Throughout the texts 'Don't Cry for Billie’ by Beverley Dunlop and ‘Of Mice and Men’ by John Steinbeck, a theme that is explored is discrimination towards individuals that causes them disconnection from their communities. Judgement and discrimination commonly occurs amongst pupils who are often viewed as ‘different’ and have struggles fitting in with society. This discrimination highlights how society can be too quick to judge people and isolate those that they decide they aren't as fond of. Dunlop and Steinbeck express judgement in these texts by using effective language techniques, clear descriptions of setting conveying key moods, and characterisation. The idea of isolation in the novel ‘Of Mice and Men’ is significantly displayed through …show more content…
She is viewed as an outcast as there is no one she truly relates to on the ranch and not even her own husband, Curley, truly understands her. Curley's wife is never given a name and she is simply referred to as “Curley’s wife” throughout the whole novel, which solidifies that she is not valued on the ranch and is objectified lots of the time. Curley’s wife often visits the bunkhouse, always saying she's looking for Curley, but clearly she is just seeking human companionship. “I get lonely,” she said. “You can talk to people, but I can’t talk to anybody but Curley. Else, he gets mad. How’d you like not to talk to anybody?” This quote from Curley's wife is when she is speaking to Lennie in the barn, opening up, expressing her feelings to Lennie. This scene …show more content…
Lennie and George's dream of owning their own piece of land together is referenced throughout the text, with Lennie insisting George tell him the story of their dream future together. At the end of chapter one, ‘rabbits’ are introduced and we can see that the rabbits aren't intended to be inferred as literal rabbits and that Steinbeck wanted us to see that it more so represents Lennie and Georges future together on their dream land. “Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world.With us it ain’t like that. We got a future. because I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that’s why." This quote displays that Lennie and George believed they were ‘different’ from the others and that they had a future ahead of them. However, throughout the novel the dream is returned to over and over but we realise the dream is ultimately unattainable. The dream becomes unattainable for the two as Lennie has an unspecified mental disability which causes the two to get into arguments with others on the ranch. These arguments are significant towards the dream as the ranch is their work and in 1930s America the amount of jobs were becoming limited and people would have to take up any opportunity they were given, so arguments with people could possibly affect their position on the ranch. Steinbeck has linked George
She flirts with the other characters on the ranch but they pay her no attention either. This essay will go on to look at the character of Curley's wife and how characters perceive her. When first introduced to Curley's wife in the novel she comes into the bunkhouse, when both Lennie and George are in there. She is apparently looking for Curly but she already knows that new men have arrived.
A friendship is not all they have together, Lennie and George have dreams. Lennie and George have worked up the idea of owning their own piece of land together. Lennie wants to tend the rabbits (Steinbeck 11) and George just wants to be his own boss (Steinbeck 14). The only problem with their dream is that it is unrealistic. They cannot buy land to tend and just go days without tending it because they do not want to. Like many traveling farm hands during the 1930s, George and Lennie think they could work up enough money to buy their own place and not give a “hoot” about anyone but their selves. Although their dream is unattaina...
“Of mice and men” is about people who are lonely, sad and in search of
Curley’s wife is probably the most loathed on the ranch. Because of the way she looks and acts, people think she is easy, or a "tart". " ‘Jesus, what a tramp,’ he said. ‘So that’s what Curley picks for a wife.’ " said George, p.35. She just wants someone to talk to.
George's dream is to have a ranch of his own and Lennie's dream is to have, as mentioned earlier, a farm filled with rabbits. Lennie's hope for his dream is influenced whenever George starts describing his dream farm in explicit detail, such as how the fields are going to look, what animals they will own, what the daily routine will be etc. This farm symbolizes happiness and salvation, especially for Lennie, since he understands that the farm is his ticket to getting rabbits. In fact, the reason why he forgets George's orders is because he cannot stop thinking about his rabbits. A farm has basically become Lennie's version of heaven. This relates to how people always long for something to the point of where it becomes like heaven, a place where happiness lasts forever. Unfortunately, the rabbits symbolize false hope. For instance, Lennie holds a dead mouse and a dead puppy all for the same reason: he killed them. His love for petting soft creatures only causes trouble for himself. So if he owns a lot of rabbits, it is more than likely that they will all die because of Lennie. The rabbits, to Lennie, are things that seem like they will bring him true happiness, when they only create more sorrow. In other words, the rabbits symbolize sorrow disguised as salvation because in the end, Lennie goes suffers all because of his love for soft things. This is able to teach readers how dreams in the past
Curley's wife's' life was portrayed as a women who liked to be around other men to try to seduce them. She was described as many things, such as a tramp and other words other than Curley's wife. None of the employees on the ranch wanted to be around her because she was described as nothing but trouble. Lennie was the only one who showed her attention, but that ended badly.
Rabbit imagery is used to show the wishful thinking of how the relationship between Lennie and George will end. To illustrate their relationship, John Steinbeck uses rabbits to demonstrate their dreams of having their own piece of land. Occasionally, Lennie will have George tell him about the piece of land they will buy, just to make him feel good about themselves. From the beginning to the end of the novella, the author John Steinbeck has the image of rabbits repeated as a reminder to the readers. “No place for rabbits now, but I could easy build a few hutches and you could feed alfalfa to the rabbits” (ch3, p57). The rabbits are going to have their own place, live peacefully in the hutches George is planning to build. Since Lennie will be the one to take care of the rabbits they would not have anything to do, they will basically be living a peaceful life. Through the rabbits Lennie and George are considered as outsiders by the other farm workers, as they are the only pair of men to travel together and to think they would be able to take possession of their dream land within a month. The use of rabbits is to emphasize the relationship between two
Curley?s wife spent her whole life trying to grab attention. She was always labeled and ignored by everyone on the ranch, an example of this is when George tells Lennie that she was troubled and to stay away from her. Curley?s wife was ignored and used from early on, when she was given false intentions on being a movie star.
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.
The biggest dream throughout the story is for George and Lennie to have enough money to go and buy a farm of their own. But then Lennie does something that he can’t change back or hide from, and all hope is lost for him and George to have a farm when George does what he never thought he’d do. “And George raised the gun and steadied it, and he brought the muzzle of it close to the back of Lennie’s head. The hand shook violently, but his face set and his hand steadied. He pulled the trigger… Lennie jarred, and then settled slowly forward to the sand, and he lay without quivering.” (page 106) This one final scene symbolized all of George’s aspirations, hopes, dreams, ambitions, anything he had, diminishing before his eyes. He made a point earlier in the book, “ I was feelin’ pretty smart. I turns to Lennie and says, ‘jump in.’... well I ain’t done nothin like that no more” (40). He promised himself he wouldn’t hurt Lennie again, he took it upon himself to keep Lennie safe. But George fired that last bullet and killed Lennie, stripping himself of all his hope and ambitions. The other main ambition that was crushed in this story has to do with Lennie and his rabbits. “We’re gonna have a little house and a couple of acres an’ a cow and some pigs… An’ have rabbits!...” (14) This is a recurring event throughout the book; they talk about their future dreams, and Lennie tells everyone he meets about the rabbits he's gonna have, but again that all changes when Lennie messes up badly and kills Curley’s wife. The story displays the reader the visual of, “She struggled violently under his hands… “Don’t you go yellin’,” he said, and he shook her; and her body flopped like a fish. And then she was still, for Lennie had broken her neck.” (91) This visual can help you see where Lennie’s dream of ever handling another living being again diminishes because if he can’t keep an
She is frequently held responsible for numerous problems the men have. Everyone gets annoyed by her, since she constantly wears provocative clothing and flirts with the guys. She is constantly “looking” for her husband, asking around in her nasal, brittle voice, which is irritating in itself. In reality, she just desires attention from the other ranch hands. The problem is that the other men do not want to get in trouble with Curley, who does not like his wife going around with other men. Whit warns George of this in the beginning of the story, saying that she only causes trouble. “ ‘Well--she got the eye.’ ‘Yeah? Married two weeks and got the eye? Maybe that’s why Curley’s pants is full of ants.’ . . . ‘Well, I think Curley’s married. . . a tart’ ”(28). Everyone knows that Curley’s wife is a tart, or a promiscuous woman. Her decision to marry Curley was made extremely quickly, as she wanted to get back at her mother, because she believed her mom stole a letter from her. Because the men do not wish to talk to Curley’s wife, she is often lonely. A reason for this detachment is that she does not know how to approach people, frequently insulting others. The only time she ever conformed was when she talked to Lennie in the barn; however, this conversation was not a true discussion, as Lennie did not comprehend what she was saying. Earlier in the book, she attempted to talk to Candy, Crooks, and Lennie, but all of them wanted her out of the room. “She looked from one face to another, and they were all closed against her. And she looked longest at Lennie, until he dropped his eyes in embarrassment”(78). Curley’s wife felt the most alienated at this point, because even the lowliest on the farm were rising up against her. Candy makes a stand, telling Curley’s wife that they have a place to go to, even if they are canned. Unbelieving, she laughs Candy off. After a while, Crooks even
Although Lennie could not live like a normal adult, he still dreams of a better life filled with the things he desired. Lennie constantly badgers George about the story of the farm where they hope to eventually reside. Lennie sees a place where he faces no adversities, and Lennie dreams of tending the rabbits, stroking their fur and feeding them handfuls of alfalfa. “When they have their farm, as George tells him at the end, Lennie will not need to be scared of bad things any more, and he can tend the rabbits and pet them… Their farm is a place where they can live together, have animals and, in general, feel safe. Lennie has little memory, but the story of their dream is one he knows by heart” (Lennie). In a child- like vision, Lennie still sees the farm he and George often dream about and discuss. Lennie will never forget about the farm until they have achieved their goal. Lennie realizes the farm will be a place of leisure where he can simply tend the rabbits. Lennie always believes and chases after their nearly impossible American
Curley’s wife is probably the most loathed on the ranch. The way she looks and acts leads other characters in the novel to see her as a “tart”. George makes his opinions clear just after he first met her “Jesus, what a tramp”, and “So that’s what Curley picks for a wife”. She just wants some one to talk to. Males on the ranch don’t like her because they think she will get them into trouble. They make judgments without getting to know her first. They judge a book by its cover. Curley, her husband doesn’t trust her with the other ranch hands. She was just out of place on the ranch, and because of that, must have been a really lonely person with lonely feelings.
She needed people to talk to, like the others do. “A guy goes nuts if he ain't got nobody. Don't make no difference who the guy is, long's he's with you. I’ll tell ya a guy gets too lonely and he gets sick.” (Steinbeck, 72-73). Crooks has shown us that he truly needs someone however he can’t because he is different. This goes for Curley's wife as well. Those who are different are lonely because no one wants to get involved with them. When she is lonely, Curley's wife goes to talk to people but they never accept request. “I get lonely, you can talk to people but I can't talk to nobody but curly. Else he gets mad. How’d you like not to talk to anybody?” (Steinbeck, 87). Curley's wife explains that she is lonely. However, no one really notices it. She knows that she is claimed by someone she does not love. She only wants someone else to talk to him. Have her being viewed the way she was, was unlikely to happen. Being the woman on the ranch was awfully hard to live happy. She knew that they won't talk to her, so depression became a factor.
Question 1: According to Kant, what is required for an action to have moral worth? What kinds of actions are excluded from having moral worth? What would be an example of one that meets Kant’s requirements?