Of Mice and Men
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- Category: English: Novels
- Date Submitted: 03/06/2014 09:46 PM
- Pages: 2
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How is being powerless affects three characters in "Of Mice and Men"
There are a lot of problems in this world. Problems that some people can control, reasonable problems for example bad habits like drinking and smoking, and with the proper amount of rehabilitation those people can successfully conquer their unhealthy habits. Then there are problems to which one cannot control due to their circumstance, this is how John Steinbeck describes his characters as ultimately powerless. John Steinbeck lived during the time of the Great Depression, and during that time Steinbeck worked as a farm hand at Los Gatos Ranch in California. This had a tremendous influence on him, which led him to write one of his most memorable fictional novels Of Mice and Men and in Steinbeck’s book describes the characters also living and working on a farm as well. No doubt that Steinbeck witnessed firsthand the destructive imbalance of social structures in American society; this also plays a huge role in the Steinbeck’s book. There are matters that one can control and there are matters that one cannot control, and in the book Of Mice and Men, all the character share one common feature, that they are all economically powerless. Crooks has a social powerlessness while Curley and his wife a relational powerlessness. Now Lennie might have all these features but the one that really clasps strongly to him is his intellectual powerlessness. Steinbeck clearly describes that all the characters are ultimately powerless in one way or another.
There are a lot of problems in this world. Problems that some people can control, reasonable problems for example bad habits like drinking and smoking, and with the proper amount of rehabilitation those people can successfully conquer their unhealthy habits. Then there are problems to which one cannot control due to their circumstance, this is how John Steinbeck describes his characters as ultimately powerless. John Steinbeck lived during the time of the Great Depression, and during that time Steinbeck worked as a farm hand at Los Gatos Ranch in California. This had a tremendous influence on him, which led him to write one of his most memorable fictional novels Of Mice and Men and in Steinbeck’s book describes the characters also living and working on a farm as well. No doubt that Steinbeck witnessed firsthand the destructive imbalance of social structures in American society; this also plays a huge role in the Steinbeck’s book. There are matters that one can control and there are matters that one cannot control, and in the book Of Mice and Men, all the character share one common feature, that they are all economically powerless. Crooks has a social powerlessness while Curley and his wife a relational powerlessness. Now Lennie might have all these features but the one that really clasps strongly to him is his intellectual powerlessness. Steinbeck clearly describes that all the characters are ultimately powerless in one way or another.