. “I ain't wanted in my bank house, and you ain’t wanted in my room. The quote shows that crooks is treated different, by no one wants to be around
John Steinbeck was inspired by the line "The best schemes o' mice an' men [often go awry]" by Robert Burns in one of his poems. This line refers to ambitions that went off track during the process. There are multiple examples in the novel that refers to the line in the poem, that inspired John Steinbeck. Those examples are Curley's boxing career coming to an end, Curley's wife not becoming a actress, and Lennie's plans of tending the rabbits, but messed everything up.
Conflict, by definition, is a back and forth struggle between two opposing forces. In the literary work, Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, it is clear, the protagonist, George Milton, undergoes many conflicts that lead to the novel’s overall purpose. Steinbeck weaves together George’s conflicts with others, himself, and with society to illustrate what the true meaning of friendship is.
Another ranch worker, Carlson, finds Candy’s dog as filthy and useless, possessing a pungent smell. He is eager to kill the man’s dog. Candy refuses to let Carlson kill him, but eventually gives in, for the dog’s sake. The dog was Candy’s only companion, but now, Candy is lonely. He is already isolated from the rest of the ranch workers. His old age prevents him from doing certain tasks and he is becoming less ‘useful.’ Candy knows his time on the ranch will soon come to an end. He is also left behind when the rest of the men go to the whore house – it’s not a place for old men to be. Candy is an outcast as well, he doesn’t exactly belong on the ranch with the other