Douglas Vermeeren from ReliablePlant states that “roughly 70 percent [of people] fail to achieve [their] goals” due to lack of motivation as well as being incapable of overcoming obstacles (Vermeeren). The high-school play Of Mice and Men directed by Dr. Mike Mikulics presents George and Lennie, the two protagonists, who failed to achieve their goal of purchasing a piece of land because of encountering problems at the ranch they worked at. The director illustrates that some dreams are nearly impossible to conquer, therefore having a plan B would ensure some success. The actors and actress executes the play Of Mice and Men magnificently through their ability to act, maintaining the audience’s interest, and the storyline.
In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, there are many valuable lessons to learn about making assumptions. Assumptions occur many times throughout this book from many different people. Assumptions are claims made about something or someone that have no proof. One major assumption in this novel is about Arthur “Boo” Radley. Scout explains, “Jem gave a reasonable description of Boo: Boo was about six-and-a-half feet tall, judging from his tracks; he dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch, that’s why his hands were bloodstained—if you ate an animal raw, you could never wash the blood off. There was a long jagged scar that ran across his face; what teeth he had were yellow and rotten; his eyes popped, and he drooled most of
We are born ignorant, with no knowledge, for a reason. We need to earn it; we need to experience it. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is a novel based around a 6 year-old girl named Scout. It takes place in the 1930’s right in the middle of the Great Depression. In the book, Scout turns from an inexperienced child to a mature young lady. She is exposed to many events that help shape her view of society. Using To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee conveys that the three basic levels of the ignorance we have regarding the world around us; complete ignorance, half ignorance, and no ignorance are directly distinguished by the amount of experience we have, rather than age.
People act upon what they think. Within “12 Angry Men”, all of the jurors have an opinion but some voice their more than others. One juror in particular, Juror Ten, voices his opinion about the boy in question. Repeatedly throughout the play, Juror Ten makes many thoughtless and hurtful comments about a certain kind of people. It is clear that Juror Ten’s uncompromising belief that the accused is guilty is because of his dislike for the boy’s race. His prejudice is clear when he says that “I’ve lived among ‘em all my life. You can’t believe a word they say” when speaking about the boy (16). Juror Ten’s prejudice causes him to disregard all of the facts that are presented to him by Juror Eight that can prove that the accused is not guilty. Juror 10 allows his prejudice to blind him of the truth. That is until he is called out by his fellow jurors. Throughout the whole play, Juror Ten remains stubborn in his decision that the defendant is guilty. Yet, at the end the finally sees that there is reasonable doubt (62). Interestingly enough, on the previous page Juror Ten is called out by Juror Four (60). The foreman also has some prejudice at the beginning of the case. He brings up another case that is similar to the one they are doing. He says the defendant accused of murder was let off and “eight years later they found out that he’d actually done it, anyway” (12). Prejudice clouds a person’s judgement and does not allow the individual to see all the facts. It only allows them to
S. E. Hinton’s The Outsiders is a novel that follows a group of boys growing up in the 1960s who have to face prejudice and stereotypes on a daily basis. The author uses multiple examples of prejudice in the novel to demonstrate the destructive nature of prejudice on the characters in the story, such as fights between characters, friendships being torn apart, and people feeling ashamed of who they are and which social class they belong in. The first examples of prejudice shown in the novel are fights and hate between the two social classes.
In 1937 in the midst of The Great Depression, John Steinback published ‘Of Mice and Men’. This story introduced two characters by the name of George and Lennie. The two friends travel across California looking for work. In the book, the author portrays Lennie a huge, strong, and slow learning man. With the authors indirect characterization about Lennie, some critics infer that Lennie is forgetful and never intends to hurt anyone. This contributes to the theme because even though Lennie is different than most people, he is still capable of being friends with “normal” people. For example, he is still good friends with George despite their differences.
Physicist Albert Einstein once said, “Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen”. He means that you didn’t just randomly become so judgmental one day. You acquired all of the common sense that you have now based on where you grew up, and the influences that were around you. You were taught to automatically judge people and assume things based on appearance, skin color, and rumors. Judgement is always prevalent in society in many ways; no matter what you try to do, people will always make assumptions and judge you.
Even in a society that, overall, is diverse, people with similar ideas and experiences tend to congregate in small groups, where they are comfortable. It is much easier to remain in homogenous groups, among those who understand each other. When different groups combine, many different life experiences and points of view will be present and will potentially clash. Misunderstanding is bound to occur in some form when individuals of different backgrounds interact. When misunderstandings occur, people tend to respond with violence, fear, or stereotyping.
The novel, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, is a story about two men and their companionship. The story takes place in California during the Great Depression. The two men have a dream to one day own a farm of their own. This dream never comes true and they are forced to work for someone else on a ranch for the rest of their lives. On of the main characters, Lennie, is retarded and often gets him and George into trouble. In the story, the author gives many clues that allude to the fact that Lennie has a mental illness. Throughout the story, he says and does things that shows the reader of this. The ways Lennie is shown as retarded is through his childish manner, his memory loss, his incapability to control his strength, and his cowardness.
Dee is a girl who lived with her mom and her sister Maggie, but she wasn’t like them at all, she was different than her sister and her mother. Mama was collecting money to take Dee to school in Augusta. Dee liked to be fashionable, she always wanted nice things.
In the world of theatre, a place which tends to be reserved for liberal expression and socially progressive content, Bekah Brunstetter’s The Cake appears to be somewhat of an anomaly. This is not to say that the play condemns or lacks representation of the social matters which are so commonly highlighted in contemporary theatre. In fact, The Cake very thoroughly explores the unceasing debate surrounding the topic of marriage equality. However, Brunstetter’s thoughtful characterization forces audiences to consider a perspective that is rarely supported, or even acknowledged, on the stage.
Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller portrays the last 24 hours of the life of a common man, Willy Loman, as he reflects on the failures of his life. Loman’s success as a salesman has passed now that his old loyal boss, Howard, has died, and he now works as an unsuccessful traveling salesman, scraping by on commision from Howard’s son. Loman goes to the neighbor, Charley, often borrowing money for household payments, but refuses to take a job-offer from him. Willy Loman’s spouse is Linda and they have two boys, Happy and his older brother Biff, who are now middle aged men who live back at home and are trying to find where they belong in life. Bernard is a childhood friend of the Loman boys, and is Charley’s son. Willy Loman’s deep suffering
In many instances, there are often films adaptations influenced by a particular primary text. While some directors stay true to the author’s plot, others choose to use their own twists in order to comply to demand. Each of these works contain various parallels that are alike and differentiating. In Cat on a Hot Tin Roof by Tennessee Williams, the text revolves around Brick, an individual struggling with his own sexuality and overbearing family. As a result of this novel, Richard Brooks created his own adaption in order to make the words on the pages truly come alive. While Brooks’ film gives a subtle nod to the text in many ways, he is somewhat hesitant in his representation of the themes presented in the novel. Through
In the novel Of Mice and Men George tells Lennie “You… an’ me. Ever’body gonna be nice to you. Ain’t gonna be no more trouble. Nobody gonna hurt nobody nor steal from em’“ (Steinbeck #) to comfort him. Which John Steinbeck, the author, is trying to show us how lives were lived, especially what Lennie faced in his life. All his American dream is, is to be able to live in a house with his pal George that he knows will never leave him. George realizes that he can not always help Lennie. Though the character of Lennie, John Steinbeck shows that issues outside the control of an individual often limit the achievement of his or her dreams.
The tragic play of Death of a salesman by Arthur Miller tells a story about an old man of 84 years old named Willy. Willy was captured by the American dream. He believed that hard work and ambitions could take him to a life of fame and popularity like the american dream was supposed to be. In Death of a salesman, the american dream reveals disappointment, failure and loss of hope. Thus showing that the american dream is not a great dream after all.