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Conflict and violence between mice and men
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Conflict is a struggle between opposing forces. There can be multiple conflicts in a story. This is the case in Of Mice and Men. In chapters three and four, there are man vs. man, man vs. self, and man vs. society conflicts. As George and Lennie interact with the workers on the ranch, sometimes conflicts arise between them. Man vs. man is a type of conflict in which two or more characters are pitted against each other. Candy, an old man on the ranch, has a conflict with Carlson in chapter three. Candy’s friend and long-time companion is his old dog. He’s had him ever since he was a pup. Carlson tells Candy that his dog is too old and in constant pain. He says the dog isn’t doing any good to itself or anyone else. Carlson suggests that Candy should shoot his dog and take one of Slim’s new pups. After some debate, Candy unwillingly decides to let Carlson shoot and bury his dog. On page 47, Candy finally gives in and says, “Awright—take ‘im.” Later on, the men hear the shot from Carlson’s gun. The major man vs. man conflict in chapters three and four is Lennie vs. Curley. After Curley and Slim walked in arguing about Curley’s wife, Curley saw Lennie daydreaming about his farm and thought Lennie was giggling at him. Curley got agitated and punched Lennie. Lennie became scared and tried to block Curley’s attacks but he continuously hit Lennie. When George yelled at Lennie to fight back, Lennie grabbed Curley’s hand and crushed it. On page 64, George yelled over and over again at Lennie to let go of Curley’s hand. When he finally did, the men discovered that every bone in his hand must have been broken. On page 44, Slim convinced Curley to stay quiet and tell everyone that he got his hand caught in a machine instead of maintaining tha... ... middle of paper ... ...nnie goes into his room, Crooks explains how when he was a child, his family was the only black family for miles. Sometimes, Crooks would play with the white children in the neighborhood. His father didn’t like that, and now Crooks knew why. He now shares his father’s feeling of apprehension against white people. There were various conflicts in Of Mice and Men. Some of the conflicts were internal—such as Candy’s decision to give up his dog and George’s decision to stop playing jokes on Lennie—and others were external—such as Lennie’s fight with Curley and Crooks’ struggle against society. Characters’ interactions with the other workers on the ranch caused external conflicts and characters’ difficulties making tough decisions caused the internal conflicts of the chapters. Of Mice and Men contains many conflicts, with each conflict affecting the storyline of the book.
First, the author uses conflict to show what the characters have to overcome throughout the course of the story, such as Mrs. Baker forcing Holling to do chores at school and
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.
...e Lennie is scared and confused (and still dazzled by the farm memory), he doesn’t even try to protect himself. He just cries to George to make Curley stop. George just wants Lennie to stand up for himself, so he tells Lennie to ‘get him’. Lennie obeys George and, in the process, breaks every bone in Curley’s hand. (pg 69: Curley’s fist was swinging when Lennie reached for it. The next minute Curley was flopping like a fish on a line, and his closed fist was lost in Lennie’s big hand…”we got to get him in to a doctor,” he said. “Looks to me like ever’ bone in his han’ is bust.”) Slim threatens to make Curley the laughing stock of the town if he tells what really happened instead of saying that his hand got caught in a machine. I knew that somehow, somewhere in the storyline, Curley was gonna get into a fight with Lennie and Lennie was gonna hurt Curley badly.
Explain how the conflict arises and go on to discuss in detail how the writer uses it to explore an important theme.
What is a conflict? A conflict is a struggle between opposing forces. In the world today there are many conflicts. Students had to read stories and all had conflicts in them. They read the Necklace, The Scarlet Ibis, The Most Dangerous Game, and many more. Three characters who had to face conflicts are Mathilde, Doodle, and Rainsford.
The theme of conflict looms over the entire plot in Of Mice and Men, beginning in the first scene, and persisting until the end. The conflict ranges from the captivating way Steinbeck makes man fight with his inner animalistic behaviour to the ever imminent conflict between George and Lennie with their drastically different personalities, appearances and understanding of their ideal, the American Dream. The Great Depression forms the backbone of Steinbeck’s novella, with events such as the stock market crash to the recovery from the First World War, allowing him to keep the realism of the conflicting events but still leave room for the intriguing, deeper side to each of the characters. Steinbeck manages to mask conflict within the novella by not simply stating the conflict, but using language and literary techniques he subtly implies it.
"Crooks is a black man that experiences isolation because the society in which he resides is racist. As a result, the previous quote was his means of finding a personal connection to Lennie. Like Lennie, Crooks has a "relationship" with loneliness. He knows that when people get lonely, they tend to get sick. Crooks is rejected from every group of people and cannot socially interact with others.
The characters understood this and tried to appear stronger and more powerful than each other to get by. Curly fights larger men, to appear strong. Crook threatens Lennie with the thought that George will leave him, and this is meant to scare him because Lennie has a special relationship with George that is irreplaceable. Carlson shoots Candy’s dog to show masculinity in a way and strips Candy of the one thing he really loves. And Curley's wife threatens to hang crooks to prove that even though she is a woman, she still has a voice on the farm.
Discrimination was one of the issues that caused conflict in the novel “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck. One example of discrimination in the novel comes in the form of racial discrimination against Crooks, as he is an African American. Another example of discrimination is gender discrimination against Curley’s wife. Finally, there is discrimination against mentally disabled people, which is evident in Lennie’s character. The ranch hands' actions and conversations demonstrated the racial discrimination against Crooks for his skin colour, gender discrimination against Curley’s wife for her gender, and prejudice against Lennie, who was mentally disabled individual. This prevented the characters from reaching their full potential and causes tragedy.
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.
As previously mentioned, one conflict includes idealism versus reality. The middle-class in general, and George and Lennie specifically, illustrates the problems they face when dreams of a better life are short-lived due to the reality of circumstances encountered and the Depression. Also, the man versus man conflict is seen on a regular basis throughout the novel. The ranch hands indirectly put pressure on George to shoot Lennie. The ranch hands forced that Candy's dog be shot. Also, the novel sheds light on the inner conflict within certain characters. For example, George struggles with the caring for Lennie, or putting both himself and Lennie at peace for good by killing Lennie. Candy also fears that he, like his dog, will be cast aside whenever he is no longer of use.
Racial discrimination has been around for a long time, judging people for the color of their skin. Crooks is affected by this because he is black. Blacks in that time were thought as lesser than the white people. The racial discrimination affects Crooks' life in only negative ways. He is plagued by loneliness because of the color of his skin. His lack of company drives him crazy. Only when Lennie comes in to his room does he feel less lonely. He talked of his loneliness using a hypothetical scenario of George leaving Lennie. Crooks' responds to this discrimination by staying in his barn and being secluded. He doesn't want anyone to be in there but deep down he does so he can have some company. He isn't wanted in the bunk house or to play cards with the others because he is black. This effected the story by letting people walk all over him, letting them think they can do whatever they want, and ultimately making the people think they have a lot of power when really they do not.
Conflict, by definition, is a back and forth struggle between two opposing forces. In the literary work, Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, it is clear, the protagonist, George Milton, undergoes many conflicts that lead to the novel’s overall purpose. Steinbeck weaves together George’s conflicts with others, himself, and with society to illustrate what the true meaning of friendship is. George’s struggles with himself become apparent at the beginning of the novel. Steinbeck clearly lets the reader know that George has conflicting feelings about Lennie.
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.