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Essay about family unity
Essay about family unity
Essay about family unity
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The Mouse and His Child, by Russell Hoban, is a melancholy fable about a wind-up pair of tin mice that explore various themes such as hope and perseverance. However, the prevailing lesson taken from this book can be found in the way that Hoban employs his cast of wind-up toys to advocate the importance of the family unit. The story begins with the family together, but it is divided and they go out in separate directions.
The father mouse and his child have different views on what to do after the break up of the family. The father's goal of self-winding is a wish for independence, while his child only wishes to bring the family back together. In fact, when the child tells Frog, "I want to find the elephant, I want her to be my mama, and I want the seal to be my sister..." (35), the father is flabbergasted since he was not aware of his child's desire. However, since they are bound together with the father mouse pushing the child along, the father's dream of self-winding/independence takes priority.
Hoban cleverly uses the dialogue of the father mouse to show that the family broke up because of differences between the father and mother. In reply to his child's desire to go look for the elephant/mama and the seal/sister, the father says, "I cannot imagine myself being cozy with that elephant." (46) Yet the father humors his child and goes in the direction that they believe may lead them to the seal/sister and elephant/mama saying, "Finding the elephant would be as pointless as looking for her, but since I cannot convince you of that, ... we shall (at least) see something of the world" (47).
While the elephant/mama had grown accustom to her royal lifestyle at the dollhouse in the store, she began to be snooty to her family. In replying to why she had been at the store so long she stated, "I'm part of the establishment...and this is my house." (5). It is not until she has been separated from her possessions and the family that she realizes how well off she was when the family was together. When she sees the father and child cutting the tree, she is "completely overwhelmed" (127). Until then she had only thought of herself. She realizes the error of their split as "a world of love and pain was printed on her vision" (128).
Should George have shot his friend Lennie? George probably did the right thing by shooting Lennie. How can we condemn George for sparing his friend Lennie the pain and fear of being killed by someone else? He did something society sees as wrong, but he did it for a good reason. Lennie didn’t deserve to die, but there was no other alternative. Curley wanted to kill Lennie, and since George cared for Lennie, he figured the best thing would be for him to put Lennie out of his misery.
...ve with her powers. In general no matter the conflict that arises the elephants always stick together and never become mad at one another. This collectiveness/family unity is a great message to any reader searching for life answers.
Burns talks about the mouse in sympathy and is sorrowful that he had taken the mouse’s home away from the mouse by accidentally destroying its home for the winter, and that the mouse’s dream was to dwell in their cozy home, and even though the mouse had prepared everything Burns says that “The best laid schemes of mice and men go often awry.”
The story begins with a for the most part regular mouse. Like most mice he is “Busy with Mice things”. However just shortly into the story you find that he is anything but normal when he begins to hear a “Roaring” in his ears. Others however ignore this saying “Are you foolish in your head? What sound?”. He tries to convince the other mice, but they are too closed minded to listen to him. These mice, to me represent my peers that are unwilling to take the time to look at the bigger picture around them. I myself am happy and content with my own little world. The story made me think about what I’m missing out on in life by being confined to my little box of thinking, that is my so-called life.
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.
Warren French writes, “The world just hasn’t been made right, so that dreams are the only things that can keep men going.” Agree or disagree with this statement.
Children for the most part found going to the zoo a joyous occasion even when it contains many dangerous creatures. The central theme of families joy that one child feels may reciprocate into the entire family unit. The author cites children’s letters from the period and first hand accounts of zoo visitation as sources for his research and analysis. Unknown, “Hattie of Central Park: Most Intelligent of All Elephants.”
“Of Mice and Men”, by John Steinbeck is a novel about the hardships of life and the importance of having other people around. The story is of two men trying to survive with one another in a world full of loneliness; their relationship is quite rare and strange. Lennie, a large bear, has a mental disability which causes him to be in a childlike state. George, a much smaller and more competent man takes care of both of them. Although they work for others on ranches, their dream is to get by on their own and live off the land. However, Lennie’s state causes conflict as they travel from job to job. Steinbeck uses clever ways in his novel to develop his theme and characters as the story progresses; both of these elements also help create a large
I have been analysing the novella ‘Of Mice and men’ by John Steinbeck, which was published in 1937. Steinbeck wrote the novel based on his own experiences as a bindle stiff in the 1920’s, around the same time when the great Wall Street crash happened, causing an immense depression in America. Throughout the novel he uses a recurring theme of loneliness in his writing, which may have reflected his own experiences at this time. This is evident in his writing by the way he describes the characters, setting and language in the novel.
Elephants'." Studies in Short Fiction. 17.1 (Winter 1980): 75-77. Rpt. in Literature Resource Center. Detroit: Gale, 75-77. Literature Resource Center. Gale.
We learned that she was crippled and that she couldn’t travel as fast as the rest of the herd. However, we saw that the elephants in Babyl’s group didn’t leave her behind; they waited for her.” The guide had explaoined that the elephants always waited for the elephant name Babyl, and they had been doing it for years. The guide explained how the group would walk for a while, then stop and look around to see where Babyl was. If Babyl was too far back, they would stop and wait. (Bekoff, 2007, p. 3). This shows the value of emotions that enhanced Babyl 's chance at survival. The group must of cared for Babyl, or they wouldn 't do what they were doing to halp take care of the elephant, if they had not, the elphant would have more than likely parished a long time ago, becoming prey and a food source for another animal.
When the story opens, Marcy seems to have only one problem, and that is the fact that she has a mouse in her house. However, it isn't until she starts thinking about the mouse that she, "cannot help thinking about all the other things that are wrong with her life" (Metzgar, 67). The first problem for her is that her parents are in the beginning of a divorce and they both seem to want to pull her in their corner. Her father wants her to get to know (and eventually like) his new girlfriend Helen, while her mother wants Marcy to hate her. The other (and definitely the biggest) problem is her relationship with her boyfriend Tom. She didn't really want a serious relationship when the two first started dating but didn't want to hurt him either. Now she fears that he is smothering her and worries that he will propose.
Through the use of allusion, Steinbeck uses the poem “to a mouse” by Robert Burns to show that “The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry” or no matter how carefully something is planned, something could still go wrong with it. This quote relates to Lennie and George to their “American Dream”; "'Well,' said George, 'we'll have a big vegetable patch and a rabbit hutch and chickens. And when it rains in the winter, we'll just say the hell with goin' to work, and we'll build up a fire in the stove and set around it an' listen to the rain comin' down on the roof...'"(Steinbeck 14-15). Although they had big plans they all started crumbling down when Lennie started getting into trouble and by the end of the book had to be killed for his own good. While Lennie and George's hopes and dreams are being crushed, so are the mouses. In the
Morally, I think this story clearly states that people would do anything to avoid being embarrassed. From my understanding, I think that this story teaches us that we should be open to hear people?s opinions but we should follow our instincts. We should not allow others to make the decisions for us. The police officers just shoot the elephant because people wanted him to do so. This essay is trying to help us to see that we should look at the pros and cons of an issue rather than making a quick decision that can affect someone. I cannot condemn the author for shooting the elephant, though he knew it was wrong. Nor can I condemn him for giving in to the natives and not sticking to his guns. He does not want to appear foolish to others like all of us do.
Siroone, Tamara. “Melancholy Mad Elephants”: Affect and the Animal Machine in Hard Times. Indiana: University Press.