The Portrayal of Society in Of Mice and Men and The Outsider

1431 Words3 Pages

World literature; self taught language Hungarian:

After reading the two books for my world literature, of mice and men and the outsider I decided I will compare the two books on the topic choice; portrayal of society in the literature studied. This includes points such as: Meursault and Lenny not being accepted in society for who they are because they are different then others; another point would be there is a lot of violence within societies.
The rest will be presented further on in my essay. But before presenting my points id like to give you a brief idea of the two books and their writers.

The book of mice and men is a fiction written by john Steinbeck (1902-1968). John Steinbeck writes mainly short stories and novels, he was born in Salinas California, which is the same area where the book of mice and men is set. He is became widely known thanks to his peace: tequila flat. Steinbeck's novels have themes of social criticism in them, a lot about the economic problems in rural labor. Good examples of books written by John Steinbeck: dubious battle (1936), of mice and men (1937), the long valley (1938) and east of Eden (1952).
The story line is written in the beginning of the 1930’s during the great depression. George and Lenny are two drifters seeking for a job so they will have enough money to pursue their dream. They found a work on a farm in California's Salinas valley where their hopes and dreams were shattered as Lenny was struggling against extreme cruelty, misunderstanding and feelings of jealousy.
Lenny is a retarded person who is very strong and big in size and is quite innocent since many things in the world are new to him, especially new experiences. Lenny had a soft spot for petting animals and soft things and was totally oblivious to the fact that he was much too big and strong for such delicate creatures, and even some humans. "Lenny's fingers fell to stroking her hair... he stroked harder... "Let go!" she cried... She struggled violently... and then she was still; for Lenny had broken her neck." (Page 91 of mice and men). In innocence of his own strength, Lenny had killed a woman and suddenly traded his innocence for guilt.
Lenny however wasn’t the only main character in the book. His drifting companion George was always there to protect Lenny from people who were smarter then him. He was a smart person as well and k...

... middle of paper ...

...g our way through life. Some people choose to go the other direction and are trying to ruin our society by becoming criminals and lead a life of violence. In the outsider Meursault and his friend got caught in a fight with a bunch of Arabs who wanted to kill Meursaults' friend and Meursault himself for being there, the best solution Meursault and his friend had was to come back another day and try to do the same to those Arabs. Unluckily Meursault got caught and had to pay for his crime which according to society was also not showing any remorse to his moms death (and other things that are described in the book). In the case of the book of mice and men Lenny gets picked on by the husband of the bosses daughter because the guy was clearly jealous of Lenny and needed to make an excuse for wanting to fight with him, but this happened simply because the guy disliked Lenny, also for the reason that Lenny was retarded.

Both authors try to give us a view of some of the injustice in societies, both modern and old fashioned. The only difference is that people can practice their injustices with more advanced technology and a wider knowledge which could at one point lead to our extinction.

Show More
Related

  • What Are The Similarities Between The Crucible And The Scarlet Letter

    515 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the story of Mice and Men, It seemed like society lived by their own rules. They didn’t accept colored people very well. Racism was shown when Crooks was not allowed to be in the bunkhouse. There was a lot of poverty as George and Lennie moved from one town to another to have a job. People took the law into their own hands. The consequence of committing a crime was people would go after the criminal and decide their

    Read More

  • Social Outcasts in John Stienbeck´s Of Mice and Men

    732 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the novel, Of Mice and Men, Candy, Lennie, Crooks, and Curly's wife are all seen as four social outcasts as they each relate to a specific group in American Society. After reading Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck and looking at these characters you can see that they are all social outcasts in someway.

    Read More

  • Cruelty of Society in Frankenstein, Master Harold, and An Enemy of the People

    723 Words  | 2 Pages

    “Master Harold”…and the Boys, St. Joan, and An Enemy of the People show that society shows hate and cruelty to people who are different or who do not share similar ideas as other people do. For example, in “Master Harold”…and the Boys, Hally’s racist attitude toward Sam and Willie is a result of his experiences in society. In Frankenstein, society is cruel and hateful to the monster because he looks different than other people. In An Enemy of the People, society persecutes Dr. Stockman because he attempts to gain support for the repair of the Baths. The stories that are presented here illustrate the cruelty and hatefulness of society.

    Read More

  • Loyalty and Sacrifice in John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men

    556 Words  | 2 Pages

    John Steinbeck was born in 1902, in California's Salinas Valley, a region that would eventually serve as the setting for Of Mice and Men, as well as many of his other works. He studied literature and writing at Stanford University. He then moved to New York City and worked as a laborer and journalist for five years, until he completed his first novel in 1929, Cup of Gold. With the publication of Tortilla Flat in 1935, Steinbeck achieved fame and became a popular author.  He wrote many novels about the California laboring class.  Two of his more famous novels included Of Mice and Men and The Grapes of Wrath.  Steinbeck got the title for Of Mice and Men from a line of Robert Burns, a Scottish poet, “The best laid schemes of mice and men often go awry."  In Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck includes the theme of loyalty and sacrifice between friends.  Steinbeck illustrates the loyalty and sacrifice between friends through the friendship of Lennie and George.

    Read More

  • Social Injustice in the novel Of Mice and Men

    898 Words  | 2 Pages

    Firstly, I am going to talk about Lennie who was known as a man with

    Read More

  • Social Misfits In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

    1328 Words  | 3 Pages

    and has no family and the only old man on the ranch. We are told him

    Read More

  • Of Mice And Men: Four Major Themes

    759 Words  | 2 Pages

    excited one. He now has hope of doing something and it came from the "dream

    Read More

  • Of Mice And Men

    1098 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Oedipus the King: Does Oedipus Satisfy the Definition of a Good Man?

    1412 Words  | 3 Pages

    Harmon, William, and C. Hugh Holman.  A Handbook to Literature. 8th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1999.

    Read More

  • Lenny In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

    482 Words  | 1 Pages

    On page 6, George says “You say that over two, three times so you sure you won’t forget it.” Lenny seems to forget constantly what his job is and what he must do. Always on his mind are the rabbits. He forgets that he will need to work to achieve their own farm, and that George will not do it all for him. This trait affects the story because it seems that wherever Lenny goes, he forgets to do something or makes a decision that will cost him in the

    Read More

  • Catch 22 And Gilgamesh Comparison

    944 Words  | 2 Pages

    Reading classic works of literature can give a writer direct access to the creations of the finest minds of previous generations. The nature and impact of various cultural and religious developments, the responses of societies to complex social and economic challenges, the issues of justice, discrimination and violence were as much part of the classical world as they are of the post modern world. Post modern writers were able to refer to these aspects and use it in their own works. A comparison could be made between their literature and classical works to gain ideas and understand society has evolved.

    Read More

  • Social Outcasts in John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men

    698 Words  | 2 Pages

    didn't allow him to hang out in the bunkhouse with them.  At one point in the

    Read More

  • Perfection and Darkness: Choice in Jane Eyre

    3094 Words  | 7 Pages

    Harmon, William, and C. Hugh Holman. A Handbook to Literature. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1996.

    Read More

  • The Outsider By Albert Camus V

    1131 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Outsider, written by Albert Camus, and The Trial, written by Franz Kafka, are two books that have been critically acclaimed since the time that they were published. There are critics that claim that The Outsider is a dull book, and is not even a read-worthy book. Other people claim that it shows us how society actually acts upon people who do not want to be like the rest of society. The Trial falls under the same kind of criticism; but both books, although written by different writers in a different époque, fall under the same kind of genre: Imprisoned Lives. In both The Outsider and The Trial there are many people who influence the protagonists in a positive and in a negative way, but none of those characters are as important as the priest. The priest, being of the same profession in both books and trying to accomplish the same kind of tasks, have a totally different effect on the two protagonists. In The Outsider the priest changes the whole attitude that Meursault has to life, whereas in The Trial the priest tells Joseph K. how his life actually is.

    Read More

  • Non-conformity in The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With the Sea, Medea, and The Stranger

    1788 Words  | 4 Pages

    The authors' relations to us on the characters' places in society help us to relate to and comprehend their actions. If Meursault hadn't been so detached from society, Noboru so discontented with society, and Medea so vengeful toward society, we wouldn't have half of the justification needed to understand the murders that took place in the works. Given the presented material about conformity, I conclude that the stories' plots indeed grow around the unique attributes of the non-conformers, and as result, spark the reader's imagination to the fullest.

    Read More

More about The Portrayal of Society in Of Mice and Men and The Outsider

Open Document