The pursuit of happiness is a fundamental right, how a person uses their resources to most effectively exploit this right is up to the individual. In both Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck and A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, their characters pursue their happiness through hope and family; however they contrast in how they manage to maintain their hold on their dreams when faced with the realities of poverty and loss of hope. Despite not representing family in the traditional sense, Of Mice and Men does an excellent job of representing the hope that a chosen family can inspire. George always manages to promote hope from Lennie by telling him stories about the hypothetical plot of land they’ll own one day. This leads to Lennie always …show more content…
Lennie’s excitement about feeding the rabbits and George’s eagerness to see it happen, motivates both characters to work until they can achieve their dream together. Likewise Mama, Lena Younger, in A Raisin in the Sun does something similar for Ruth, her daughter-in-law, when recounting her tales of an old dream of how she and her late husband,“[We] Were going to set away, little by little, don’t you know, and buy a little place out in Morgan Park. We had even picked out the house” (Hansberry Act 1 44). In doing so, Mama ignites a sense of hope in Ruth, because for the first time ever, they had the funds to make buying a home possible. Unfortunately for both storylines, life is not easily won over by dreams. Reality knocked them off their pedestals, but in spite of that the Youngers were able to come together as a family and at the last minute save themselves from almost making their gravest mistake by selling their newly acquired house. Knowing it would be grueling to keep the house, Walter Lee Younger decided the sacrifice would be worth it, claiming: “We have decided to move into our house because my father - my father - he earned it for us brick by brick (Hansberry Act 3 …show more content…
This loss of hope is most clearly shown when George says: “I think I knew we’d never do it. He usta like to hear about it so much I got thinking maybe we would” (Steinbeck 94). George and Lennie were nothing but two men pushed together by poverty, nevertheless, they grew to care for each other like family and losing each other subsequently caused them to lose their hope for a better future. The theme of hope coinciding with family was seen by both playwright Lorraine Hansberry in A Raisin in the Sun, and author John Steinbeck in his novel Of Mice and Men. The wordsmiths displayed agreement on how maintaining hope depends on having a family to fall back on; however, they contrasted in concluding their stories. Where Hansberry took the auspicious route of giving her characters a happy, open ending, Steinbeck’s approach was more misleading, giving his reader a false sense of hope only to end in a devastating, pessimistic conclusion. By appealing to both the romantic and pragmatic sides of the loss of hope, the writers are able to relate to their readers and effectively instill a sense of longing that the characters will eventually reach their much-deserved happy
Would you be able to kill your lifelong companion? George Milton had to make that choice in John Steinbeck’s novella, Of Mice and Men. After a whole bunch of misadventures with his mentally handicapped giant, Lennie Small. Lennie accidently murdered a woman out of innocence. While the ranch men search for Lennie, George made the decision to give Lennie a merciful death. I believe that George should have killed Lennie because he would have been put in an institution, Curley would have been cruel to him, and George had to give him a merciful death.
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck is a novel about loneliness and the American Dream. This book takes place during the Great Depression. It was very difficult for people to survive during this time period. A lot of people hardly survived let alone had the necessities they needed to keep relationships healthy. Of Mice of Men has a common theme of disappointment. All the characters struggle with their unaccomplished dreams. The migrant workers, stable buck, swamper, and the other men on the ranch had an unsettled disappointment of where they were at in their lives. George and Lennie, two newcomers to the ranch, aren’t like the other guys. They have each other and they are the not loneliest people in the world. Lennie has a dream though he wants to own a farm with plenty of crops and animals one day. The only problem is his blind curiosity of people and things around him. George wasn’t justified for killing Lennie because Lennie was innocent and never got the chance to find out what he did wrong.
Raisin in the Sun is a film adaptation directed by Daniel Petrie off of a award-winning play written by Lorraine Hansberry. Overall I would rate the film as an 8 out of 10.
The influential British writer, Hugh Kingsmill, once stated, “Society is based on the assumption that everyone is alike and no one is alive” In his novel, The Kite Runner, Hosseini depicts a unique friendship between two boys in a quickly disappearing Afghanistan. Hosseini creates Amir, an ambitious yet selfish character in order to elaborate on the negative effects society has on an individual. After he betrays his friend Hassan, Amir is conflicted and spends the rest of his life attempting to gain redemption by saving Hassan’s son. Similarly, in Of Mice And Men, Steinbeck uses two lowly ranch workers, George and Lennie, to depict a life impacted by the other men and their surroundings. Their valuable friendship is eventually thrown away due to the pressure of society when George is forced to take Lennie’s life. Although in both The Kite Runner and Of Mice And Men, Khaled Hosseini and John Steinbeck demonstrate society’s overbearing power over the individual, Hosseini and Steinbeck use different motifs and settings to convey their ideas regarding society.
Rochester behaves like this when Jane leaves Thornfield both to visit Mrs. Reed and when she leaves Rochester after discovering Bertha Rochester. Rochester pleads for Jane’s marriage and claims despite being married to Bertha, he does not consider himself being wedded. This complexity of Rochester’s background also links him to being a Byronic hero. The striking of the chestnut tree, under which Jane and Rochester declared their love for each other and where Rochester makes his proposal, foreshadows the impending separation, disaster and danger for Jane and Rochester. It is an ideal gothic symbol, nature predicting human fate to come. The ghostly communication between Jane and Rochester in the novel is an old traditional Gothic element. It
In the novel, Of Mice and Men John Steinbeck used George and Lennie's relationship and the theme of hope to point out the loneliness in the novel. The novel starts off and is set in Soledad which means lonely. At the beginning they get a job working on a farm together. Lennie is a little retarded and has great physical strength that isn't too controllable. As they work from ranch to ranch, Lennie relies on George for guidance and help. Rather than wasting their earnings, they try to save it in the hope of buying a place of their own. While working at one ranch they meet a worker named Candy who tries to help them financially. Before their dream can be fulfilled, Lennie kills the wife of the boss's son. As the novel concludes George must kill Lennie for his own benefit. Later Lennie goes into town and abandons his dream by spending his money.
The authors John Steinbeck and Robert Burns approach their ideas in very different ways, while having the same themes the reader comprehends key concepts in a different light. Throughout the short story “Of Mice and Men” and the poem “To a Mouse” the theme of hope is a key concept, even though while in both stories their hope did not bring them their happiness, friendship brought them together. Correspondingly while having similar themes of friendship, loneliness, and hope, this all takes place in different settings with different characters.
The point of living is so that you can accomplish something by the time you die. Therefore hopes and dreams are the driving force of life. Hopes and dreams are exactly what kept the two migrant workers, George and Lennie, going on in life. Their ambition of one day having a farm of their own is what makes Lennie and George work as hard as they do. The theme of these ambitions being deleterious is what makes up the story Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. Even though the ambitions that the characters of the story have could show to be better for them and be their fresh start if proven pointless, the theme of the book Of Mice and Men is that ambitions are deleterious because for Lennie and George their hopes of one
Everyone has a dream they hope to achieve, but dreams are not always possible to attain. In John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men, two ranch hands, George and Lennie, find work in Salinas Valley. Lennie, constantly getting into trouble, inadvertently causes the two of them to be run out of town and thus have to find new work regularly. George and Lennie's search for work in the hope of accomplishing their dream of a small farm of their own displays how futile realizing dreams can be.
Through characterization, both authors illustrate their view on the American Dream. Using George as a catalyst in Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck shows how the working class of the United States strives for something better and works hard to attain their dream. “O.K. Someday – we’re gonna get the jack together and we’re gonna have a little house and a couple of acres an’ a cow and some pigs and-…” (14) George’s conversations with Lennie involving the farm that they are trying to buy show that George will not give up his pursuit of a better life, no matter what obstacles slow him down. Steinbeck also shows how friendship is part of the American Dream through George always sticking by Lennie, despite...
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck Hopes and Dreams Help People to Survive, Even if they can Never. Become Real How is this true for George and Lennie/ the characters in ‘Of Mice and the.. Men’. An important theme in ‘Of Mice and Men’ is that of hope and dreams. The main dream is that of George and Lennie to own a smallholding and work self-sufficiently.
Life is an array of emotions and experiences. At times it blesses us with experiences that instill feelings of happiness and joy, in which we are able to celebrate life and all it could offer us. Other times life hits us in the face, letting us endure hardships, sadness, depression and loss. Most may argue that Of Mice and Men is either intended to celebrate the joys of life or meant to be a depressing book. Yet what most fail to see is that Of Mice and Men portrays both aspects of human life through the mutual friendship of two uncommonly men, George and Lennie, the dream they both share, and the sudden calamity that befall them.
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.
According to the American Association John Steinbeck's novel, Of Mice and Men, is one of the top 10 most challenged books in school during the 1990's. The novel focuses on two migrant workers, George and Lennie, who work, dream, and endure the difficulties of being human. As the novel ends the hopes, dreams, and happiness of George and Lennie are crushed beyond the condition in defeat. This novel paints a horrific portrait of the human experience through profanity, inappropriate language, racism, sexism, adult content and murder. John Steinbeck's novel, Of Mice and Men, should be a banned book.
The 1910 Mexican Revolution was the result of a poor economic, political and social society which benefitted certain groups of people and harmed others. As the documentary lists, exploitation of Indians, racism, and class differences were part of these issues (Storm that Swept Mexico, 3:30). In addition, an elite federal government which held deep, racist views against the commoners and native population fueled decisions that would lead to this revolution (Storm that Swept Mexico, 6:00). In 1876, Porfirio Diaz was elected president of Mexico, and he soon became a dictator who ran a harsh dictatorship of the Mexican people (Storm that Swept Mexico, 4:30). Yearning for Mexico to become a modern nation, he began to modernize the larger cities,