How significant is the theme of violence in of mice and men?

How significant is the theme of violence in of mice and men? The novel 'of mice and men', written by John Steinbeck, is a tale of an extraordinary friendship between two ranch workers who fight for survival in the harsh times of the 1930s, the great depression of America. The essay concerns the role of violence throughout the novel and explores the theme of violence in different parts of the tale, as well as looking how specific characters use violence for different reasons. Specific areas of which the novel will explore are parts such as the death of Curlys wife, the fight between Curly and Lennie and the death of Lennie. The content of the book as a strong historic and social element, as well as a literary one. The social element refers to the way they lived. This would have been poorly, as they were in a great time of depression, where most of America lived in poverty. This also links to the historic element. America was very poor at the time. The literary element refers to the structure of the novel. The novel is written in play form, which makes it particularly easy to turn into a play. The theme of violence is a major theme in the novel, and the violence in speech between characters is a regular occurrence. This is noticeable in the speech between George and Lennie. From the very start of the novel we can see examples of George becoming irritated and enraged with

  • Word count: 2583
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Catherine's diary - 'A View From The Bridge'

How does Arthur Miller make Act 2 Scene 2 of 'A View From The Bridge' dramatically effective? 'A View From The Bridge' is a play set in the 1950s in Red Hook New York. The tragic action arises when Eddie Carbone, an Italian American longshoreman, develops inappropriate strong, possessive and even sexual feelings for his seventeen year old niece, Catherine. These feelings then escalate when a young Italian illegal immigrant named Rodolfo comes with his brother Marco to live with them. Eddie becomes uncontrollably intolerable to him and tension starts to rise between the characters. In Act 2 scene2, a central scene in the play, Eddie loses control by publicly exposing his feelings towards Catherine; this results in him sexually assaulting both Catherine and Rodolfo by kissing them after he suspects that they were having pre-marital sex in his apartment. This is a turning point in the play because Eddie's love for Catherine and contempt for Rodolfo is finally revealed to both characters in such a forceful but effective way. Arthur Miller makes this scene very dramatic by using a range of dramatic devises such as shocking action, powerful dialogue and dramatic irony. This scene also clearly shows the stereotypical cultural background of an Italian American community in the 1950s as being strong, aggressive and male dominating. The scene is made very dramatic by Arthur Miller as

  • Word count: 2591
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Macbeth What are the roles of the witches

Show how Shakespere uses the roles of the witches to establish an atmosphere of nightmare and evil in his play, Macbeth Macbeth is one of Shakesperes greatest Tradgedies. The reason why this play is a tradgedy is because the main character (Macbeth) a nice, noble man is destroyed by his own ambition. The play starts as Macbeth being a noble man and the play ends with Macbeth being a wreck an evil man he is described as a "butcher". The story of Macbeth begins with the three witches who cast a spell. Then it goes to the battle and Macbeth wins. Macbeth meets the three witches. The witches predict that he will be king. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth kill the King Duncan and then Macbeth and Lady Macbeth become king and queen, this is where in the storty Macbeths ambition takes over. Macbeth starts becoming really parinoid and starts hilousinating as he has another person killed. But this time its got a bit of a twist to it because its his best friend that he has killed (Banco). One evil deed leads to another. Macbeth goes and visits the witches again. The witches tell him that he should fear no woman born. This is a twisted lie. Macbeth invades Mcdoffs castle and kills macdoffs family. Mcdoff then goes back and raids Mcbeths castle. Then Mcdoff tells Macbeth that he was not woman born he was born of a cizarion and then Mcdoff behinds Mabeth. This play is a play full of evil

  • Word count: 2738
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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modernist literature

In your opinion what are the two most significant characteristics of modernist literature? Use any TWO texts from the course to substantiate and illustrate your argument. In my opinion, the two most significant characteristics of modernist literature are the pessimistic view of modern society or modern doubt, expressed through alienation and fragmentation, and the technique of stream of consciousness. In this essay I will discuss these characteristics and several important texts to illustrate my argument. Gertrude Stein's work is a perfect example of fragmentation, or rather in her case, literary cubism. In art, cubism means showing multiple perspectives, taking a form and breaking it down to rebuild it on canvas (analytical cubism) or taking materials to create a sort of collage (synthetic cubism). In modernist literature the same process occurs: people, feelings, locations are fragmented, only bits and pieces are described instead of the whole picture. As Picasso said: "I paint objects as I think them, not as I see them." Stein was inspired by modernist artists such as Picasso, and wrote a series of literary portraits, including one on Picasso. She defended the representational nature of Cubism and believed that through the distortion, repetition and altering of a subject one could get a resemblance of human perception. 'The love song of J. Alfred Prufrock' is a good

  • Word count: 1628
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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The Monkeys Paw

The Monkeys Paw "The Monkey's Paw" is W.W. Jacobs' most famous story and is considered to be a classic of horror fiction. It first appeared in Harper's Monthly magazine in 1902, and was reprinted in his third collection of short stories, The Lady of the Barge, also published in 1902. The story has since been published in many anthologies, adapted for the stage, and made into films. "The Monkey's Paw" was well received when Jacobs first published it; the story garnered rave reviews from some of the most important critics writing at the turn of the century. The story was also very popular with readers. "The Monkey's Paw" was written in Victorian times. It is a typical Victorian horror story, a genre which was very popular at the time it was written. Many writers popularized the horror genre at the time (eg. H.G. Wells) but it owes most of its popularity to the change in social-economic factors. One of these factors was the change in the standards in education, due to a reform which meant the standards in literacy were greatly improved; therefore, more people could read. This lead to an increase in demand for cheap reading material. The short story was a cheap and easily accessible literacy form and the Victorians started to like this prose style. Many short stories were published in popular magazines or newspapers, which were much cheaper then books. "In The Monkey's Paw"

  • Word count: 886
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Cultures and Traditions

Both "Vendetta" and "The Schoolteacher's Guest" deal with ideas of justice and revenge. How do you think the writers show the personal and cultural forces that lead to the characters taking their revenge? In your response you should refer closely to the texts. Both stories show a strong bond between the mother and son. The Schoolteacher's Guest uses more dialogue and narrative to give the reader more of an understanding of what is going on whilst Vendetta starts with the description of the setting which tells the reader that this may be a bit of a harsh story. For example, "the barren, stripped of all but a scanty covering of grass, are forever harassed by a restless wind". They all give off a very negative energy. You are fully aware of what has happened near in the first two paragraphs. For example, in Vendetta, "One evening, Antoine Saverini was treacherously stabbed in quarrel by Nicolas Ravolati," They both focus on family honour and blood feud and are set in very insignificant places so you wouldn't think much would be going on. Widow Saverini doesn't seem to show much emotion when her son is brought to her. I think that the idea of her being a widow gives you the thought that she has already had her share of grief for her husband and she knows that crying is not going to solve anything. It is almost like she has lost all feeling and can't even mourn for her son.

  • Word count: 1872
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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The Signalman

The Signalman Dickens uses, and exploit's the culture around him in order to convince and draw the reader into the Signalman. The way in which he does this is through several techniques which build up suspense, tension, and mystery in The Signalman. The Signalman begins with a very brief description of the setting. The Narrator is beginning his journey of descent downwards. The use of language is chosen very carefully in order to achieve Dickens' desired effects on the reader. In particular to the text is the use of adjectives. These are used in order to create a sense of disturbing and supernatural. All these words build up a sense of apprehension. There is an immediate sense of the unknown. The first line in the story is "Halloa, below there!". This opens the story with a sense of mystery. There are two people unknown to each other, one high, and the other below. The narrator is seen as the being in the presence of light and the signalman is in the dark. This is an extreme contrast to suggesting there is a sense of difference between the two characters. The description of the railway cutting is 'extremely dark'. "His past was in a solitary and dismal place as I ever saw. On either side a dripping wet wall of jagged stone, excluding all view but a strip of sky". The description describes a very depressing place, almost reminding the reader of Hell, or something

  • Word count: 735
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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An Analysis of Old Major's Speech: Animal Farm

An analysis of Old Major's Speech to the Animals of Manor Farm Having served the Indian Imperial Police in Burma, George Orwell received direct experience with the lower-class of society. After joining the Republican forces in the Spanish Civil War he grew critical of the communists, and later he fought the communists in Spain, himself. This was the reason he wrote Animal Farm: to illustrate the dangers that communism, implemented in a harsh way, often led to. In this way, it could be classified as satire, i.e. on the corruption of the Russian revolution, not on communism itself. He wrote it as an anthropomorphic allegory, that is to say that the story of the Russian Revolution was written with the characters being animals rather than humans, and that it was not telling the story literally, rather it was figurative. In my opinion, this was done to engage the reader more fully and to bypass any stereotypes the reader may have about any one of the real-life characters. Out of these characters, Old Major of the Animal Farm represents Karl Marx who can be considered "the father of communist ideology" and of whom "Marxism" was named after. In the same way, Old Major was the "father of animalism" and he was the first one to articulate its ideas. Old Major's name could be described as an aptonym; both the name he was exhibited with i.e. Willingdon Beauty and the name the animals

  • Word count: 2724
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Adventure begins here.

CONTENTS Chapter 1 REPITION 2 Chapter 2 BILLY BLACK 12 Chapter 3 AIRBOURNE 22 Chapter 4 NEW SKIES 31 Chapter 5 HOURS OF DARKNESS 37 Chapter 6 FAMILY HISTORY 42 Chapter 7 APPARITIONS 50 Chapter 8 TARGET 54 Chapter 9 CITY LIGHTS 60 Chapter 10 BLOOD DRINKER 68 Chapter 11 TRUTH 73 Chapter 12 ILLUSIONAL 78 Chapter 13 MEET THE FAMILY 85 PREFACE SMOKE BELLOWED FROM MY UNEVEN FLOORBOARDS, FLAMES LICKED around my bedroom walls. The smoke made screaming harder so I closed my eyes and rolled up into a ball on the floor, my arms wrapped tightly around my legs. Just as I had reached unconsciousness I felt my body being picked up. My rescuers arms were stone cold and sent a sharp pain pulsating through my arm. My eyelids felt as heavy as lead as I fought for a glimpse of my rescuer. The first thing I noticed about him was his livid eyes - a liquid topaz colour that sparkled in the firelight. His dark tousled moonlight shaded hair glinted in the limited light of the flames. His face was set like stone into a scowl, anger filled in his beautiful eyes. He was wearing dark jeans and a black t-shirt. It was as if he were an ice sculpture, carved by the gods. I reached out to touch the back of his hand but resisted; he looked down at me with intelligent eyes. He looked at me for a second studying my face, my eyes, my hair but then his head quickly snapped back as his eyes locked

  • Word count: 53878
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Explain what makes a good mystery story based on your understanding of "The Monkey's Paw" by W.W. Jacob.

English Literature Coursework Pre 1914 Prose Explain what makes a good mystery story based on your understanding of "The Monkey's Paw" by W.W. Jacob. Simplicity is the key when it comes to the plot of a mystery story. Very few characters and not many sub-plots. If you have a complicated plot then the story is hard to follow and if there are a lot of characters then you can't build up the readers pity or understanding of a single character ,which is how good mystery stories work. The author makes us understand a character so that when something happens to them we have come to know them and ether want something bad to happen to them if they're a nasty character or you want them to get out of trouble if the character is likable. It is also possible that the author will aim to show us how a character can be changed by a traumatic or bad experience. It is therefore a bad idea to have many characters in a mystery story. "The Monkey's Paw" has very few important characters. In this story we have only "Mr. White", "Mrs. White", "Herbert" and the "Sergeant-Major". Because of this "The Monkey's Paw" is a well written mystery story. We know "Herbert" well and of his strong bond with his mother. Because when he dies naturally we want to know how the mother copes. We also no that the father is quite petulant at the beginning of the story he tries to distracted his so who is about

  • Word count: 1001
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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