of mice and men
In the John Steinbeck novel, Of Mice And Men, the author weaves an ominous tale of loneliness and impending doom brought on by society's intolerant social class structure. Intolerance is a double edged sword; people who are different from or weaker than the norm are victims of intolerance and become isolated and lonely. People who are intolerant often are insecure, and have low self esteem. They walk on the heads of others who are lower or weaker in the social structure, to make themselves feel larger. These victories are ugly and shallow. These people by their very nature, tend to be very lonely, because they are not very well liked by themselves or others. In Of Mice And Men, by John Steinbeck, the social power order are the white, male workers on the farm. This is not so different than society today. They are younger men, still useful, reasonably intelligent, and average-sized. It excludes people who do not fit their definition of the norm; such as Curley for being short; Lennie for being retarded; Candy for being old; Crooks for being black; and Curley's wife for being a woman. Between themselves, they expect strength, distance and independence, and are uncomfortable with emotions. This intolerance and isolation cause loneli
e tries to find friends, but everyone turns her away. Curley is jealous and treats he like a possession to be guarded, but his wife is frustrated: "'What's the matter with me?' she cried. 'Ain't I got right to talk to nobody?'" (p.31). Curley's wife is isolated because she is the only woman on the farm, and is kept out of the social power group, so she is terribly lonely. n' them two guys?" (p.107) The white men in the society power group choose loneliness because they are afraid of showing their feeling and fears. In the novel Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck wanted to make a strong statement that intolerance and fear exist in every aspect of humanity. Even the normal white workers on the farm are lonely because they isolate themselves from each other. Slim explains that all the men are afraid to show their feelings and be close to others: "Ain't many guys travel around together. I don't know why. Maybe ever'body in the whole damn would is scared of each other" (p.35). Slim describes how the workers end up lonely: "I hardly never seen two guys together. You know how the hands are, they just come in and get their bunk and work a month, and then they quit and go out alone. Never seem to give a damn about nobody" (p.39). George and Lennie know that they are lonely like most workers: "Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They don't belong no place .... they ain't got nothing to look ahead to" (p .13,14). At the end of the novel, Carlson shows how men shut themselves off and hide their feelings, when he doesn't even know George is sad: "Now, what the hell you suppose is eati! ie does not take part in the activities the workers do in their spare time. Lennie does not go to town with the men. In Weed, Lennie gets in trouble because the people don't understand his problem. They react with anger instead of understanding. George explains to Slim, "Cause he ain't mean....like what happened in Weed-"(p. 40). The social power group oppresses Crooks because he is black. The boss gets angry at Crooks anyt
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1390
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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