‘Be warned, Oh my son! Be warned! Isaac! Let her go, and do you stop with me!’
Again, the advice is ignored and, eventually, Rebecca, the girl of the dream leaves, Isaac lives in fear of her returning to seek revenge.
In both texts there is a meeting with a dangerous woman. In ‘Of Mice and Men’, this woman is Curley’s wife. Although she appears to be pretty and virtuous, she is very lonely and ignored. So she flirts with the other men for attention. The men dislike her because she puts their jobs in jeopardy. If they were found to be flirting with Curley’s wife, first Curley would have beaten them up, and then they would have lost their job. None of the men wanted this.
‘The Ostler’s dangerous woman is Rebecca Murdoch. The first time we read about her, she is going to kill Isaac. After this she is very manipulative, getting Isaac to stay with her. Then, she returns to Isaac to scare him and haunt his dreams. Both women, although they are pretty, aren’t ‘good’ people. They aren’t pleasant characters and help to represent danger, fear and loneliness in the story.
Timing is used to good effect in both texts. However, in each of the stories, the author has used timing in different contexts and for different reasons.
In ‘The Ostler’ the reader notices that all-important events always occur on Isaac’s birthday. In fact, the first time Isaac sees Rebecca is on the night of his birthday.
‘Isaac, you dreamed your ill dream on this Wednesday morning? … This Wednesday is the night of your birthday Isaac; and two o’clock was the time you were born!’
This fact enhances the elements of atmosphere, tension and also the supernatural factor to the book, as after this point in the story, the reader knows that when Collins writes that it is getting near to Isaac’s birthday, something is going to happen.
The worst things, of course, happen on the night of his birthday:
‘The man referred sleepily to his watch and answered “Two o’clock.” Two in the morning… he reckoned it up from the date of his mother’s funeral … it was his birthday!”
In ‘Of Mice and Men’, timing is used in a completely different way. This time, it is the people present at specific times, not the actual date that is significant.
In this text, we find that whenever the men are talking about anything positive- like Lennie and George’s dream of having their own little farm, Curley’s wife appears.
‘Have it all in a month. George got the land- all picked out too … “Any you boys seen Curley?” [Curley’s wife]’
Curley’s wife always enters when they talk of the dream. This is important as it implies that eventually Curley’s wife will have something to do with the downfall of the dream. Eventually, we find this to be correct, as Lennie killing Curley’s wife leads to George shooting Lennie, so they don’t achieve their goal.
Fate is also used cleverly in both texts. In ‘The Ostler’, there is often the feeling of an invisible force at work. Especially with the vision at the inn as this woman eventually turns out to be Isaac’s wife.
Also, the co-incidences centring around Isaac’s birthday reflect fate. In the era that this story was written readers were extremely fascinated by the idea of the supernatural and forces such as fate. There are many gothic stories written in the Victorian era that reflect these fascinations. Victorians enjoyed such stories as it made them wonder about their own lives. They wanted to know where there really was someone or something out there that planned their lives for and had ultimate control over them.
The title ‘Of Mice and Men’ itself is a hint that this is a story which will have a negative ending. ‘Of Mice and Men’ is taken from a poem by the great Scottish poet, Robert Burns called ‘The best laid schemes o’mice and men/Gang aft a-gley.’ The poem is about the fact that plans do often go wrong, however careful we are.
This is true throughout the text as although George and Lennie have their dream all planned out, things did go badly wrong. However much George tells Lennie to not do something, like stay away from Curley’s wife, it is in vain. Because of this, the dream gets ruined.
In ‘Of Mice and Men’ I think that fate is portrayed in Curley’s wife. This would appeal to readers because it makes the reader want to put themselves in the characters’ places.
I have drawn the following conclusions about the novella. The first is that Curley’s wife always ‘appears’ when the men talk of taking control of their lives, like George and Lennie’s dream. It’s like she is always watching over them. Also the fact that Curley’s wife ends it all, she is the one that finally ends the dream. Curley’s wife ends up being killed by Lennie and this makes George decide to kill him. It seems that ultimately she has control and ruins the pair’s dreams. This is effective, as again readers will question their own lives. Even in the modern world people are interested in the supernatural. Whilst reading, you begin to wonder whether fate does exist or indeed if it lives inside people.
The writers both have a very different, but effective, style of writing.
For today’s reader it is easy to see that ‘The Ostler’ was written in a different era to the one we live in due to the style of the text. The story was in written in Victorian times, and its features are distinctive to this period. Even the title uses a term not often used today. An ‘Ostler’ is the old fashioned word for what today we would call a stable hand, or someone who works in stables.
There are various words and phrases that suggest that the book wasn’t written recently. Also, some of the things the characters say would not be classed as ‘modern’ phrases.
One of the words used in ‘The Ostler’, which is not used anymore, is ‘whither’. The word in context is ‘Whither had she gone?’ the replacement for the word is ‘where’ and is not commonly used today. The word could be described as archaic.
Sometimes, there are phrasings in the text that seem odd, and almost out of place. Sometimes in the text words are used in a different context to how we would use them today. For example, the phrase ‘I won’t occasion you that trouble.’
This phrase means ‘I won’t put you out like that.’ This usage if the word occasion, in this context, is quite different in more modern texts.
In ‘The Ostler’, there are also many sentences where the structure is more complicated than modern writing.
When you read the phrase
‘He asked the first policeman he met, what hour that was, of which the quarter had just struck.’
It automatically seems miswritten, as a modern writer would have phrased it quite differently.
Another example of this,
‘Easier in his mind, and in perfect health of body, when he fell off to sleep.’
The way that Collins wrote was far more complicated in structure as can be seen. Often, what today’s reader might think should be in a certain part of a sentence isn’t. For instance, in the example above, the reader feels that ‘When he fell off to sleep’ should come first, here it is at the end of the sentence.
‘Of Mice and Men’ has a very different style. The language is far more simple and direct. The sentences are a lot shorter and easier to comprehend.
‘Evening of a hot day started the little wind moving along among the leaves. The shade climbed towards the hill top.’
This is considerably easier to understand than some of the phrases in ‘The Ostler’, which are often quite long with few breaks:
‘Naturally slow in capacity, he had the bluntness of sensibility and phlegmatic patience of disposition which frequently distinguish men with sluggishly-working mental powers.’
In ‘Of Mice and Men’ it is obvious that the text includes the speech of working men, as there are many colloquialisms. Instead of the words ‘going’ and ‘to’ the characters often say ‘gonna’. The word ‘outta’ is the replacement for ‘out of’ and ‘gotta’ instead of ‘got to’.
Also, when the men speak, letters are often missed off, especially ‘lookin’ and ‘comin’. This is evidence that the characters are working class, and they don’t need to talk properly. Steinbeck achieves this by writing their speech phonetically and the reader can almost hear the speech as they read. This also helps to make the text more realistic.
The text often includes bad language. John Steinbeck used this for effect.
Steinbeck knew, having been a ranch worker himself, how exactly the workers felt. They were very frustrated and felt trapped and angry. They swore to reflect their feelings. The use of bad language adds to the realism because it shows how the workers felt.
The texts have characters that are similar.Both Rebecca Murdoch and Curley’s wife are attractive women who, sadly, failed in their ambitions. Similarly, they are both destructive and dangerous.
Rebecca Murdoch is dangerous because she is the woman of the dream, who haunts Isaac’s life from then on. She, effectively, ruins his life. This is because she achieved her dream to be truly happy.
Curley’s wife is also like this. She could be seen to ‘haunt’ the men, constantly hanging around and bothering them. She spoils their lives as she dampens the atmosphere whenever the men are thinking positively.
Also, the stories contain characters that attempt to protect the person they love. Similarly, both characters fail in their mission.
The protective character in ‘The Ostler’ is Mrs.Scatchard, Isaac’s mother. She wants Isaac to stay away from Rebecca as soon as she sees her. She knows she is the girl of the dream.
‘Be warned, oh, my son! Be warned! Isaac! Let her [Rebecca] go and do you stop with me!’
The protective character in ‘Of Mice and Men’ is George. He tries to look after Lennie and tells him
‘Well, you keep away from her [Curley’s wife], ‘cause she’s a rat-trap if I ever saw one.’
Unfortunately, Lennie doesn’t heed this advice and it results in his death.
There are another two characters that are very alike, Isaac and Lennie. Each of the characters has a partner, someone they depend on to help them cope.
Lennie has to almost completely rely on George, as he can’t look after himself. Lennie is mentally ill and even remembering just little pieces of information are a serious challenge. George has to be there to prompt Lennie all of the time.
Isaac is slightly different to this. He depends on someone, his mother, but not quite so much as Lennie. His mother is more of a guide and, although he goes out into the world by himself, she keeps him in-line.
The pair are also alike physically. Both do jobs that are typical ‘physical’ tasks as Lennie is a ranch hand that lifts bails of hay and moves large bits of machinery all day long. Isaac works with horses, and would have to be quite strong, dealing with the stable equipment and large chains.
Lennie is especially noted for being very strong, yet not intelligent:
Slim says; ‘Maybe he ain’t bright, but I never seen such a worker … there ain’t nobody can keep up with him. God awmighty, I never seen such a strong guy.’
The language used to describe the men also supports this.
We know that Isaac is quite slow mentally because of the words used to describe him. The text claims he has ‘sluggishly-working mental powers.’ This means he struggles to do things mentally. If he has to think something through, it takes forever as he has a distinct lack of quick wit. The usage of the word ‘sluggish’ is effective because it reminds you of the animal imagery of a slug, slow, grey and pretty in active. You can imagine that Isaac’s brain works how a slug moves, very slowly, gaining very little ground over a long time.
Although, as we have mentioned, Lennie isn’t particularly bright, we know he is very strong and powerful. Steinbeck reflects this in the ironic choice of surname and also using a lot of animal imagery for effect.
Lennie’s surname is Small and this is ironic as Lennie can be described as anything but small. The reader knows he is a big man:
‘A huge man, shapeless of face, with large pale eyes, with wide, sloping shoulders.’
Steinbeck often uses animal imagery to describe Lennie and this is effective. We know he is far more powerful physically than mentally and is very strong.
Steinbeck uses images of big, strong animals, especially bears, to portray Lennie.
‘He walked heavily, dragging his feet a little, the way a bear drags his paws.’
Another typically ‘strong’ animal used to describe Lennie is a horse. This refers to the primitive way Lennie drinks.
‘Drank with long gulps, snorting into the water like a horse.’
Imagery is used to good effect in this story as it creates an accurate picture of how Lennie looks and behaves throughout the story.
Both men, although both unintelligent, feel and instinctive awareness of danger. Before Isaac has his vision he has a feeling, a pain that is so intense, that it wakens him.
‘The first sensation of which he was conscious after sinking into slumber, was a strange shivering that ran through him from head to foot, and dreadful sinking pain at the heart … the pain woke him instantly.’
Lennie also has a reaction to his situation. Just as soon as they arrive at the ranch, Lennie doesn’t like it and wants to leave.
‘I don’t like this George. This ain’t no good place. I wanna get outta here.’
There is something about the place, a sensation that Lennie feels. He doesn’t like the ranch, even though he hasn’t even spoken to anyone or seen much of the land.
Isaac and Lennie have similar jobs. Isaac is an Ostler, a stable hand. This means he spends his day looking after horses, saddling them and mucking out the stables.
Lennie also has a job that taxes him more physically than mentally. Lennie works on a ranch and for his meagre pay lifts hay bails and carries loads around all day.
Neither of the men works in a job that is highly regarded. In fact, Isaac is so low down he has to sleep in the stable with the animals.
‘I find an old man, fast asleep, in one of the stalls in the stable.’
Lennie also has lowly housing. Ranch hands live in ‘bunk houses.’ And these tend to be very basic and unpleasant places to live.
‘The bunkhouse was a long, rectangular building. Inside, the walls were white washed and the floor unpainted.’
This shows that bunkhouses weren’t very luxurious places to live.
The pair are also treated very badly. Isaac is simply ignored; he isn’t good enough for most people to talk to.
Curley however, bullies Lennie. Curley realises that Lennie is different and picks on him because of it.
‘Come on, ya big bastard. Get up on your feet. No big son-of-a-bitch is gonna laugh at me.’
There are very few people that respect Lennie because of his mental problems, but this soon changes when they see how hard and well Lennie works.
‘He’s sure a hell of a good worker, strong as a bull’
Lennie works amazingly fast and lifts things that would normally take two people.
Isaac is also a good worker and is described as ‘faithful steady and honest man’. This proves he has the type of character that would be useful to have working in your establishment.
Despite this, the pair reap very little reward. Lennie never gets any reward for his hard work. He is poorly paid as well as poorly treated.
Isaac does get a material reward. ‘He reaped at last the reward of his long and patient suffering…getting an excellent place, keeping it for seven years, and leaving it, on the death of his master ... with a comfortable ammunity bequeathed to him as a reward for saving his mistress’s life.’
This means he left his job when the master died. He was given lots of money, enough for him not to have to work for the rest of his life.However, this is spoilt by the arrival of Rebecca Murdoch who, after making his life miserable, leaves him in fear of her returning to kill him.
Lennie and Isaac both have simple dreams. All Isaac wants is a wife and a home of his own to share with his mother.
Lennie’s dream is to ‘tend rabbits’ on a farm with George.
Because the pair have such basic ambitions, the reader pities them and hopes they achieve them. This is because the pair have been have been so lucky in the pat. Lennie was unfortunate enough to have been born simple minded, like a child, and his small dreams reflect this.
Isaac is renowned for his ill luck. Often he got turned down for jobs normally for reasons he could not control.
As the pair’s dreams are such normal dreams to the reader, but mean so much to them, the reader begins to really want them to achieve those dreams. Because they have these ordinary dreams, the reader wants them to come trust they can finally have some happiness in their lives.
Another reason the reader sympathises with Isaac and Lennie is because of their ill luck.
Isaac, as we have discussed, is simply naturally unlucky.
‘His ill-luck was proverbial among his neighbours’
He just seems to come out worst in situations.
Lennie also has bad luck. He has the mental ability of a young child. Because of this he gets into situations that he can’t cope with.
In Weed, Lennie and George’s previous home, Lennie got into trouble when he couldn’t understand what to do.He likes to feel soft things and in Weed, he reached out and touched a girl’s dress. Of course the girl thought Lennie was trying to do something bad, but really Lennie meant well.
‘He wants to touch ever’ thing he likes…so he reaches out to feel this red dress an’ the girl lets out a squawk, and that gets Lennie all mixed up, and he holds on ‘cause that’s the only thing he can think to do.’
This shows that when Lennie panics, he has trouble thinking about anything but what is happening that very second.
If this is something bad, like Curley’s wife screaming, he gets confused. This makes him volatile and can change him into someone that looks like a purposeful killer. In fact he was merely confused.
Both Lennie and Isaac can be deceitful.
Isaac didn’t tell his mother about his betrothal to Rebecca until the very day they wed.
‘Concealing the truth as ha had been directed, he announced his marriage, engagement precipitately and confusedly to his mother, on the day when he contracted it.’
This shows he only told his mother when he knew she couldn’t disapprove.
Lennie is also deceitful. When accidentally kills his puppy, and he knows he shouldn’t have, he decides he’ll lie to George.
‘I’ll tell George I foun’ it dead’
Even though the pair could be described as deceitful I don’t think they intend to do wrong.
Rebecca led Isaac into lying to his mother. As the reader knows Isaac has rather limited mental capabilities. I think one of the reasons he lied is because when Rebecca told him her plan, he didn’t have enough quick wit or strength of character to realise her idea was bad, but he couldn’t think of his own plan, it was easier to follow Rebecca’s ideas.
Lennie’s situation is similar. He can’t quite think of a way out of the dilemma. Like a child, he doesn’t want to admit it is his fault, as he doesn’t want George to be angry. He decides to lie, so he looks innocent. He thinks if he says he found the dog dead, George will believe him, and not punish him.
In both texts, the pair hit out in an act of violence that is instantly regretted.
Isaac hits his wife, Rebecca. This was because she wished to attend Isaac’s mother’s funeral, although Isaac had said his mother didn’t want this.
Isaac got angry when Rebecca asserted her rights and he hit her. He quickly regretted it.
‘He struck her. The instant the blow dealt, he repented it.’
Lennie also can be violent. He kills Curley’s wife when she begins to scream which scares Lennie. His reaction was to grab Curley’s wife and squeeze her to silence her. Not knowing his own strength he broke her neck. The second Lennie realises that Curley’s wife was in fact dead, he knows it’s a bad thing that he shouldn’t have done.
‘I done a real bad thing, he said. I shouldn’t have did that. George’ll be mad.’
The most important difference between Isaac and Lennie is how their lives continue after they commit their bad deeds. Isaac has to live with the horror of his experience, yet Lennie was spared from this.
After Isaac strikes Rebecca, she leaves.
‘No man has ever struck me twice, she said, and my husband shall have no second opportunity. Set the door open and let me go. From this day forth we shall see each other no more.’
After this, Isaac has to live in fear of Rebecca returning to avenge his violence. He hallucinates and dreams he sees Rebecca.
‘…Woman with a knife! What do you mean by coming into a man’s place and frightening his family out of their wits over a dream.’
After Lennie kills Curley’s wife, George knows there will be trouble; he knows the other ranch hands and Curley would go after and kill George. However, it would be a long and horrible death. Curley would torment and torture Lennie for hour upon hour before he would finally meet his end.
To George, this is the worst death he can imagine for his friend and would hate to see Lennie be treated this way.However, he knows that he can’t run away with Lennie every time he does something bad. It happened in Weed, and then in Soledad, the chances are it would happen if they moved again. After all, George has to enjoy his own life and it is unfair he has to constantly look over Lennie.George decides that he is sick of always being moved on and, in the ultimate act of friendship, shoots Lennie.
‘He (George) pulled the trigger. The crash of the shot rolled up the hills and down again. Lennie jarred, and then settled slowly forward to the sand, and he lay without quivering.’
George knows Lennie would not have had a good quality of life, the quality Lennie deserved. Even if Curley spared Lennie’s suffering, the chances are that Lennie would be locked away in an asylum and this isn’t a pleasant way to live either.
George kills Lennie, as he knows it’s the best way for him. George’s selfless act of courage and kindness, in theory, saves someone else’s life. Lennie was spared his suffering because of George.
Although the texts were written in different centuries in different writing styles, there are still similarities. Both are misfortunate, both stories have a character who is typically unlucky and the reader sympathises with them.
The stories are both about people who don’t lead the ‘high life’, don’t have lots of money and are treated badly. Ranch-hands and stable-hands are very basic, physical jobs and often people frown upon them as they have little money and, in general, tend to be rather slow-witted. We feel sorry for and sympathise with the characters and their simple dreams.
After reading both texts, I can see how each writer has made his work appeal to the readers. Wilkie Collins wrote ‘The Ostler’ in the Victorian period in the Gothic genre, as this was particularly appealing to readers at this time. He has used horror and misfortune as the themes and uses an unlucky main character for readers to sympathise with. The fact that one person can completely take over another’s life is particularly effective and the mystery of whether Rebecca Murdoch is a ghost or human is intriguing and makes the reader think beyond the surface of the text.
The story is fairly effective, although the language can be a little complicated at times. The story line is rather unlikely an, as horror stories have evolved since this era, not extremely interesting to modern readers. Isaac’s bad luck and journey however, is very successful. Readers quickly sympathise with Isaac and wish he could finally be happy.
‘Of Mice and Men’ by John Steinbeck, portrays the troubles of ranch hands in America during the depression in the 1930’s. As Steinbeck had been in this situation himself, I find his work more effective, as you get a further insight into the emotions and the realistic lives of farm workers.
Steinbeck also uses travelling in his work. This is a good theme to use as it begs further questions about whether the pair will make it to their dreams and what will happen on the way there.
Friendship is another important theme and the relationship between George and Lennie is moving. George cares for Lennie so much and is even prepared to shoot his friend to save him. This interests the reader as they imagine themselves in the character’s places, they wonder if they could shoot their best friend.
Curley’s wife is also appealing to the readers, as they begin to wonder which one of the workers will give in to this flirty, pretty, yet dangerous, woman.
Broken dreams also feature in the book. They appeal to the reader greatly as you wish so hard that George, and especially Lennie, get their little dreams of happiness. When they don’t, it brings home the apt title of the book. That no matter how hard people try, things go wrong.
I prefer ‘Of Mice and Men’ to ‘The Ostler’ as I find Steinbeck’s work has more emotional death. In ‘Of Mice and Men’ you always know how the men truly felt and that this was accurate, because of Steinbeck’s empathy of the experiences. Also, I find the more modern themes to the book more interesting. To me, ‘The Ostler’s theme was too unlikely and unrealistic for me to enjoy and this type of supernatural horror is unappealing to me.
I enjoyed the themes of ‘Of Mice and Men’ far more than those in ‘The Ostler’ as there were many more relevant themes in the story, like friendship and racism. There was a lot to think about in ‘Of Mice and Men’ and it meant I got a lot more out of the text. The themes in the story are also more inspiring and I discovered that Steinbeck’s treatment of friendship was immensely moving. To me, this type of writing that changes the way people think and makes them consider exactly what their life means.
Personally, I found ‘The Ostler’ simply meandered on and I didn’t feel I’d learnt or gained anything at the end.
‘Of Mice and Men’ could be seen as a piece of propaganda that was partly produced to portray the appalling working conditions of ranch workers, but also it was a plea to change the lives they had. For these reasons, ‘Of Mice and Men’ is the book that appealed to me most directly.
