There are many misfits, cripples, and unusual characters in "Of Mice and Men" , do you think they were intentionally created by the author to disguise a true-to-life story?” Discuss (300 words).
To begin with, "Of Mice and Men" from John Steinbeck is a realistic novel describing farm workers' lives and friendship between the two main characters, George and Lennie, who is childlike and mentally handicapped. While reading, we can see there are many misfits, cripples and unusual characters. The question is : did the author intentionally cretae these characters to disguise a true-to-life story ?
Firstly, "Of Mice and Men" was published in 1937. Since 1935, Steinbeck made many researchs on farmers and realises in 1936 that there are many murders in Salinas, a city full of farms, where he was born. The scenes are described precisely, with realistic details and we can easily imagine the story. However, we don't feel sentimental values from the narrator. The descriptions are 'cold' and there is a tense atmosphere. This makes us think the author wants to show a true-to-life story, like the murders in Salinas. Secondly, unusual characters like Lennie, who depends on George or Candy depending on his old dog can makes us think the author wants to disguise the reality of his life. They always talk about their dreams of their own farm and animals, but never describe the reality of farm workers : the conditions are harrd, the boss is mean, his wife is weird. Thirdly, the fact of describing the deaths of mice, pups and Curley's wife permits hiding real murders under 'secundary' murders made by an handicapped boy. Therefore, Lennie's death is really touching and shows the author was not always disguising a true-to life story, he denounces the reality.
In a nutshell, we can say some misfits, cripples and unusual characters were created by the author to disguise a true-to-life story. Whereas others were created to make a more realistic novel and to denounce events that happened during the Great Depression in California.
In “Of Mice and Men“ by John Steinbeck, there are lots of different characters coming from different backgrounds. Their personalities are clearly defined and might be inspired by the life of the author. So were they intentionally created by the author to disguise a true-to-life story ?
To begin with, some authors are inspired by what they experienced in their life. It can be something that happened in their family, in the news, films or books. And we can feel the authors’ emotions through their characters. For example, we can feel the reality of every day life at the farm : the relation between the boss and his workers, the house, the habits of migrant people… This rude but true reality can make us think the author grew up in a farm or worked there.
Secondly, Lennie, is an unusual character; I’ve found out he really existed. Steinbeck has worked with him in a farm for years and Lennie killed the overseer. He ended in an asylum in California. I have also noticed two other misfits or outsiders : Candy is an old man who ended up in cleaning the bunkhouse after losing his hand in a work-accident. Crooks is a disabled who « got a crooked back where a horse kicked him ». All three are excluded from the social life at the ranch and reflect the harshness of this life.
Moreover, one of the main themes in the book is loneliness and friendship. It is represented by George and Lennie, two friends moving from farm to farm. They have a lonely life, trying to earn some money to buy their farm and fulfill their dreams. For this purpose, the author shows us he might have had a lonely childhood, or this is what he felt when he worked in farms too.
Eventually, John Steinbeck has intentionally created characters to disguise a true-to-life story and this helps us understand the harsh reality at that time.
Sorry, I've done some mistakes : l.6 It can be something that takes ROOTS IN in their family, in the news, films or books. l.10 This rude but true reality can make us think the author grew up ON a farm or worked there.
“Of Mice and Men” is a novel about people. Are there too many cripples, misfits and unusual characters in the novel to consider Steinbeck’s portrayal as true life?
Steinbeck’s novel is based on ordinary people during the American Depression. Steinbeck has an understanding of how migrant workers were and how it was as he had his childhood in California near Salinas Valley. Steinbeck’s own experience as a farm hand provided some frame of reference for the book. While he lived with workers for a few years as a journalist, his own father had owned land in the Salinas Valley, so Steinbeck had been exposed to workers all his young life. During the period in which the novel was written, migrant workers went from ranch to ranch working for money never really having a secure job. This introduces the two main characters George and Lennie, migrant workers, who do not fit into 1930’s society. Dreams and delusions alone allow men to keep going: George and Lennie share the hopeless dream of a little ranch of their own. The novel is based on characters that represent different walks of life during the period illustrating the American culture.
The anxiety that afflicts all of Steinbeck’s protagonists is a desperate solitude. Steinbeck is very close to fatalism: Lennie is doomed by nature. The novel is also concluded within the image of the water snake and the heron. The whole novel can be summed up with the calmness to the heron snatching the water snake. Steinbeck implies this animal image that humans in a society live like animals and how we have not evolved to be more tolerable of people’s differences: the consequence of this is Lennie’s death. To conclude, we can say that many cripples, misfits and unusual characters are created to disguise a true-to-life story.
When creating a fictional story, one might ask himself how realistic it should be. Here, it seems that Steinbeck’s position was to depict reality very exactly : the intrigue is set in the real world, during a precise time period, and this time’s specificities are highlighted, and what’s more, the actions that are happening seem to perfectly follow logic. Knowing that, it is only natural that, to try to explain the character’s most surprising attributes, we look at the interest of such differences when it comes to trying to depict reality. However, then, we will also study how such particularities help to making the character memorable.
It is often necessary for a book to involve characters with outstanding qualities. Since the tales of the Antiquity’s mythology, the line between the two definitions of a hero (main character of a story, and person with exceptional qualities) is very blurry : having out-of-the ordinary individuals is a way to make us dream, to let us see our fantasies about what a human can be. However, dreams and fantasies are not the reality. In our world, some people have real conditions, are unjustly considered with a distance by the society, or are a mix of both. By contrast compared to the “heroes” of less realistic stories, The partakers in Of Mice and Men have the peculiar traits that not only hit closer to reality, but also serve to highlight some aspects of it : for example, most of the workers, and especially Candy, represent the difficult and unrewarding lives during the Great Depression ; the fact that Crooks is somewhat of an outcast denounces racism, etc.
Another way to explain the character’s noticeable traits is that it is easier for us to remember them. It is very important for an author that they have easily recognisable characters, as it gives more strength to the story. For example, five years from now, I will probably not remember who Candy, Lennie and Crooks are, but I might still recall that the characters in the book included the-guy-with-one-less-hand, that-big-simpleton-guy, and a-black-with-a-bad-back. This is all the more important when we realize that the novel is relatively short, meaning that there is only that much space for character development, and much of it is reserved for the relationship between George and Lennie. That means that the author must find iconic elements in order to individualize their characters.
To conclude, the presence of such characters is essential to the book’s identity : not only does it make for a memorable story, but it also goes in-depth to create a representation of the real world in a way that is rarely seen elsewhere.
Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, is a novel that shows the difficult and harsh life conditions of many americans during the Great Depression. This novel also shows how powerful the American dream was at the time. In this novel we therefore have fictional elements in a real historical background. Were these fictional characters intentionally created by the author to disguise a true-to-life story or do they reflect an actual reality ?
First of all we can say that authors such as John Steinbeck generally use fictional characters to insist on specific traits these characters might have. By insisting on a specific personality or physical trait, authors can transmit a specific message to the people reading the story. For example the character Crooks in Of mice and men is disabled. This physical trait might be intentional to insist on the extremely difficult work conditions as well as the way Afro-Americans were treated at the time. We also notice that the author uses many metaphors such as the death of Candy's dog associated to Lennie's death, to disguise more serious events. Although these characters seem stereotypical, we can also say that the author chose them to illustrate some realistic facts and events. Indeed the fact that Lennie is defenseless and completely lost in his environnement shows that the people who could not take care of themselves at the time were bound to die. Through these fictional characters we can therefore say that the author depicts the reality of a savage world.
To conclude we can say that John Steinbeck in his novel uses unusual characters to hide more serious and tragic events. He also uses those characters to insist on specific elements that could have existed at the time. He therefore portrays the historical context by exagerating elements in the book as well as with a realistic description of the environment.
In John Steinbeck’s book, we can see many misfits and disabled people such as Lennie who is completely dim-witted, or even old Candy who has lost his hand in accident. There are also characters with excessive personalities. That’s why we’re going to ask ourselves if Steinbeck created them to disguise a true-to-life story.
First of all, John Steinbeck has lived to know the Great Depression, which was a pretty harsh period. It only stands to reason that he intended to show how difficult life really was at that time. Therefore, he decided to depict the lives of two farmers in his book “Of Mice and Men” and wrote about the misery that people experienced during those days. Most of the time, we don't see many strange characters on books. However, here, the author made the decision to emphasize those minorities, in order to show us what they had to go through and how they were even more targeted by their surroundings. Nevertheless, characters like Candy or Crooks can be seen as the representation of all the social problems that John Steinbeck wanted to rise our attention upon, especially during this period, because of the strong discrimination and how disabled people were treated. Moreover, Steinbeck also managed to bring up difficult subjects like euthanasia, with how Candy’s dog is killed because “he was too old and was no good for himself”. Besides, some characters share the same issues. Indeed, this goes to highlight how Crooks and Curley’s wife are both suffering from loneliness. Thus, each character can be linked with real issues, sometimes deeply rooted, into our society. That’s what makes this story even more striking than others.
As a conclusion, the author did create a lot of his characters as a disguisement for many purposes, and that’s why we can definitely say that there is more to this story than meets the eyes. (313)
First of all, the book "Of mice and men" by John Steinbeck shows the reality in California during the Great Depression which is really hard at this time. In the book, we can see many people with some physical or mental disabilities. Do I think the author talks about these people intentionally to denounce the society ?
To begin with, I think these characters like Lennie who seems to be stupid or even Candy who lost one of his hand during his work show an aspect of author's life. We can also talk about Crooks, anger who is separated from the others. Indeed, Crooks is a victim of the US segregation : black people had to live separately from white people during the Great Depression. I think Steinbeck wants to denounce the US society in 1930 which didn't change and a certain form of intolerance is always present. Moreover, Candy is a typical farmer during the 1930's. Indeed, a lot of people worked in farms to earn some money because with the crisis life is expensive. Like Lennie and George, Steinbeck worked as a worker in California and other spaces. I think he wants to denounce the poverty and the necessity to work at this time. I don't know if Steinbeck hurts him during his work but I know that this kind of injuries were frequent. Finally, I agree with Lucas this kind of disabilities help us to define a character or even to remember some moments of the book because of these characteristics. Crooks, can be defined as a victim of the segregation or Lennie can be defined as a victim of his stupidity. These facts give to the characters some real emotions or feelings. By that, readers can identify themselves in all kind of people which are represented. We feel implicated in the book and more closer with the characters.
To conclude, I think definitely that the author was inspired by his real actions or events during the Great Depression which can be shocking. He wants to denounce in a certain way the hard life and the reality. However, the fact to show all kind of people shows also the diversity and a tolerant vision.
First of all, characters and heroes in a story have evoluated a lot. Nowadays, they can have no particular values such as courage or fortitude, they can also be heroes despite themselves and even misfits or cripples, and that is what John Steinbeck used in his book Of Mice and Men. Does he use them to denounce a true life story?
To begin with, Lenny is pretty dumb, he has mental disabilities and obeys Geoges, he cannot make his own choices. Georges controls his actions and that is one of the reasons why we can say that he is a misfit or a cripple. However we can say that he is a hero, we feel pity and compassion for him, but we can also identify ourselves to him. We almost forgive his murders. In fact, he kills animals and then a woman but he is still a hero in the story : he is a anti hero, the author uses him on purpose to denounce people in real life who are apart from the society and depend on someone.
Then, Crooks is separated from the others because he is black. The author uses this character to denounce a true life story : segregation, that was targeting black people in the USA at that time, starting with the Jim Crow Laws and the famous "separate but equal". Through Crooks, Steinbeck denounces the inequalities towards black peoples in the 20th century.
Moreover, he uses Candy to denounce real life story of old people who are excluded from the society and also Curley's wife and the woman in the beginning who is almost raped by Lenny to denounce real life story of women in the 20th century who did not have any right or were rejected.
To conclude we can say that John Steinbeck uses misfits or cripples such as Crooks, Candy, Lenny or the women to denounce real life story of his time and inequalities those people had to subsist.
To begin with, "Of Mice and Men" from John Steinbeck is a realistic novel describing farm workers' lives and friendship between the two main characters, George and Lennie, who is childlike and mentally handicapped. While reading, we can see there are many misfits, cripples and unusual characters. The question is : did the author intentionally cretae these characters to disguise a true-to-life story ?
ReplyDeleteFirstly, "Of Mice and Men" was published in 1937. Since 1935, Steinbeck made many researchs on farmers and realises in 1936 that there are many murders in Salinas, a city full of farms, where he was born. The scenes are described precisely, with realistic details and we can easily imagine the story. However, we don't feel sentimental values from the narrator. The descriptions are 'cold' and there is a tense atmosphere. This makes us think the author wants to show a true-to-life story, like the murders in Salinas.
Secondly, unusual characters like Lennie, who depends on George or Candy depending on his old dog can makes us think the author wants to disguise the reality of his life. They always talk about their dreams of their own farm and animals, but never describe the reality of farm workers : the conditions are harrd, the boss is mean, his wife is weird.
Thirdly, the fact of describing the deaths of mice, pups and Curley's wife permits hiding real murders under 'secundary' murders made by an handicapped boy. Therefore, Lennie's death is really touching and shows the author was not always disguising a true-to life story, he denounces the reality.
In a nutshell, we can say some misfits, cripples and unusual characters were created by the author to disguise a true-to-life story. Whereas others were created to make a more realistic novel and to denounce events that happened during the Great Depression in California.
310 words
Sorry, I've made a mistake l.7 : researches
DeleteIn “Of Mice and Men“ by John Steinbeck, there are lots of different characters coming from different backgrounds. Their personalities are clearly defined and might be inspired by the life of the author. So were they intentionally created by the author to disguise a true-to-life story ?
ReplyDeleteTo begin with, some authors are inspired by what they experienced in their life. It can be something that happened in their family, in the news, films or books. And we can feel the authors’ emotions through their characters. For example, we can feel the reality of every day life at the farm : the relation between the boss and his workers, the house, the habits of migrant people… This rude but true reality can make us think the author grew up in a farm or worked there.
Secondly, Lennie, is an unusual character; I’ve found out he really existed. Steinbeck has worked with him in a farm for years and Lennie killed the overseer. He ended in an asylum in California. I have also noticed two other misfits or outsiders : Candy is an old man who ended up in cleaning the bunkhouse after losing his hand in a work-accident. Crooks is a disabled who « got a crooked back where a horse kicked him ». All three are excluded from the social life at the ranch and reflect the harshness of this life.
Moreover, one of the main themes in the book is loneliness and friendship. It is represented by George and Lennie, two friends moving from farm to farm. They have a lonely life, trying to earn some money to buy their farm and fulfill their dreams. For this purpose, the author shows us he might have had a lonely childhood, or this is what he felt when he worked in farms too.
Eventually, John Steinbeck has intentionally created characters to disguise a true-to-life story and this helps us understand the harsh reality at that time.
325 words
Sorry, I've done some mistakes :
Deletel.6 It can be something that takes ROOTS IN in their family, in the news, films or books.
l.10 This rude but true reality can make us think the author grew up ON a farm or worked there.
“Of Mice and Men” is a novel about people. Are there too many cripples, misfits and unusual characters in the novel to consider Steinbeck’s portrayal as true life?
ReplyDeleteSteinbeck’s novel is based on ordinary people during the American Depression. Steinbeck has an understanding of how migrant workers were and how it was as he had his childhood in California near Salinas Valley.
Steinbeck’s own experience as a farm hand provided some frame of reference for the book. While he lived with workers for a few years as a journalist, his own father had owned land in the Salinas Valley, so Steinbeck had been exposed to workers all his young life.
During the period in which the novel was written, migrant workers went from ranch to ranch working for money never really having a secure job. This introduces the two main characters George and Lennie, migrant workers, who do not fit into 1930’s society.
Dreams and delusions alone allow men to keep going: George and Lennie share the hopeless dream of a little ranch of their own.
The novel is based on characters that represent different walks of life during the period illustrating the American culture.
The anxiety that afflicts all of Steinbeck’s protagonists is a desperate solitude. Steinbeck is very close to fatalism: Lennie is doomed by nature.
The novel is also concluded within the image of the water snake and the heron.
The whole novel can be summed up with the calmness to the heron snatching the water snake. Steinbeck implies this animal image that humans in a society live like animals and how we have
not evolved to be more tolerable of people’s differences: the consequence of this is Lennie’s death.
To conclude, we can say that many cripples, misfits and unusual characters are created to disguise a true-to-life story.
When creating a fictional story, one might ask himself how realistic it should be. Here, it seems that Steinbeck’s position was to depict reality very exactly : the intrigue is set in the real world, during a precise time period, and this time’s specificities are highlighted, and what’s more, the actions that are happening seem to perfectly follow logic.
ReplyDeleteKnowing that, it is only natural that, to try to explain the character’s most surprising attributes, we look at the interest of such differences when it comes to trying to depict reality. However, then, we will also study how such particularities help to making the character memorable.
It is often necessary for a book to involve characters with outstanding qualities. Since the tales of the Antiquity’s mythology, the line between the two definitions of a hero (main character of a story, and person with exceptional qualities) is very blurry : having out-of-the ordinary individuals is a way to make us dream, to let us see our fantasies about what a human can be.
However, dreams and fantasies are not the reality. In our world, some people have real conditions, are unjustly considered with a distance by the society, or are a mix of both.
By contrast compared to the “heroes” of less realistic stories, The partakers in Of Mice and Men have the peculiar traits that not only hit closer to reality, but also serve to highlight some aspects of it : for example, most of the workers, and especially Candy, represent the difficult and unrewarding lives during the Great Depression ; the fact that Crooks is somewhat of an outcast denounces racism, etc.
Another way to explain the character’s noticeable traits is that it is easier for us to remember them. It is very important for an author that they have easily recognisable characters, as it gives more strength to the story.
For example, five years from now, I will probably not remember who Candy, Lennie and Crooks are, but I might still recall that the characters in the book included the-guy-with-one-less-hand, that-big-simpleton-guy, and a-black-with-a-bad-back.
This is all the more important when we realize that the novel is relatively short, meaning that there is only that much space for character development, and much of it is reserved for the relationship between George and Lennie.
That means that the author must find iconic elements in order to individualize their characters.
To conclude, the presence of such characters is essential to the book’s identity : not only does it make for a memorable story, but it also goes in-depth to create a representation of the real world in a way that is rarely seen elsewhere.
Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, is a novel that shows the difficult and harsh life conditions of many americans during the Great Depression. This novel also shows how powerful the American dream was at the time. In this novel we therefore have fictional elements in a real historical background. Were these fictional characters intentionally created by the author to disguise a true-to-life story or do they reflect an actual reality ?
ReplyDeleteFirst of all we can say that authors such as John Steinbeck generally use fictional characters to insist on specific traits these characters might have. By insisting on a specific personality or physical trait, authors can transmit a specific message to the people reading the story. For example the character Crooks in Of mice and men is disabled. This physical trait might be intentional to insist on the extremely difficult work conditions as well as the way Afro-Americans were treated at the time. We also notice that the author uses many metaphors such as the death of Candy's dog associated to Lennie's death, to disguise more serious events.
Although these characters seem stereotypical, we can also say that the author chose them to illustrate some realistic facts and events. Indeed the fact that Lennie is defenseless and completely lost in his environnement shows that the people who could not take care of themselves at the time were bound to die. Through these fictional characters we can therefore say that the author depicts the reality of a savage world.
To conclude we can say that John Steinbeck in his novel uses unusual characters to hide more serious and tragic events. He also uses those characters to insist on specific elements that could have existed at the time. He therefore portrays the historical context by exagerating elements in the book as well as with a realistic description of the environment.
311 words
In John Steinbeck’s book, we can see many misfits and disabled people such as Lennie who is completely dim-witted, or even old Candy who has lost his hand in accident. There are also characters with excessive personalities. That’s why we’re going to ask ourselves if Steinbeck created them to disguise a true-to-life story.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, John Steinbeck has lived to know the Great Depression, which was a pretty harsh period. It only stands to reason that he intended to show how difficult life really was at that time. Therefore, he decided to depict the lives of two farmers in his book “Of Mice and Men” and wrote about the misery that people experienced during those days. Most of the time, we don't see many strange characters on books. However, here, the author made the decision to emphasize those minorities, in order to show us what they had to go through and how they were even more targeted by their surroundings.
Nevertheless, characters like Candy or Crooks can be seen as the representation of all the social problems that John Steinbeck wanted to rise our attention upon, especially during this period, because of the strong discrimination and how disabled people were treated. Moreover, Steinbeck also managed to bring up difficult subjects like euthanasia, with how Candy’s dog is killed because “he was too old and was no good for himself”.
Besides, some characters share the same issues. Indeed, this goes to highlight how Crooks and Curley’s wife are both suffering from loneliness. Thus, each character can be linked with real issues, sometimes deeply rooted, into our society. That’s what makes this story even more striking than others.
As a conclusion, the author did create a lot of his characters as a disguisement for many purposes, and that’s why we can definitely say that there is more to this story than meets the eyes. (313)
First of all, the book "Of mice and men" by John Steinbeck shows the reality in California during the Great Depression which is really hard at this time. In the book, we can see many people with some physical or mental disabilities. Do I think the author talks about these people intentionally to denounce the society ?
ReplyDeleteTo begin with, I think these characters like Lennie who seems to be stupid or even Candy who lost one of his hand during his work show an aspect of author's life. We can also talk about Crooks, anger who is separated from the others. Indeed, Crooks is a victim of the US segregation : black people had to live separately from white people during the Great Depression. I think Steinbeck wants to denounce the US society in 1930 which didn't change and a certain form of intolerance is always present.
Moreover, Candy is a typical farmer during the 1930's. Indeed, a lot of people worked in farms to earn some money because with the crisis life is expensive. Like Lennie and George, Steinbeck worked as a worker in California and other spaces. I think he wants to denounce the poverty and the necessity to work at this time. I don't know if Steinbeck hurts him during his work but I know that this kind of injuries were frequent.
Finally, I agree with Lucas this kind of disabilities help us to define a character or even to remember some moments of the book because of these characteristics. Crooks, can be defined as a victim of the segregation or Lennie can be defined as a victim of his stupidity. These facts give to the characters some real emotions or feelings. By that, readers can identify themselves in all kind of people which are represented. We feel implicated in the book and more closer with the characters.
To conclude, I think definitely that the author was inspired by his real actions or events during the Great Depression which can be shocking. He wants to denounce in a certain way the hard life and the reality. However, the fact to show all kind of people shows also the diversity and a tolerant vision.
First of all, characters and heroes in a story have evoluated a lot. Nowadays, they can have no particular values such as courage or fortitude, they can also be heroes despite themselves and even misfits or cripples, and that is what John Steinbeck used in his book Of Mice and Men. Does he use them to denounce a true life story?
ReplyDeleteTo begin with, Lenny is pretty dumb, he has mental disabilities and obeys Geoges, he cannot make his own choices. Georges controls his actions and that is one of the reasons why we can say that he is a misfit or a cripple. However we can say that he is a hero, we feel pity and compassion for him, but we can also identify ourselves to him. We almost forgive his murders. In fact, he kills animals and then a woman but he is still a hero in the story : he is a anti hero, the author uses him on purpose to denounce people in real life who are apart from the society and depend on someone.
Then, Crooks is separated from the others because he is black. The author uses this character to denounce a true life story : segregation, that was targeting black people in the USA at that time, starting with the Jim Crow Laws and the famous "separate but equal". Through Crooks, Steinbeck denounces the inequalities towards black peoples in the 20th century.
Moreover, he uses Candy to denounce real life story of old people who are excluded from the society and also Curley's wife and the woman in the beginning who is almost raped by Lenny to denounce real life story of women in the 20th century who did not have any right or were rejected.
To conclude we can say that John Steinbeck uses misfits or cripples such as Crooks, Candy, Lenny or the women to denounce real life story of his time and inequalities those people had to subsist.