George and Gilbert are very similar in many ways but also differ greatly in many others. George is not strong but is presented to be “small and quick”. Gilbert on the other hand differs greatly from George. Gilbert is presented to be a strapping chap who was about six feet tall. The Sexton says “He were about as strapping a chap as I was (I used to be six feet high)”. Both George and Gilbert are intelligent but in different ways. Gilbert went though professional schooling. He gained a great deal of knowledge through his education. Gilbert finds his knowledge about the bible and God valuable to him. George never went through any type of schooling. He is, however, quick witted and the majority of his intelligence revolves around his understanding of how the world works. He has a good deal of common sense. George does not give much thought to religion, he has morals and beliefs but they are not guided any religion. George follows what he believes is right but at the same time respecting others. Therefore George's beliefs and morals originate from himself. Gilbert bases his morals and beliefs very heavily on Christianity, and what the bible teaches. He follows the bible very closely and looks to it for guidance and help. We know he used his bible a lot, and that it was a very precious item to him because when the Sexton receives Gilbert’s bible he describes it as “a poor used-up thing” and inside The Sexton found many underlined passages which Gilbert had found which supported his view that he could not fight. Both characters have a sense of duty and responsibility, but in different ways. George feels he has a duty to Lennie’s Aunt Clara to look after Lennie. Gilbert didn’t fight the Sexton because he felt he had a duty or responsibility to stick to his beliefs from the bible.
George tries to be a good example to Lennie of how a man should be. He teaches Lennie from what he has learned himself through travelling “You never oughta drink water when it ain’t running, Lennie, he said hopelessly.” Lennie doesn’t always seem to respond to George’s knowledge because of Lennie’s mental state. George must teach Lennie by example sometimes as Lennie often imitates George, like when George washed his face and neck before they reached the ranch. After George washed “Lennie, who had been watching, imitated George exactly”. Gilbert does also try to teach others by example but not as directly as George does. Gilbert firstly makes sure how he lives his life is how he believes God wants him to live his life, and secondly he hopes that others will follow his example and become better people, and Christians. At the start of the story this doesn’t happen. Gilbert loses all his friends through his beliefs about not fighting. By the end of the story Gilbert had still stuck to his beliefs till his death but he had taught the Sexton about his beliefs and why he did not fight, “There were many a text in the Gospel, marked broad with a carpenter’s pencil, which more than bore him out in his refusal to fight.”
Both Gilbert and George do have a fairly similar attitude toward violence except that Gilbert would never use violence. Both men are not violent by nature and would not start a fight for no apparent reason, but both George and also, I believe Gilbert will use violence if necessary. Although he doesn’t personally get involved with Lennie and Curley’s fight he eventually encourages Lennie to fight back. Gilbert’s attitudes to violence like many other aspects of his life are guided by his beliefs in God and the bible. Gilbert is almost something of a pacifist and will never use violence as he believes it is not morally correct or seen to be correct by his faith.
George will respect a group’s leader, such as Slim, and will follow advice and instruction but he is also strong minded himself and dislikes unpleasant or unjust people such as Curley. George is wary of most people he meets apart from Lennie and also Slim who he unusually opens up to. Gilbert responds to others fairly and pleasantly even when he is being treated unjustly by them. Even when Gilbert was taunted for not fighting he still did not fight back because as the Sexton said, “as plain as words could speak, to fight out the quarrel. He told me then, he had no quarrel against me”. George is respected by others but also counted the same as everyone else. Others do not think of him as a leader, except possibly by Lennie. Most others see him as an honest peer. He is accepted into groups. Gilbert is treated very differently during the course of the story. At first he is accepted and befriended by the village but after he refuses to fight the Sexton people treat him in a very different way. Nearly the whole village turns their back to him. They tease and laugh at him by calling him a “quaker”. He is made an outcast by many of the villagers and is thought of as a coward. Being a coward is anything but a stereotypical heroic quality. Gilbert later proves that he is not a coward but a hero to the whole village by sacrificing his life to save those of the Sexton’s and Letty’s. Gilbert was almost all alone in the village and had only one friend. The Sexton who had caused this hatred in the first place stopped hating Gilbert after he got what he wanted and married Letty (which shows great selfishness), but the villagers continued and Gilbert was forced to isolate himself, to stay away from other people and carry on his life alone. George was never completely isolated because he always had the constant companionship of Lennie. He was isolated in the fact that he did not feel that he could open up to anyone, to talk about his problems and Lennie’s mental handicap. George did eventually open up to Slim, unexpectedly. I think this is because George admired Slim, “George looked over at Slim and saw the calm, godlike eyes…” George is also isolated from others apart from Lennie because he is forced to keep moving from ranch to ranch after Lennie destroys their opportunity to work at every ranch the par visit. When Lennie is killed, George is left all alone.
Bravery is another of the key aspects a typical hero encompasses. Bravery comes in many different forms and both men are incredibly brave. Gilbert takes a large risk and in the end sacrifices his own life in order to save the lives of the Sexton and his wife, Letty. Even though the Sexton had basically destroyed Gilbert’s life, Gilbert had no quarrel with the Sexton and did what he believed was right. This is an incredibly brave thing to do, risking and ultimately giving up your own life to save another by choice. Most men would be much too unsure and frightened to risk their own life with little chance of survival to help others. The villagers thought Gilbert to be a coward but he ultimately proved he wasn’t by giving up his own life in such a way. George is also a very brave man but not because he risked his life or put himself in danger. George’s bravest act in Of Mice and Men was shooting his long-term companion, Lennie. George was both reluctant and determined to shoot Lennie. Even though he didn’t want to he knew what he had to do. “The hand shook violently, but his face set and his hand steadied. He pulled the trigger.” By shooting Lennie, George lost his closest friend and his dream for his own place. He had to work alone now that Lennie had gone and became just another ordinary ranch worker. George said on many occasions “Guys like us, that work on ranches are the loneliest guys in the world… But not us”. George and Lennie were only different because they had each other. George was also brave because he made sure it was he who killed Lennie. After Candy let someone else shoot his dog he was unhappy and regretted not doing it himself. Candy felt his dog was his responsibility and he should have put him down. In much the same way George felt that Lennie was his responsibility and so it should be him who ends Lennie’s life. George was braver than Candy in this respect as he killed Lennie unlike Candy, who allowed Slim to do the deed. Both stories have very sad endings. In Of Mice and Men, George is left without a companion, as just another ranch worker, and is further away from his dream than he ever was before. In The Sexton’s Hero, Gilbert ends up dead after to saving the life of The Sexton and his wife. The only thing that made the village and The Sexton truly forgive and befriend Gilbert again was his own death, which is a very sad thing as Gilbert was not around to experience this.
Both authors have used heroism in their characters very effectively and have implemented it in different forms. They have used various styles of writing and language to put across their points and feelings about the characters. Both Of Mice and Men and The Sexton’s Hero are short fictitious novels. The Sexton’s Hero is much older than Of Mice and Men. During this the time it was written religion was very important to people and there were many things in life that were still unexplained that could only be explained by the bible, or as an act of God. Of Mice and Men was written in the 1930s, approximately 100 years later and therefore the style and language differs greatly in the two books. The language in Of Mice and Men is mainly colloquial. Steinbeck has chosen to use the sort of language that working class people at that time may have used. This immerses the reader into the time period and gives us a better sense of what it was like. The Sexton’s Hero is written like a tale, in a complicated fashion. It was written with an explicit and direct link to heroism but Of Mice and Men is much more implicit, by involving the theme of heroism but not directly linking it with characters or acts. In The Sexton’s Hero Elizabeth Gaskell is trying to tell us that anyone can be a hero if they stick to what they believe in and don’t get tempted by what they know is wrong, no matter how appealing it may be. Her view of heroism is a very Christian one. In Of Mice and Men Steinbeck tries to tell us that heroism can be seen by ordinary people, that different people have different heroes and to make the best out of what we have. I think Gilbert is much more of a stereotypical hero than George. Each character has in some way or form helped others around them and this it what I believe make them heroes.
Although The Sexton’s Hero appears to be more successful in defining because of its direct links to heroism and traits a hero, I do not believe it to be any more successful at showing a hero than Of Mice and Men. Although the story shows what a hero is thought to be, and how to be one, it only shows one type of hero. Of Mice and Men shows you do not have to save a person’s life to be a hero, and this I personally prefer. At the beginning of The Sexton’s Hero a question is asked, “How would you define a hero?” The answer given after a long pause was “My idea of a hero is one who acts up to the highest idea of duty he has been able to form, no matter at what sacrifice.” Both George and Gilbert easily fit this description, they have stood up to their duties and responsibilities and have been forced to make sacrifices along the way, which shows neither man is more of a hero than the other.