Crooks' isolation in "Of Mice and Men".
Journal Writing Assignment . The person who influenced Crooks to be isolated is his dad. When Crooks was a kid, he did play with some white kids. However, although those white kids were pretty nice, Crooks' dad didn't allow him to do, as Crooks said, "My ol' man didn't like that". Thus, when Crooks was growing up, he was increasingly aware of that there exist a boundary between black people and white people that is hard to go across. As he found that "there wasn't another colored family for miles around and now there ain't a colored man on this ranch", Crooks felt himself isolated because there were no black people whom he could communicate with, as he stated in the story, "If I say something, why it's just a nigger sayin' it." Furthermore, the white workers on the ranch also played a major role of influencing Crooks to be isolated. They discriminated him, thought Crooks " stink" and didn't allow Crooks to play cards together with them. This would enhance Crooks' feeling of isolation. Therefore, both of Crooks' dad and the white people on the ranch influenced Crooks to feel isolated and lived alone in a shed. 2. If I were Crooks, I would feel the same way as Crooks did: lonely, frustrated and helpless, just like a single man walking on the boundless desert. Whenever I am unhappy or sad, nobody talks to me and give me comforts. Crooks said, " A guy needs somebody-to
Of Mice and Men Essay
Of Mice and Men Tone Of Mice and Men, written by John Steinbeck, is a novel of several moods, however, the dominant tone of this novel is that of heartrending. This mood is developed through the unconquered dreams of the main characters. There are also other moods evoked through the actions of the characters: reflecting sorrow, shame, and brutality. The novel ends on a tragic note, consequently, the concluding mood is undeniably one of depression and frustration. Following, are two paragraphs that will confirm why this novel is heartrending. One of the most excruciating passages occurs on page 63, when Curley's intimidating behavior provoked Lennie to commit an act that he was so desperately trying to avoid, "Blood welled from his nose. 'George,' he cried. 'Make um' leave me alone, George.' He backed until he was against the wall, and Curley followed, slugging him in the face. Lennie's hands remained at his sides; he was too frightened to defend himself." In that passage, it states that "he was too frightened to defend himself," the word "frightened" really disturbed me and played a immense part on why this passage made me experience a depressing feeling. I myself began to become apprehensive; terrified that George will physically and emotionally hurt Lennie, leaving him in an intense condition. By definition, frightened means "to fill with fear," and Lennie, a huge,
Of Mice And Men
Many of the characters in 'Of Mice and Men' have dreams. What are their dreams and how near are any of them to achieving what they want? Many characters have dreams and aspirations in the story "Of Mice and Men" and try to achieve them in different ways. Many characters have dreams and I will be discussing the dreams of: Candy, Crooks, Curley and his wife. Candy, Crooks and Curley wife all have similar dreams, which is to have freedom and equality. All three characters are treated with very little respect and are seen as lower class due to race, gender, age or disability. Dreams are very important to the characters as they help them to escape from reality even if only for a short while. Their dreams are also significant as they are hope that things will get better and are vital to keep spirits high. However, many people's dreams were affected by the economic downfall that America experienced. The story is set in the 1930's, which was when America experienced the Wall Street crash. This was when the stock market collapsed and many Americans lost thousands of dollars they had invested. This caused mass homelessness and led to the great depression. During this era there was lots of prejudice and discrimination against black people, women, the elderly and the disabled. This affected them the worst as any time when life was getting tough they were hit much worse and were the
Of Mice And Men
Of Mice And Men John Steinbeck uses animal imagery to express and introduce characters, events and themes in 'Of Mice and Men.' Steinbeck also uses nature, to convey events and settings in a subtle way. In section one of 'Of mice and Men' Steinbeck uses various colours to help the reader visualise the clearing as a tranquil and peaceful place. By describing the Salinas River as 'deep and green' the reader instantly envisages the water to be refreshing, mysterious and untouched. In addition, Steinbeck suggests that the clearing is full of sunlight: 'The water is warm too, for it slipped twinkling over the yellow sands.' Yellow, in this context, is calming because the words 'warm' and 'twinkling' are used before it. Steinbeck also uses alliteration to create a calm and peaceful atmosphere: 'south of Soledad, the Salinas River.' The repetition on the soft's' sound is calming and subtle. Steinbeck repeats this technique: 'the water is warm too.' As with the's' sound, the soft 'w' is calming. In this setting of absolute calm and serenity, Lennie and George are introduced. Steinbeck uses extensive animal imagery to describe Lennie: 'dragging his feet in the way a bear drags his paws.' This gives the impression that Lennie is large and cumbersome. However, the main reason that Steinbeck uses this form of imagery in describing Lennie is to portray him as amoral and therefore
RELATIONSHIPS AND LONELINESS IN "OF MICE AND MEN"
RELATIONSHIPS AND LONELINESS IN "OF MICE AND MEN" The story "0f Mice and Men" was written by John Steinbeck and set in America in the late 1920's early 1930's, in California near Soledad. The story is based around migrant workers in California usually male with no roots a very solitary existence. Migrant workers life was hard. It was gruelling, challenging, and often unrewarding. Just as George and Lennie dream of a better life on their own farm, the other migrant farm workers dreamed of finding a better life in California. The state's mild climate promised a longer growing season and, with soil favourable to a wider range of crops. Very few found it to be the land of opportunity and land of plenty which they dreamed about. Steinbeck 's theme's within this story are loneliness and relationships, the migrant workers usually travel alone moving from job to job as season and circumstances dictated an almost thankless existence having no place to call their own or families to go home too. Most of the characters admit, at one time or another, to having a deep sense of loneliness and isolation. . George sets the tone for these confessions on page 15 "Guys like us, that work on the ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They don't belong no place." When he reminds Lennie that the life of a ranch hand is the loneliest of lives. Men like George
Comparing Crooks and Candy in the novel 'Of Mice and Men'
Comparing Crooks and Candy in the novel 'Of Mice and Men' John Steinbeck, in the novel 'Of mice and men', creates the two characters Crooks and Candy, who on the surface appear overtly different. However, Steinbeck establishes throughout the novel that underneath the surface the two characters are very similar. Due to the colour of Crook's skin , and the old age of Candy, both the characters fall prey to discrimination that leads to isolation. As Crooks is a victim to the racism evoked upon him, he is forced to live alone. This is because of the unjust prejudice of that period in time. Steinbeck cleverly conveys Crooks feelings towards his discrimination, by the statement 'glittering with intensity' when describing his eyes. This clearly conveys to the reader the anger he feels due the unjust prejudice he is a victim of. Whereas, Although Candy lives with the other workers he is still subtly discriminated against. This becomes apparent when the workers shoot Candy's dog because it is no longer useful. Steinbeck uses this to as a metaphor, and to also echo the fact that soon Candy will be no longer useful, due to his age and will not be wanted by the ranch. Moreover, since Steinbeck does not refer to both characters by name he indicates as to how they may be portrayed. As Crooks is firstly described by the racist term 'nigger', and Candy as 'The old swamper',
Of Mice and Men
0x1 Mr Dellow How Does the Role of Women Affect the Novel? In this essay I will be discussing and analysing how the role, or roles, of women affect the novel 'Of Mice and Men'. The novel is set in the 1930's during 'The Great Depression' and features three women: Curley's wife, who lives on the ranch and is representative of the stereotypical suppressed wife, Susy the brothel owner who represents the role of women as solely sexual objects and whores, and lastly, Aunt Clara - a mother figure to Lennie. These are the three archetypal women in the novel and in this essay I will be evaluating their influence on the novel. It is not immediately apparent that women are not vital to the novel. However, the three women help the reader understand how life was for them. Curley's wife confuses and plays with Lennie's immature and insane mind with her flirtatious comments, and seductive body language. 'She moved closer to him' suggests their actions became out of control. Curley's wife could have lived her dream as an actress but instead she stood by Curley, 'I coulda went with the shows' Her actions demonstrate her love for Curley at the time and how she gave up her dream for him. Curley's wife allows us to appreciate the role of women in the novel and women at that time that had to suffer from great loneliness in the ranch, outnumbered by a large number of men. 'Think I like to stay
Who is the loneliest character in 'Of Mice and Men'?
Who is the loneliest character in 'of mice and men'. I think the loneliest character in 'of mice and men' is 'Crooks the stable-buck'. This character is a very lonely person and leads a very miserable life because of this making the reader fell sympathetic towards him. Crooks the stable-buck is lonely mainly because of his colour, there is a lot of racism at this point in history and black people were considered lower beings than white people and black people suffered greatly because of this and had virtually no rights to defend themselves, if they did they usually got killed. If it were not for this racism plagued environment then Crooks would probably make a success out of himself because he is actually one of the most intelligent people on the ranch. Crooks is lonely because he is the only person who has a room to himself, he is isolated because of this, he has nobody and no-one to talk to and people who dare enter his room get a frosty reception, 'you ain't got no right coming into my room, this here is my room, nobody got any right in here but me, this shows that the room is his only right of possession and defends this indefinitely. He says 'I ain't wanted in the bunk-house' which shows again he is left out of social happenings and left all by himself on a regular basis. He says to people who come in his room; 'you ain't wanted in this room' this is because he
OF MICE AND MEN
Alex Mayne-Nicholls How effectively has Steinbeck created tension during the incident with Candy's dog? The killing of Candy's dog in Steinbeck's novel "Of mice and men" is a very important incident. The author makes this scene very tense using different techniques. Everything starts because Slim considers the dog is useless and has a bad smell. "He ain't no good" (p70). And as he just got five puppies he believes Candy could make good use of one of those. Candy, very nervous and doubtful, finally accepts that killing his dog, which has been with him for a very long time, will be the best to do. Even though he knows that he will miss him. Carlson, described as "thick bodied" (p70), goes out of the ranch and kills the dog. These moments in the ranch are of absolute silence, and nobody is able to break this silence. "Silence fell" (p75). Time seems to pass very slowly; every sound scares everyone, until we can finally hear a shot from outside. The poor old dog was killed, we knew he should die, but didn't want it to happen. After this death, everything came back to normality in the ranch, or the men were at least talking to each other again. In these pages, Steinbeck uses different techniques to achieve tension and time passing slowly. Time passing slowly can be shown when he starts sentences with a conjunction. "And slim ..." (p74). "And the silence ... " (p75). This
The Outsider (Of Mice and Men)
The Outsider Of Mice and Men is a classic novel written by one of the world's most illustrious writers, John Steinbeck. John Steinbeck wrote a naturalistic novel which dealt with many powerful and universal themes including the value of dreams and goals, friendship and also "outsiders", which means individuals who do not fit into the mainstream of society. The novel also illustrates the significance of moral responsibility, the veracity of social injustice and also solitude. His novel "Of Mice and Men" is a story taking place around the 1930s during the Great Depression in California where the New York Wall Street stock market collapsed, and the rate of unemployment was very high. The great depression affected everyone, including both the rich and poor, industrial workers, farmers and so on. This novel however, portrays the life of two farmers, George Milton and Lennie Small. The themes of the novel are important because they depict human life in a remarkable and comprehensible way relating to the dreams and constant struggles faced in life. All the characters played in the novel "Of Mice and Men" are lonesome, living an empty life everyday consisting of mainly hard labor. The characters all live a very disheartening life, with the lack of happiness, love and affection in their lives. This can be seen also when George mentions that 'ranch workers are the loneliest people
