Danny Beard
English Coursework
Comparative Essay on the endings of
‘Of Mice & Men’ and ‘The Half Brothers’
Both of these stories essentially deal with the issues of love, death and what makes a good man. It also deals with the question why people are backward and how we should treat them, and people’s dreams and the sacrifices they make to achieve them. The first story; ‘The Half Brothers’, is set in Northern rural England, in the 1850’s. It concerns two relatives; stepbrothers, whose mother dies at an early age. The story has a strong narrative voice. The second story; ‘Of Mice & Men’, is set in the 1930’s, America, it concerns two migrant workers who are friends. The story has no narrative voice.
‘Of Mice & Men’ is a novel by John Steinbeck which uses colloquial language of how people spoke back when the novel was released, so an easily understood book. He shows the events of the story in short, compact sentences and uses a lot of description writing throughout the novel. He gives the reader a short history of the characters. Where as ‘The Half Brothers’ is a short story by Elizabeth Gaskell which uses Victorian style writing, with long complicated sentences. She gives a detailed history of most of the characters involved. Where ‘The Half Brothers’ has a strong narrative voice you are told the story and are given little chance to have your own opinion in comparison ‘Of Mice & Men’ has no narrative voice and lets to make your own opinions throughout the novel.
‘Of Mice & Men’ is set in California in the 1930s during the Great Depression; ‘The Half Brothers’ is set in Northern rural England, in the 1850’s. Both settings are in isolated areas of different countries with no one but those living on their land around for miles; ‘Of Mice & Men’ is on a ranch, ‘The Half Brothers’ a farm near a moor. This isolation in both stories enables you to focus on the main group of characters without being distracted by little characters with no impact on the story.
‘Of Mice & Men’ features as its main characters two itinerant (wandering) farm workers called George and Lennie. George is small, quick and intelligent, while Lennie is, by contrast, a backward, slow, simple-minded giant who has a passion for 'petting' things -especially mice, rabbits and other soft, silky things. Because he does not know his own strength, he often 'pets' these creatures to death. George and Lennie travel around together in search of work, and George takes care of Lennie, who is innocent of the world and its ways. They have a dream of a place of their own -a small ranch where they can live and work for themselves. They are currently on the run from the town' of Weed, where Lennie caused trouble by innocently fondling a girl's dress. They travel to a ranch where they have work and meet Candy, an old, crippled worker. Curley, the son of the ranch boss, turns out to be an aggressive and threatening man who frightens Lennie and worries George. Curley is always searching for his attractive young wife, who dislikes him and spends a lot of her time giving the ranch-hands 'the eye' in a seductive way. In spite of his misgivings about the situation, George decides that they will stay because they need the work and the money. Candy overhears them talking about their 'dream farm' and offers to put in his savings if they will let him join them. Lennie is given a puppy by Slim, the senior ranch-hand; Curley starts a fight with Lennie, who crushes his hand in self-defense. Lennie tells the black stable buck, Crooks, about their 'dream farm' and he too expresses a wish to be involved. They are interrupted by Curley's wife, who has guessed that it was Lennie who beat Curley and begins to take an interest in him. She contrives to meet him when he is by himself in the barn and he is feeling frightened and guilty because he has accidentally killed his puppy whilst petting it. She invites him to stroke her hair but becomes upset by his roughness: Unnerved by her screams, Lennie tries to quieten her, accidentally breaking her neck and killing her. He runs away and the other ranch-hands set out in pursuit, but George, knowing where to find him, forces himself to kill Lennie with a shot in the back of the head.
