Prompt: it has been argued that Steinbeck believes that people are naturally cruel. Discuss how cruelty is explored in the novella ‘Of Mice and Men’.
John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men fathoms the suffused effects of the Great Depression’; following two itinerant friends: Lennie Small and George Milton. The novella incessantly portrays violence through the deliberate use of circumstance and character’s temperament. The theme of cruelty permeates the plot, considering Steinbeck’s belief: “humans are naturally cruel”; which derives from the reasonable actions performed by the characters in the book. These primary and secondary characters explore cruelty through many stages, such as , the act of regretting someone’s presence, racism and segregation,
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and paranoia and accidental cruelty. Steinbeck explores Lennie’s mental capabilities performed through his sturdy physique through his childlike demeanour, which dominates his personality and thus leads him into unexpected and unintentional trouble.
George is seen taunting Lennie several times throughout the book, as Lennie’s actions always find George in hardships. This makes George indignant and he declares that “You can’t keep a job and you lose me ever’ job i get…You keep me in hot water all the time” [pg.12]. This signifies how much of a burden Lennie is to George and it is clear that Lennie feels like such, about himself as he says that he will “run away to a cave”, if George doesn’t want him. This is a form of emotional cruelty as George lacks the empathy towards Lennie’s disability and thus takes advantage of his condition by mocking him. Considering his disability, George shouldn’t complain about Lennie’s mischiefs but should appreciate his presence as many characters of the book are victimised by the current circumstances of …show more content…
America. During the time of the Great Depression, racism and segregation gained prominence as dignity declined, promoting poor and haughty conduct. In the novella, such behaviour is experienced by Crooks. Due to his nationality and colour he is considered as an outcast. The author endorses such allegations when Curley’s wife is seen communicating with Crooks, and she imperiously says “Well, you keep your place then, Nigger. I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain’t even funny”[pg.91]. This is cruelty towards Crooks as it is an insult to his self-respect and his dignity. It shows how miserable and helpless, the circumstances have made Crooks as he has to accept the fact that he is of a low rank in the society of the 1930s. Curley’s wife’s behaviour not only is an insult towards Crooks but also represents a cruel discrimination against his race; which at the time was very customary. Furthermore, Steinbeck illustrates a different dimension of cruelty by introducing physical violence in the shapes of Curley and Lennie.
Due to Lennie’s immense size; Curley falls in hatred with him and despises his every action. Such cruelty is emphasised when Curley is being teased by Candy and Lennie smiles at a memory of his own, to which Curley replies, “ ‘What the hell you laughin’ at?’... He slashed at Lennie with a left and then smashed down on his nose with a right.”[pg.70-71]. Curley’s pugnacious personality and his paranoia motivated him to attack Lennie; who was oblivion to his actions. However, after George’s instructions; Lennie does not hold back and defends himself by crashing Curley’s hand. Steinbeck explores the human nature of people during physical fights by deliberately provoking prejudiced arguments between characters. While Lennie does not intentionally show cruelty, the way he defends himself hurts Curley’s hand, thus demonstrating an accidental form of physical
cruelty. Thus, Steinbeck’s portrayal of his belief, “humans are naturally cruel”, in Of Mice and Men is greatly emphasised as it is exploited throughout many of the characters in the story. Natural cruelty is seen through George’s denigration of Lennie’s disabilities, the current circumstance of America; which contributes in the act of criticising Crooks’s dignity and labelling him as an outcast. Physical cruelty is also emanated as from the paranoia of Curley’s, which Lennie unknowingly compensates. John Steinbeck forms ambiguous interpretations of the characters throughout the book by deriding natural cruelty.
In chapter one, George and Lennie are introduced onto the scene and you get to know them a little bit and you get to see how they are related/ their relationship. When I read this first part, I could tell that George was pretty much Lennie’s caretaker and it was his job to find Lennie a job and make sure he ate enough and stayed a live. He kind of resented having to drag Lennie around (pg 11~12: “Well we ain’t got any!” George exploded. “Whatever we ain’t got, you want. If I was alone I could live so easy… But wadda I got? I got you. You can’t keep a job and you loose me every job I get.”), because Lennie’s a bit slow and he messes up a lot. He tries really hard to be good and listen to what George tells him to do, but in the end of every situation, Lennie forgets what George told him beforehand and sometimes it creates a little trouble (pg 45~46: “Well, he seen this girl in this red dress. Dumb like he is, he likes to touch ever’thing he likes. Just wants to feel it. So he reaches out to feel this red dress an’ the girl lets out a squawk, and that gets Lennie all mixed up, and he holds on ‘cause that’s the only thing he can think to do. Well, this girl just squawks and squawks. I was jus’ a little bit off, and I heard all the yellin’, so I comes running, an’ by that time Lennie’s so scared all he can think to do is jus’ hold on. I socked him over the head with a fence picket to make him let go. He was so scairt he couldn’t let go of the dress. And he’s so strong, you know… Well, that girl rabbits in an’ tells the law she’s been raped. The guys in Weed start a party out to lynch Lennie. So we sit in an irrigation ditch under water all the rest of that day.”). But when you look at them, you can tell that George is...
Lennie has always been told what to do by George. George really helps him through problems that keep happening during the book. Lennie is incapable to live because he does not know his strength and George has to play the role as a living assistant for Lennie. Lennie does not mean to harm but because of his condition he essentially harms people. In the book it explains the
Curley thinks that Lennie is making fun of him when he laughs so Curley throws punches as lennie tries to explain that he wasn't laughing at him. Eventually after a couple blows Lennie crushes Curley's hand in his own. Curley refuses to listen to Lennie and again immediately goes straight to violence and attacking Lennie. Had he listened he could have avoided a crushed hand, being embarrassed and shamed because he always bragged about being a great boxer.
Due to child like qualities, Lennie is a person which would be easy prey and a vulnerable person. Lennie is a vulnerable person who is quite dumb. His has an obsession for touching soft thing and this will often lead him in to trouble. But poor Lennie is an innocent person who means no harm to anybody. When he and Curley get into a fight Lennie is too shocked to do any thing. He tries to be innocent but, when told to by George grabs Curley’s fist and crushes it. George is Lennie’s best friend and Lennie does every thing he tells him to do as demonstrated in the fight with “But you tol...
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck is a great example of 1900’s literature, and a great reflection of the great depression with a tragic end. A lot of themes were displayed in this short story, and developed the plot as the story moved on. Characters in the book are developed mainly through these themes. Arguably the most crucial theme is Nature Vs Nurture, as it drove the climax of the story, and lead to the tragic ending of the book. Lennie Smalls in the story was born with a mental disability, in the times of the great depression, leading to Lennie’s ultimatum, and the theme of Nature vs Nurture.
John Steinbeck’s creative and carefully planned writing expressed the difficulties of oppression in this Era. Of Mice and Men explored the effects of systemic oppression on women,
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.
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.
In the novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck there are many events in the plot of the story that occur that prove that when man is cruel to man, some peoples lives are negatively affected. One instance in where this is proven true is when the men on the ranch and Curley's wife are cruel and discriminative against Crooks causing him to be the one to mourn. An example of how the men are discriminative towards Crooks is that he is forced to live in a shack away from the bunkhouse and also Crooks says that "They play cards in there, but I can't play because I'm black. They say I stink" and "I ain't wanted in the bunkhouse." An example of when Curley's Wife is critical towards Crooks is when she looks into his room to see what Lennie and Crooks are doing and then she states, shaking her head, that they left the weak ones behind. Also, she threatens to have Crooks hung because a black man should never talk to a white woman the way he just had. As a result of all of these discriminatory acts against him, Crooks feels unwanted and lonely because of his color and placement on the farm. Also those examples are part of the theme of the novel, people need to accept and understand those different from themselves, which also helps to prove the interpretation of the quote. Another example in this novel that proves that when man is cruel to man, the lives of people are negatively affected is when Curley picks on and tries to hurt Lennie. Curley chooses to fight Lennie because he thinks he won't fight back but because George gets angry and tells Lennie to fight back, he does. George being angry is not the only negative effect that Curley's teasing had on man, but also now Lennie is angry and in danger of getting in trouble and Curley himself gets hurt.
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. He believed, “ ...if he was alone he could live so easy. He could go get a job an ' work, an ' no trouble” (11). George is basically telling Lennie that sometimes, he wishes he could live
Written in 1937, Of Mice and Men, by John Adolf Steinbeck Jr., American author and Pulitzer Prize winner, follows the lives of downtrodden farmhands, George and Lennie. As with many of Steinbeck's books, the themes in Of Mice and Men include his favored themes of class warfare and oppression of the working class. Steinbeck also focuses his literature on the power of friendship and the corrupt nature of mankind. In 1993, Professor Thomas Scarseth wrote a critical analysis of the novella analyzing many aspects of Steinbeck’s work including the presentation, themes, and writing style. In his essay, Scarseth explains the key themes of the Novella. He noted that the corrupted nature of man, the injustice of life, and the power of friendship were three important themes of the book. Much of Scarseth’s analysis contained numerous thoughtful insights. Were his insights and opinions valid, or were his, and Steinbeck’s, perspectives on these issues flawed?
John Steinbeck’s novel, Of Mice and Men, shows the harmful effects of prejudice. Set on the California ranch during the Great Depression, the novel depicts characters who are discriminated against because of features that set them apart from other ranch workers. In particular, Crooks, Candy, and Curley’s wife are negatively affected by prejudice.
The reader empathizes with him because Steinbeck’s characters say,“he ain’t mean” and sets him to be a favorable character the reader feels sorry for (41). The reader understands that Lennie doesn’t want to hurt or harm anybody but “he gets in trouble alla time because he’s so God damn dumb” and simply doesn’t understand what he’s doing wrong like the time he touched a girls dress which got both Lennie and George run out of the town (41). Finally he even gets killed to put him out of his misery by George for accidentally breaking Curley’s wife's’ neck, although all he actually wanted to do is to feel her
The novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck is about two people George and Lennie. They depend on each other and both of them experiences prejudice. This leads them to loneliness. They hated other people and thinks that they are bad people. In this novel, there are many occurrences where prejudice provokes loneliness, facilitates hatred and formulate stereotypes.
The theme of power in prevalent in John Steinbeck’s ‘Of Mice And Men’ and is presented and developed in many different ways. Power is first established in the title, which introduces the recurring wrath of fate implying that men, like beast, are helplessly fated to live a disempowered and isolated life. Some however seek comfort in their powerful dreams, and companionship in their romanticised fraternal bonds, most notably that of Lennie and George, whose unconditional love for another leaves the reader with questions regarding their own morality. Steinbeck’s powerful prose, a strong single plot line over a short time span drives the tragic events forward, and his depiction of the foreshadowing natural world gives the novella a certain aspect of duality.