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In the midst of his journey, Steinbeck is faced with two coyotes. This encounter brings upon him a dilemma. In his mind Steinbeck weighs the two “arguments” that he is having with himself; to kill or not to kill. During this moment in Steinbeck’s nonfiction novel, Travels With Charley, he has to decide whether or not he should do as he was always told to do, or to contradict everything he’s ever been told to do. When Steinbeck encounters two coyotes in the desert, he is faced with an internal conflict. Steinbeck says that he’s too old and too lazy to be a good citizen because all his life he’s been told to kill the coyotes, but now he’s having second thoughts. Steinbeck writes, “Coyotes are vermin. They steal chickens. They thin the ranks …show more content…
Steinbeck decided to care for the coyotes while they’re in his presence, rather than to kill them. He wrote, “For having interfered with a course of events, the savior could not escape his responsibility. And that has always made good sense to me. Now I had a token responsibility for two live and healthy coyotes. In the delicate world of relationships, we are tied together for all time. I opened two cans of dog food and left them as a votive,” (Steinbeck 214). Steinbeck feels responsible for the coyotes’ lives and because of that he leaves out food for them. Steinbeck remembers this unwritten “law” in China. The law states, “That when one man saved another’s life he became responsible for the life to the end of its existence,” (Steinbeck 214). Steinbeck takes this “law” to heart and cares for the coyotes, feeling that it would haunt him if he left them for dead. After remembering the “law” in China, Steinbeck feels obligated to care for the coyotes. On his journey, Steinbeck is met with two coyotes. During this encounter he spares both of their lives. Shortly after this decision he is reminded of an unwritten “law” in China. This “law” states that if you save someone’s life then you are responsible for their life until the end of time. Steinbeck takes this “law” to heart and decides to go against everything he has been told to do. Steinbeck does this because he believes that everything
Imagine being discriminated against because of your ethnicity; or being the only woman on a ranch, stuck in a loveless marriage, when all you really want is someone to talk to. What about having to kill that friend, and bury all chances of breaking free from the life of the average migrant worker? How would you feel? These scenarios in John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men illustrate the need and desire for companionship in life. There's Crooks, the negro stable buck; Curley's wife, whose marriage to Curley hasn't exactly been lively; and George and Lennie, whose friendship is strong enough to get them to a better life and out of the negetive cycle that the average migrant worker became trapped in during the Great Depression.
Steinbeck uses the novella ’Of Mice and Men’ and the workers on the ranch to show the microcosm of the 1930s American Society and culture. He especially portrays Crooks in a particular way to show how Black Americans were treated in this time that the novella was set.
...k conveyed the message that fate is often too strong a force for one to overcome despite their best efforts. Through the violence of nature, it is shown that people cannot escape fate any different than the plants or animals around us. Yet people look for hope and believe in superstitious items. Characters such as Lennie and Curley’s wife are examples of unfortunate souls who never had a chance to survive in the environments they were born in, despite their dreams and efforts to change their life. Although Steinbeck paints a morbid story of fate, the story was more focused on the difficulties at the time. We can see that people eventually overcame these hardships and many went on to realize their dreams. Like George, sometimes we just need to reshuffle the cards and see what new hand emerges. The lesson though is to never be too afraid to play another hand.
This pattern is not only exclusive to the strong and the weak, such as Curley and the farmhands, but also to the weak and the even weaker, shown by Crooks and Lennie as well as by Curley’s wife and Crooks. Steinbeck’s portrayal of this negativity stemming from isolation is a pessimistic one, showing how helpless and cruel one can become without company. However, it is important to notice that this isolation is not always wrought upon oneself, like Curley, but is often driven by segregation and mistreatment by others, as shown by Crooks and Curley’s wife. Similarly, Steinbeck realizes that society needs to be more accepting of people, for not doing so only results in a vicious cycle of isolation and even more
The Dust bowl was an ecological and human disaster in the Southwestern Great Plains regions of the United States in the 1930's. The areas affected were Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado. The poor handling of the land and years of drought caused this great disaster (Jones "History"). During this time the "Okies"--a name given to the migrants that traveled from Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, or anywhere in the Southwest or the northern plains to California--encountered many hardships. These hardships are brilliantly shown in John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath. Scholars agree, "The most important fact about the dust storms was not scientific but human: their tragic effect upon people seeking livelihood on the stricken Midwestern farms" (French 4). Steinbeck believed society was inhumane to the Okies and through his novel we can account for how the Okies were treated. By looking at Steinbeck's own personal background and information from historical commentaries we are better able to grasp his reasoning for writing the novel because he understood what it was like to grow up as a farmer, and an outsider. More importantly, however, we are able to share in his compassion for the Okies.
The power of novels can allow readers to learn significant lessons about humanity and life experiences. Steinbeck’s novel “Of Mice and Men” set in Americas great depression of the 1930’s, explores the human need for company and the impact of loneliness. This is shown through the characters experiences of power and powerlessness on a barley ranch in California. Steinbeck shows his readers the need for compassion in times of cruelty, emphasised by the desperation of the era which the novel is set.
John Steinbeck was a major literary figure in the 20th century and continues to be widely read in the twenty-first century. Steinbeck was born on February 27,1902 (About John Steinbeck) in the Salinas Valley of California. (Laskov) "His father, John Steinbeck, Sr. was the County Treasurer and his mother, Olive Hamilton Steinbeck, was a former school teacher. As a youth, he worked as a ranch hand and fruit picker. (John Steinbeck [2])". "He attended the local high school and studied marine biology at Stanford University between 1920 and 1926, but did not take a degree" (John Steinbeck [1]). Steinbeck's fascination with science and biology is evident in most of his works such as in this quote from the Grapes of Wrath: "Man, unlike any other thing organic or inorganic in the universe, grows beyond his work, walks up in the stairs of his concepts, emerges ahead of his accomplishments." (Steinbeck 165) As Steinbeck began his writing career, he took many other jobs to support himself. For a short time, he worked at the American in New York City, and then returned to California where he worked various jobs such as a painter and fruit-picker before taking a job as a caretaker for a Lake Tahoe Estate. (John Steinbeck [1]) His job as a caretaker allowed him time to write and by the time he left the job in 1930 he had already published his first book, Cup of Gold (1929) and married his first wife Carol Henning (John Steinbeck [2]). After his marriage he moved to Pacific Grove, California where, in the early 1930s, Steinbeck met Edward Ricketts, a marine biologist, whose views on the interdependence of all life deeply influenced Steinbeck's novel To a God Unknown (1933). (John Steinbeck [2])
In her essay “Living Like Weasels,” Annie Dillard reflects on an encounter she had with a weasel at a pond near her home. This encounter was brief but nevertheless important as it sparked the question “Who knows what [the weasel] thinks”? As Annie ponders this question, we are presented with a comparison between the complex life of human beings and the simple life of weasels. We can find examples of contrast throughout this essay. For instance, Annie describes the pond she visits by the “55 mph highway at one end, and a nesting pair of wood ducks at the other.” Annie describes the landscape further in the fifth paragraph when she says, “Under every bush is a muskrat hole or a beer can”. This contrast between human decision making and
Holding a shotgun aimed at its head, tears in his eyes as he finally pulls the trigger and puts his old sheepdog out of its misery. It may seem cruel, but it’s really just for the dog’s benefit,. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck looks at a similar theme to this scenario of doing the hard things to ultimately benefit the “dog.” Friends George and Lennie after being run out of the questionably sounding town of Weed start new jobs on a ranch as they try and make their dream of owning their own bit of land with rabbits come true. Lennie however suffers a heartbreaking end when George has to shoot him so he won’t have to suffer at the hands of an angry entourage. The book focuses on the relationship of George and Lennie since they prove such an
...however, feels that to solve the plight of the Okies, land should be set aside for them to start their own small farms, since farming is all they know. He also suggests that local committees set wages and labor needs before the harvests to protect the rights of the workers and prevent them from being extorted (Pgs 58-59). While Steinbeck’s ideas made sense and had good intent, the grim reality still remained that the corporations controlled the agriculture industry and that they were going to save every nickel and dime they could, even if it meant a lower standard of living for the Okie. Today, we have unions that attempt to prevent things like this from happening again, but the plight of illegal immigrants demonstrates that the reality of this country’s need for cheap labor remains.
Novels that exhibit what the life is like for the people at ranch can help readers reflect on how they might react in comparable situation. George and Lennie who struggle to transcend the plight of inerrant farmworkers are followed by the novel Of Mice and Men written by John Steinbeck. Readers are positioned to respond to themes through Steinbeck’s use of conventions that are dispirit. Themes such as Freedom and confinement, loneliness, and racism are pivotal in the novel and draw out a range of responses from the readers.
Crooks is treated one-sided because of his skin color. When Lennie comes into Crook’s room, Crooks said this to Lennie, “Cause I’m black. They play cards in there, but I can’t play because I’m black. They say I stink. Well, I tell you, you all of you stink to me” (Steinbeck 68). Crooks gets tired of staying in his room where he can read, sleep or sit. But compare to other workers on the ranch Crook’s life from top to bottom different because, he cannot talk to others and play cards. Staying in a room for years and not able to go outside and see the world
Through symbolism, Steinbeck is able to prove the beauty of nature itself and how it can take over something worse than it. At the end when Lennie is about to be killed, he starts to describe his happy place which puts him at ease. When Lennie was describing this, “An’ you get to tend the rabbits” Lennie giggled with happiness. “An’ live on the fatta the lan’.” (Steinbeck 103) he was able to find peace in such a stressful time. This shows that the power of nature was able to take over someone so they did not expect what was going to happen next.
"My country is different from the rest of the world. It seems to be one of those pregnant places from which come wonders...I was born to it and my father was. Our bodies come from this soil-our bones come…from the limestone of our mountains and our blood is distilled from the juices of this Earth. I tell you now that my country is hundred miles long and about fifty wide; is unique in the world" (Steinbeck 1933: 17). He spent his early childhood in California and truly, he never left his place as he wrote about it in most of his work. He was a keen observer but often mischievous. In Salinas Valley, he had the most blissful growing up years with his two elder sisters, Beth and Esther. His younger sister, Mary loved him to the extent of adoration. His family was never wealthy but they were reputed citizens of the small town with a population of 3,000 people. His parents often engaged themselves in the community activities. When his father was a treasurer and then his mother, Mrs. Olive Steinbeck was a member of 'the Order of the Eastern Star' club and founder of 'The Wanderers', women's club. Mrs. Olive had to travel vicariously for her social works. In this way, the elder Steinbecks established their identities by spreading roots deep in the
In conclusion, Steinbeck has masterfully woven into his story this character analysis of, arguably, the most pained victim in the author's mind. The proof of his importance to Steinbeck is the fact that the chapter is devoted to Crooks himself. It perhaps reveals Steinbeck's own personal observation, and concern, with the most victimized of Americans, the black man.