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Symbolism of mice and men essay
Main themes of of mice and men
Main themes of of mice and men
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In the heart touching novel of Steinbeck Of Mice And Men portrays many themes one major theme was human jealousy. Within the book Steinbeck portrays many forms of human emotions. He shows many forms of jealousy throughout the book ranging from character to character. The setting is a small isolated farm filled with many characters. Characters like Curley, Curley's wife, and crooks are jealous of others because they have something that they cannot obtain or have. One example, during chapter two Candy talks to George telling him, "Well . . . tell you what. Curley’s like a lot of little guys. He hates big guys. He’s alla time picking scraps with big guys. Kind of like he’s mad at ‘em because he ain’t a big guy. You seen little guys like that, ain’t you? Always …show more content…
In chapter four when she is talking to Lennie she pours out her heart asking, "Why can't I talk to you? Never get to talk to nobody. I get awful lonely." page 85. In this short exclamation of indignance she shows her views on how everybody around her gets to talk to others while she is excluded living in a house while everyone else has company and enjoys their time together. Her behavior exhibits her feeling constantly within the novel showing how she is jealous of others because they do not have to deal with loneliness. In addition Crooks is the only black worker on the ranch and because of that he is segregated from everyone else. Over time Crooks grows resentful of the unfortunate treatment and when Lennie wanders into his stable he finds it difficult to cope with. As they talk he grows more and more jealous of Lennie's companionship with George. He grows angry because of his misfortune eventually asking Lennie what would he do if George never came back for him. All of Crooks actions in this scene is because of his longing for companionship just like Lennie and
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.
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.
Nobody likes to be forced to live in a barn, let alone to work only with the horses. Crooks spent most of his nights reading and he keeps away from others because of the way he is treated and this eventually leads to his very own emotional downfall. He is treated as an outcast and is forced to find friendship the only way he can, through the books that he reads. Crooks is fascinated by the strength of the friendship of Lennie and George, especially how close they are. Crooks said, "Well, s'pose, jus' s'pose he don't come back.
One feels a drag of sympathy on the heart at the conclusion of the book, Of Mice and Men, when Lennie states, “‘We got each other, that's what, that gives a hoot in hell about us.’”(104). Sympathy is in high demand throughout this novel set during one of the darkest times in America. Steinbeck incites more than just sympathy for many of his multidimensional characters, an emotional appeal that captivates audiences from all walks of life. Steinbeck’s classic novel, Of Mice and Men, incorporates various characters that create sympathy in the reader such as Lennie, George, and Crooks.
Steinbeck clearly shows that Crooks never has any say on the ranch. No one cares about him. He’s just a “negro stable buck” (66). In this novella, No one ever talks to him except for candy. Lennie finally finds himself going into his room. While in there they speak about racial profiling. Crooks tell lennie that he’s the only African Americans on the ranch. He tells Lennie how he’s “alone out here at night” (73). He has nobody to talk to all he does is read books and think. The people on the ranch care less about his needs and wants, all they want him to do is to continue his work...
Crooks was excluded from the group and had his own barn which was his only freedom. When Crooks said “Maybe you can see now. You got George. You know he’s goin’ to come back. S’pose you didn’t have nobody. S’pose you couldn’t go into the bunkhouse and play rummy ’cause you was black. How’d you like that? ” (Steinbeck 72), he wants to seek someone’s company like Lennie has George’s. Crooks threatened Lennie into the fact that George might not come back because he wanted Lennie to feel loneliness, but to his disappointment he was in vain. Crooks also conveys through his body language and the way he speaks that he doesn’t want to be excluded from the others and wants to participate in all the activities with them.
In the novel Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck brings out the themes of Lonliness and companionship, and strengths and weaknesses through the actions, and quotations of the characters. Irony and foreshadowing play a large roll on how the story ends. Lennie and his habit of killing things not on purpose, but he is a victim of his own strength. George trying to pretend that his feelings for Lennie mean nothing. The entire novel is repetitive in themes and expressed views.
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 hanged 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.
The daily struggle of the working class, fear of loneliness and the reality of putting all your energy into plans that fail are the different themes relating to John Steinbeck's novel, "Of Mice and Men". The characters depicted by the author are individuals who are constantly facing one obstacle after another. The book illustrates different conflicts such as man versus society, man versus man, man versus himself and idealism versus reality. The book's backdrop is set in the Salinas, California during the depression. The two main characters include two men, George and Lennie. Supportive characters include a few ranch hands, Candy, Crooks, Curly, Slim and Carlson.
Crooks also feels a great deal of loneliness, as he is an outcast on the ranch. He lives in his own room where hardly anybody ever bothers him. He is never invited to play cards or do anything fun with the other guys. One day a curious Lenny asked, “Why ain’t you wanted?” Crooks replies “Cause I’m black. They play cards in there, but I can’t play because I’m black. They think I stink. Well I tell you, you all stink to me” (pg. ). Crooks’ attitude towards this is shown when he saw Lennie playing with his puppy outside of Crooks’ quarters. Crooks states that “if me, as a black man, is not allowed in the white quarters, then white men are not allowed in mine” (pg. ). However this is merely a front as the more open side of Crooks is shown later on in the book.
Crooks expressed feelings of loneliness through out Of Mice and Men. Crooks? loneliness is caused because he is black, at the time the story took place there was racism. Since Crooks is black he wasn?t able to socialize with the white men. When Steinbeck describes all of Crooks? possessions, it shows that Crooks has been at the ranch a long time and that his possessions are all the he cares about. In Crooks? room, Lennie comes to talk to him. Crooks is cautious at first, this was from the years of racism that Crooks endured, he learned not to associate with white folk.
“A guy goes nuts if he ain’t got nobody. Don’t make no difference who the guy is, long’s he’s with you. ‘I tell ya’ he cried. ‘I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an’ he gets sick.” (Page 72-73) As you can see, Crooks also spends most of his time alone because he is black. He is not allowed to enter the bunk house nor go to town with the guys. He is not allowed to enter the bunk house, he is not allowed to go to town with the guys and nobody likes him because he is black. This shows that he has no friendship and his whole life is filled with loneliness. His case is different from Lennie’s.
The conversation on page 68 of the book perfectly explains the discrimination against Crooks: “‘Why ain’t you wanted?’ Lennie asked. ‘’Cause I’m black. They play cards in there, but I can’t play because I’m black. They say I stink.’” (Steinbeck, 68). Crooks is unfairly treated solely based on his skin color, and the other men only say that he stinks to avoid dealing with him. In addition, Crooks displayed his need for attention when, on page 69, after Lennie had walked into his room, he states, “Come on in and set a while.” (Steinbeck, 69). He is proving how extreme isolation can cause one to crave human interaction. Although Crooks acts like he is reluctantly inviting Lennie in, he was truly excitedly welcoming Lennie, who stopped to talk in Crooks’ own house where no one else ever goes.
If George wouldn’t have met Lennie, he would be a drunk in a whorehouse dying of cirrhosis. If Lennie didn’t meet George he would of died soon after his aunt did, because he would either have got himself in a bind with no one to help him or he would of simply wondered off and died of loneliness. & nbsp ; & nbsp ; & nbsp ; & nbsp ; & nbsp ; Crooks suffers from loneliness, because he is black, not because he is an unfriendly person. Crooks, though, may seem mean, but he is just tired of being rejected and disrespected by everybody around him. Crooks has a horrible life. He will never have a companion or anybody that will respect him unless he meets another black person.
This prevented the characters from reaching their full potential and causes tragedy. Racial discrimination was one of the aspects of the discrimination in this story. Consequently, Crooks had to battle with various difficulties and conflicts, which prevented him from reaching his full potential. The ranch hands did not let Crooks live, eat, and play with them because his skin colour was different. It led to the conflict between him and Lennie.