John Steinbeck’s novels The Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men enable readers to capture a glimpse of the time of the Great Depression in the United States. In The Grapes of Wrath, the Joad family of Oklahoma, accompanied by thousands of other farming families, travels across America to chase a dream that lies in California. Their dream is to attain jobs and prosper off of their own land once again. However, they find only disappointments in California, with all of the work already taken and the poverty just as severe as it was in Oklahoma. In Of Mice and Men, the two main characters, George and Lennie, build a powerful friendship as they migrate to California for work.
The Great Depression had a leveling effect, and all groups really experienced hard times: poor whites, poor blacks”- William Julius Wilson. This quote relates to the Great Depression in 1929-1939, when whites and blacks were discriminated. They would usually live in cardboard houses called Hoovervilles, with no jobs or money. A Hooverville is a major setting in an award winning novel called Bud, Not Buddy. In the 1999 novel, Bud, Not Buddy, where Christopher Paul Curtis introduces readers to the main character, ten-year-old, Bud Caldwell, who has a very challenging life.
Of mice and men (final) Johns Steinbeck’s 1937 masterpiece “of mice and men” gives insight to the lives of ordinary people affected by the great depression in America, during the 1930s. In the novella the themes of loyalty and disloyalty are a key part of the plot. Steinbeck explores the seminal themes of loyalty and disloyalty by careful use of setting, structure and development of complex character constructs. Also the use of language and imagery in the novella depict the reality of the great depression for many people and the challenges they faced everyday. At the beginning of the novella author John Steinbeck opens with a description of the idyllic natural setting, where “the Salinas River drops in close to the hillside bank and runs deep and green.
An’ then I’ll come back an’ work another month an’ I’ll have fifty bucks more.” Here John Steinbeck uses repetition to make it abundantly clear to the reader that George has forsaken his dream, and chosen to become the lonely farm worker he once felt empathy towards. Although some may argue that George's reaction to the broken dream is not one of grief, but rather one of indifference, as he does not believe in the dream, this is opinion is quickly refuted when we are able to see his belief in the attainability of the dream grow as he discusses the dream with Candy and
Even though facts were left out in the movie, Cinderella Man portrayed the lives of many middle class families across America in a beautiful picture of hope during the Great Depression. Cinderella Man gave examples of how James Braddock and his children survived on small provisions everyday, exposed Hoovervilles as dark slums, and portrayed how difficult getting a job was. Overall Cinderella Man did an amazing job on portraying the Great Depression during the
How would you feel if someone you knew had a mental disability and depended on you for everything? John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men centers around two men living in California who work in fields bucking barley in what is assumed to be the 1920’s. Lennie has a mental disability and depends on his companion George for almost everything. Although George gives guidance to Lennie and tries to help him live a normal and happy life, George is more of an angry tyrant to Lennie. To begin, George can be called temperamental because he is often found getting mad with Lennie and yelling at him as if he is a child.
This historical time period inspires writers such as John Steinbeck to write and inform others about the hardships of the 1930’s. Steinbeck centers Of Mice and Men to exhibit how life’s difficulties inhibited the American Dream. The Great Depression, the Dust Bowl, and many acts of inequality made an impact on the American Dream in this time period. John Steinbeck tells about the American Dream using rhetorical devices such as parallel structures, paradox and pathos.
John Steinbeck is one of the most influential and famous American writers of all time. He has wrote multiple books that portray his own life through the character 's actions, thoughts and personality. His writing style can cause one to lose track of what is fictional and what is reality. Another, example of when he shows his own life in his work, is in the novel Of Mice and Men. In Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck comments on the difficulties migrant workers go through to survive, some women are dangerous and can lead to the destruction of men, and the sacrifice one will go through in a friendship.
The book Of Mice and Men is full of puzzling examples of the human condition, from Lennie and his mental disability to Curley only caring about his social appearance. With characters like these two, the book exploits the human condition that concerns circumstances life has given you. John Steinbeck brings to life what being a laborer in the American depression meant to the men and one woman who had enough personality to stand out. Steinbeck shows the human condition of men while they survive in the American depression.
Final reflection on the common reader “Enrique’s Journey” Through all the hardships of living in a poor country where just putting food on the table is a challenge. Seeing the media overinflate how great it is to live a country like the United States would feel like a pipe dream. Coming from a country full of corruption and powerful gangs governments that does not seem to care and payed off police to look the other way. The poem by Emma Lazarus has a deep connection to the hardships Enrique had to endure.
Of Mice of Men, is a novel about George and Lennie, two ambulatory migrant companions and workers. They traveled through California during the Great Depression, looking for some work opportunities. Besides, the main characters George and Lennie personified the struggles to survive during the Depression. They possesses a strong dream of having their own farm. However, Lennie is mentally disabled, but a physically tough man who travels with George, his best and possibly only friend.
When a person is struggling in life, they find a person to pick up the piece when they can not. Of Mice and Men written by John Steinbeck tell the story of a George and Lennie, a pair of friend in the great depression striving for the american dream; to live of of the fat of the land. They travel around the midwest a migrant woking, looking for work. George is a short man who is more of the brains of the operation, while lennie as a big strong guy who does not even know his own strength. However he struggle with comprehending and remember information he is given.
In the novel Of Mice & Men, by John Steinbeck, Lennie and George’s relationship is not the most quintessential friendship. Though in the first part of the story it is not said that Lennie has any social disabilities, you can pick up the characteristic. George has a way with words, which affects Lennieーbut only within that moment. Steinbeck portrays both these characters very vividly; although he does not just flat out make a list describing each man, he shows each personality and relationship they hold.
The people who succeed most in life are the ones who have realistic dreams and goals. In Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, Lennie and George have a dream to own a farm and live of the fat of the land. To fulfill this dream, Lennie and George need to work to get the money they need to purchase the farm. However, Lennie struggles with touching soft things, killing anything that gives him tactile pleasure. Every time he makes a mistakes, he counts on George to get him out of it.
John Steinbeck, the author of the novella, Of Mice and Men, sets the story in the great depression, where itinerant workers travel to California to find work. Through the use of light imagery and setting the author develops the theme of the American dream. The literary devices also create an unrealistic impression of George and Lennie's dream, giving the reader a sense of pity. The writer's use of light imagery creates a sense of condolence.