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Impact of literature on society
Impact of literature on society
Literature and society
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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. First example is when Curley's boxing career came to an end. Curley was an amateur boxer picking bigger opponents to seem superior. Curley meet Lennie when George and Lennie first came into the ranch and where in the cabin. Lennie notice something suspicious when George would talk for Lennie. Curley would get upset with Lennie since Lennie would not talk, this started the disliking of each other, until Lennie finally …show more content…
Curley's wife wanted to go to Hollywood and be in movies. She explains saying she met a guy that said he would do that for her but he never wrote back. Curley's wife desperately wanted to feel like somebody special. She wanted to leave her little life in her small town behind. She got her dreams cut short when she caught Lennie when he killed the little puppy. Lennie said he likes to soft objects, and then Curley's wife said her hair is soft and offered Lennie to run his hands through her hair. Once it's happening Curley's wife tells Lennie to stop, but Lennie refuses to stop and violently tugs her and Curley's wife starts to scream loudly. Lennie covers her mouth with his gigantic hand and tell her to be quite, because it will cause a dilemma. Lennie's becomes angry, due to Curley's wife is not hushing down, he accidently breaks her neck causing her to die immediately. He drops her on the floor and run to the brushes George told him to run if Lennie ever got in trouble. Lennie ended her Hollywood career with a snap of the
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.
Lennie dreams of living on a wide open ranch with George where he tends to the fluffy little rabbits he loves so much. Nevertheless, Lennie sadly never reaches his ultimate goal as his flaw finally becomes his fatal flaw. Lennie kills Curley 's wife by shaking her so hard that her neck breaks. He does not kill her on purpose but Lennie does not know his own strength. He is only shaking her like that because he wants her to stop yelling.
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.
Curley’s wife represents her broken dreams of becoming an actress. Lennie and George represent a dream in progress, it is uncertain if their plans will work out as intended or plummet before takeoff, even Crooks and Candy see the appeal in Lennie and George’s fantasy and join them. The dream in progress gives hope to Lennie and George and continued to even after losing previous jobs. Curley’s wife is constantly restricted, she married Curley so that she would no longer be alone but now is in the same state as before, just on a ranch of men. She tries to talk to the other men but she is then seen as "jail bait" and avoided, making her even lonelier. Her dream of being an actress has failed because she chose a quick way out and married Curley. She is now living in her failure and has no longer a dream to aim for. Perhaps the most important part of the story is the the part in which Lennie has accidentally killed the puppy given to him by Slim, and is grieving over him in the barn, “This ain’t no bad thing like I got to go hide in the brush. Oh! no. This ain’t. I’ll tell George I foun’ it dead.” He unburied the puppy and inspected it, and he stroked it from ears to tail. He went on sorrowfully, “But he’ll know. George always knows. He’ll say, ‘You done it. Don’t try to put nothing over on me.’ An’ he’ll say, ‘Now jus’ for that you don’t get to tend no rabbits!” (Steinbeck, 85) He feels powerless to his own strength, he believes that he will never achieve his dream because of his mistake. George and the other men are out once again and the only person who comes to his emotional aid is none other than Curley’s wife. “Don’t you worry about talkin’ to me. Listen to the guys yell out there. They got four dollars bet in that tenement. None of them ain’t gonna leave till it’s over.” “If George sees me talkin’ to you he’ll give me hell,” Lennie said cautiously.” (Steinbeck, 85) He
The quote that inspired John Steinbeck was the best laid schemes often go off track can be seen in the novel of Mice and Men. When Curley's wife met a man in her childhood that offered her to be an actress but the chance went away and she later died. Then Curley wanted to be a professional boxer but the dream never happened and he became a farmer then got his hand broken for trying to be tough. George and Lennie were going to buy a farm to live off the fat of the land then Lennie had to get in trouble and George had to give up the dream and kill Lennie for what he had done.
he has. It is a dead mouse, which Lennie kept to pet with his thumb as
Although Curley’s wife appears to be troublesome to every man on the ranch, her conversation with Lennie indicates that she has a dream too. Before Lennie strangles her to death, Curley’s wife’s dream is to be a movie star. However, being the young carless girl she is, she takes the wrong road and gets married young and traps herself in the ranch, instead of Hollywood’s flash. "I tell you I ain't used to livin' like this. I coulda made somethin' of myself." She said darkly, "Maybe I will yet." And then her words tumble out in a passion of communication, as though she hurried before her listener could be taken away. "I lived right in Salinas," she said. "C...
Lennie’s certainty makes George relax and put his faith in Lennie, causing even more trouble. When the two of them arrive at the ranch in section 2, Lennie speaks to the boss and makes him suspicious, he “stared hopelessly at his hands” after the incident. Lennie’s “hand” is a symbol in the story that symbolizes his wrong deeds and guilt. The word “hopelessly” shows his inability to control his own actions, giving the reader an idea that Lennie is not capable of improving and almost as if he knows that he has done something wrong and is doomed. George tells Lennie not to get involved and to ignore Curley’s wife, Lennie knows this too, telling her “I ain’t supposed to talk to you”. However when Curley’s wife begins to talk, Lennie cannot restrain his fascination and interest in her and eventually, his unbounded strength kills her. Curley’s
Curley and his wife are constantly looking for each other, and problems arise because of her existence. The following quote is presented by Slim towards Curley. “Well, you been askin’ me too often. I’m gettin’ God damn sick of it. If you can’t look after your own God damn wife, what do you expect me to do about it? You lay offa me” (Steinbeck 60-61). This quote foreshadows that Curley will start one of his fits. Steinbeck is showing an example of misogyny; Curley’s wife’s existence is ultimately the reason why Curley mauled Lennie. Candy explains how Curley’s wife potentially ruins George and Lennie’s dream: “‘You God damn tramp,’ he said viciously. ‘You done it, di’n’t you? I s’pose you’re glad. Ever’body knowed you’d mess things up. You wasn’t no good. You ain’t no good now, you lousy tart.’ He sniveled, and his voice shook. ‘I could of hoed in the garden and washed dishes for them guys’” (Steinbeck 95). Candy and the other men on the ranch know that Curley’s wife is a threat, and her death means even more trouble. Candy complains that he could have helped George and Lennie accomplish their dream, but now, it is nearly impossible. He previously cautions George and Lennie that they could lose their jobs because of her. However, Lennie is one of the “weak” characters that Curley’s wife plans to manipulate, and so he soon gives into her persuasion. This
Lennie loves soft things so he wanted to stroke her hair and this is where things got tangled. Lennie got carried away and pulled her hair so she got startled and started to yell so Lennie got scared and covered her mouth then curley's wife thought Lennie was getting too rough and started to pull away from the giant that Lennie is “let go”, she cried. “You let go!” Lennie was in a panic. His face was contorted. She screamed then, and Lennie's other hand closed over her mouth and nose. “Oh please don't do none of that “George gonna say I done a bad thing”
This is a novella written by John Steinbeck in 1937, about two men that lived during the depression. They were migrant workers, who wanted to buy a farm. ()
The modern period was a time of changing and individualism. Modern Literature usually reflected the life of the people of that time. Some of the artists of this time were affected by “The Great War” or World War II. These authors, poets, painters, etc. would go off in the shock of this war and try and find some light and some hope. One can see the tragedy and the sadness that some of these artists went through, in their works. For example, a change of color in an artist’s paint, a sway to the darker side of things in the imagery and word choice of poets, and most of all, authors writing tragic novels. Two of the types of novels that they wrote were modern tragic and Aristotelian tragic.
Curley's wife lets Lennie feel her hair, but he strokes it too hard and she
Curley makes sure his wife doesn’t talk to anyone. She is a victim of herself because she married a man that she hardly even knew. She married him though, to have a companion. She killed herself and Lennie because of her need for companionship. She craves companionship because she is an attractive woman with a need for interaction.
An important component of this passage involves its connection to the title. The words “of mice and men” come from a poem by Robert Burns, entitled “To A Mouse.” The actual verse, in modern English, reads “The best-laid plans of mice and men/ Often go awry.” Steinbeck uses the dream farm as the “plans” mentioned in the poem. Lennie's causing the accidental death of Curley's wife cause his and George's plans to go awry. An interesting thing to note is the use of the phrase “best-laid plans” in the original poem. The dream farm of Lennie and George wasn't so much a plan as a hope the two had. The fact that things don't come together despite the fervent wishes of Lennie and George, and later on Candy, and to a lesser extent, Crooks, shouldn't be surprising to anyone who had previous knowledge of the poem, or the old adage “if you want to hear God laugh, tell him your plans.” However, there is also a double meaning in the title, highlighting the importance of mice in the lives of these men, Lennie and George. The mice act as a portent to the Lennie's deadly clumsiness, that becomes so very important later in the story.