Rhiannon Jones
English Wider Reading Coursework ”The Country of the Blind’ and ‘Of Mice and Men’ are very different stories, however there are similarities in the style, structure and themes explored.”
Stories as diverse as ‘Of Mice and Men’ and ‘The Country of the blind’ will have obvious differences, such as contrasting forms in which they’re written as a novel and a short story. On the contrary the novel and novella do posses some similarities that are portrayed in the language used. A combination of poetic and realist narrative style can be found in both tales. Related themes are also explored throughout the texts including sacrifice and the failure of attempting to achieve power and status, admittedly in contrasting ways yet both are ended in a circular narrative form. Despite the likeness between the two texts, they were written for dissimilar reasons. ‘Of Mice and Men’ reflects the depression-drenched times of 1930’s America, and the solitary lives of migrant farm workers. The novel illustrates the struggle of ordinary men striving to achieve their version of the American dream, yet inevitably failing due to the collapsed economy and narrow mindedness of the people in that period. Conversely ‘The Country of the Blind’ is the authors comment on the social constraints placed upon inhabitants of the time by government and society, explored in a metaphorical manner. H. G. Wells personifies the free thinker as Nunez and how he’s persecuted for being this way and forced to exclude himself from society or sacrifice his individuality, which all reflects the Victorian period in which this novella was written. Both the novel and the novella begin in a similar style by setting the scene and the distance. ‘Of Mice and Men’ uses smaller distances such as ‘A few miles south of Soledad’, which makes the scenario it describes more believable in the mind of the reader, and therefore relates to the realist theme. In contrast ‘The Country of the Blind’ sets the story ‘300 hundred miles’ away from the civilisation giving the novella a mythical remoteness, distancing the tale from the audience. This could be to distance the link between closed minds of the Victorian era and those in the novella, as this promotion of free thinking which underlies the novella throughout was disapproved of greatly then. Adding a mythical element by saying ‘And this was the story of that man’ and using words such as ‘Legend’ to describe this novella aids the author in masking his controversial comment on the time. However both stories use place and distance to emphasise the realist theme, strongly in ‘Of Mice and Men’ and an added hint in ‘The Country of the Blind’. The opening passages of the two texts use very similar devices, such as poetic descriptions, yet create contrasting effects. ‘Of Mice and Men’ displays dramatic devices such as ‘South of Soledad’ creating sibilance, which develops a sense of tranquillity in the readers mind and a soothing effect is created. The assonance in phrases such as ‘deep and green’ also adds to the calming effect presented in the novel. Whereas the use of sibilance in ‘The Country of the Blind’ creates harsh, violent effects with phrases like ‘land-slips and swift thawing and sudden floods’. This contrast shows nature as a destructive force against man in ‘The Country of the Blind’ as passages state that the earthquake described ‘cut off the country of the blind forever’. This may act as a metaphor of how closed minds plague the lives of men in the novella, as nature does. ‘That horrible roof under which your imaginations stoop’, shows that nature has seemingly enclosed citizens of the country, and their minds also, which is a negative effect enforced by nature. However in ‘Of Mice and Men’ nature seems to be more peaceful, and contrastingly man is the destructive force, as they’ve marred the surroundings with ‘ash piles’ and ‘worn limbs of trees smooth’. This harmful effect of men is reflected in the novel on one of the main characters Lennie, as his animal like innocence with obvious strong connections with nature is portrayed as peaceful in phrases such as ‘dabbled his big paw’, yet the novel ends in his death, which is due to human intervention therefore a reflection on the adverse affects of men in nature.The style is also alike in the closing sections of both texts as they take the form of being circular narrative pieces, as they both end in the same setting as they began. This suggests that the vicious circle of discrimination is yet to be broken and life is a continuous cycle of failure, a very pessimistic view of life in both these tales is therefore projected. In ‘Of Mice and Men’ many similar events take place that happened at the beginning of the story, such as the mention of the ‘water snake’, yet this time it’s swallowed which may signal pessimistic things to come. The lighting in the last passage ‘Of Mice and Men’ also acts as a clue to what’s to come as the beginning of the description begins with more light as the ‘hilltops were rosy in the sun’ which signifies safety. During the remainder of the last few paragraphs light begins to diminish, ‘Only the topmost ridges were in the sun now’ which gives a sense of urgency and an idea increasing danger. Lennie is shortly killed after this decrease in light, which proves the point well. This idea of this subsiding light is repeated in ‘The Country of the Blind’ as before Nunez’s death the ‘mountain summits around him were things of light’ and ‘rocks near to hand were drenched in light’, these poetic descriptions, with the use of dramatic adjectives to describe light, symbolises his last sight of light and the appropriate glory it requires in the context of the story. Nunez is dead when ‘the glow of the sunset passes’ and the sun has metaphorically set on his life when ‘night comes’. Themes explored in both texts are closely related, displayed in varying ways. The main matters encountered in the novel are all related to realist subjects, such as the failure of achieving power and status, and difference within society. ‘Of Mice and Men’ has an underlying theme of failure throughout the novel, which is manifested in several ways. The main failure present in the novel is the dream which Lennie and George share, which is to one day ‘live of the fatta the lan’’ , which in reality is a version of the American dream, where freedom and respect are both strived for. The inevitable failure of this dream is demonstrated in many parallel events, one of which is the shooting of Candy’s dog. Candy’s later thoughts of “I ought to of shot that dog myself” strengthens the idea of a possible negative outcome in the novel and what may follow in the chapters to come. The constant theme of death amongst innocent animals such as the ‘mice’, ‘Lennie’s pup’ and ‘Candy’s dog’, also all give the sense that any innocence in the book is likely to be destroyed by the cruelty of man teamed with fate, and therefore the dream comes to an end when George ‘pulled the trigger’ on Carlson’s luger (the same gun which shot Candy’s dog) and Lennie ‘Jarred’ and ‘lay without quivering’. Lennie’s death shows that this dream seems to be unachievable and due to economic collapse and critical attitudes of the time was always destined to fail as fate is, like people are, cruel; as innocent Lennie was persecuted for a mistake which shouldn’t have happened. Another failed dream present in the story is the one of ‘fame’ and ‘money’ had by Curley’s wife. This dream is mainly failed when she marries Curley after deciding she ‘wasn’t gonna stay in a place where she couldn’t get nowhere or make something of herself’ yet backfires, as this ‘nasty man’ would never allow his wife to go to Hollywood. His closed mindedness helps to kill the dream as he confines her to the ranch by saying ‘A wife of mine should stay at home, and not go out’, and he inevitably ensures this fantasy will never come true as he drives her to seek company from a disturbed ranch worker, who kills her. The death of her perhaps frivolous dream shows the harshness of the time and how people with closed minds that lived in that era had negative thoughts about women and their glamorous or fantasy like aspirations. The depression and hard-heartedness of the times can also be seen in this realist novel as characters in the novel seem to accept the tragedy present as if it couldn’t be helped, by insensitive phrases lacking compassion like “Now what the hell ya suppose is eatin’ them two guys?” said to conclude the novel.
