Similarities Between Of Mice And Men And The Weight Of Water

Of Mice and Men/The Weight of Water

The opening of a good novel is extremely important, it gives us contextual detail, sets up the story and serves to draw us in, to give us a reason as to why to read this book. While each book's opening is truly unique and different, if you look closely you will see certain similarities and differences between them, and you will notice how particular books mirror each other. Two books I especially observe this in is John Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men" and Sarah Crossan's "The Weight of Water", as while they are two very different books, each set in an entirely different time period and location, they have certain similarities, such as the theme of dreams, and the way each author explores the theme of discrimination.

The theme of discrimination is prevalent in the openings of both novels; It is a key theme throughout the entirety of both of them.

In Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men", a book about two migrant workers, Lennie and George travelling around America during the great depression in search of work, we see very early on that Lennie is treated differently because he is intellectually disabled and has the understanding of a young child. He is in a position where he can be taken advantage of, and he often is. Additionally, he does not understand his own threat, making others view him as a threat despite the fact he just wants innocent fun and companionship. This means he in often exploited and tormented, even his closest and only friend George tricked him into jumping into a lake in the opening chapter as a sort of cruel

joke.
Likewise, In Sarah Crossan's "The Weight of Water", we see a great deal of discrimination and prejudice in the form of racism and xenophobia against the main characters.

In this novel, we see a polish girl, Kasienka, and her mother move to England to find "Tata", Kasienkas father after he suddenly left them. Being Polish immigrants, their skin is "too white", their English "crooked", leading to them being discriminated against by nearly everyone they encounter. Kasienkas teachers refer to her as "Cassie" instead of bothering to learn her real name, and decide that since she is an immigrant, since she isn't English and since she cannot speak English perfectly, she must be uneducated and unintelligent, and therefore is placed in the class for eleven-year-olds, despite the fact she is nearly thirteen, with "budding breasts and monthly bleeds". Her classmates regularly bully her, excluding her from any group activities and asking her if her Polish hair is short and naturally unruly because she is "a lesbian". The story's main antagonist Clair even goes as far as to cut Kasienka's hair in assembly, passing it off as a joke. Kasienkas mother is also subject to discrimination, not in a school environment but at her job. Working as a cleaner in a hospital, she is told that her job is to "clean and carry" and that she "doesn't have to speak to anyone", that in fact the patients "would rather she didn't". She's further insulted and ridiculed by the patients, who tell her that they'd

"like someone English...Please", as the the thought of "A pole bringing them breakfast" just would "scare" the older patients. I find it intriguing, and saddening that discrimination is so widespread that an both an author in America and Ireland, in 2012 and 1930 both see discrimination so much in their society that it is incorporated into their work.

The second notable similarity in the openings of the novels, and the one that is perhaps my favourite is how both authors incorporate the theme of Dreams into their work. In "Of Mice and Men", we see almost immediately that Lennie and George share a dream, as it is their driving force, and an integral part of their characters. George and Lennie dream of getting a "little house and a couple of acres an' a cow and some pigs... and live off the fatta the lan'" This ambitious and nearly unattainable dream is their incentive in life, their incentive to travel, their incentive to save their money and their incentive to work; it is a huge, fundamental part of their character. George spends his time telling Lenny stories of the Dream as a way to boost Lennie's spirits, and -while he would never admit it- a way to boost his own. We see this sort of dream, this sort of hope again in "The Weight of Water". Kasienka and her Mother have their own dreams, dreams of finding Kasienkas father and uniting their family once again, dreams of making new friends in England, and dreams of being accepted into English society, of being treated as equals, of escaping man's cruelty. I love how both authors incorporate dreams into their characters, however, it is not surprising. Dreaming, having an ambition, an end goal is a fundamental element in humanity, and a key concept of well written and developed characters, which both authors cleverly created.

While the similarities between the two novels opening are curious and can be interpreted many different ways, I think what really makes them so interesting and intriguing is the main difference between the two novels: The setting. It may not seem of much significance at first thought, but with consideration we can see it shows us a lot about humanity as a whole. The settings of the novels are wildly different: They are set on opposite sides of the globe, nearly a full century from each other. "Of Mice and Men" is set in 1930's America, while "The Weight of Water" is set in modern day England. They are each others complete opposite, and a stark contrast to each other, which to me raises the question, why are there so many similarities?
I find it extremely curious how an author, writing in a racist unaccepting 1930s America, portrays discrimination so similarly to an author writing in England in the 2000's, when we are supposedly so much more accepting now. I also find interesting how the main driving forces behind our characters in both books is a dream, during both the 1930s and modern society. The thing that I personally think this teaches us, and the thing I myself find the most interesting about this is that humanity, as a race has not really changed at all. There have always been, and sadly most likely always will be those people who are afraid of what they don't understand, who don't understand disabilities, like Lennie, and don't understand those who are not from their own country, like Kasienka, and who therefore discriminate against those people. Dreams always have and always will be perhaps the main driving force behind humanity and their choices. I love how two authors who never will interact or see each other both capture these elements of humanity so well, and I love how their two independent pieces inadvertently work together to teach us a lesson.

While the openings of "Of Mice and Men" and "The Weight of Water" are both enthralling and intriguing in their own right and brilliant openings, I love how the similarities and differences between them work together to almost teach us about the times they are set in, and about humanity in general. This is why I believe the openings of both "The Weight of Water" and "Of Mice and Men" are very well written, intelligent pieces of literature, which just set up the brilliant story to come.