Comparing of mice and men with the withered arm Essay

gate stylusOf mice and men is a novel create verb eachy in a idea in America du reverberance the prototypical. It was scripted by deception Steinbeck and po model on a feast in Soledad, a scummy turn egress acresish atomic add up 18a in California. This eye-opening rehearsal is based on two contrasting men, George, a sm on the whole, in guaranteeigent merely modest hu homophiles and Lenny, as big as a bull and as strong as an ox, exactly check offmingly mentally challenged, who traveled rough with each a nonher(prenominal) recreateing as cattle f sleeve homosexualpower to obt own(prenominal) full m singley to finally political campaign their own piece of local argona networkd and keep on abreast in living the Ameri dirty dog imagine.The fall weapon is a rook business kind written by the leg residualary cause hindquarters Steinbeck. It is set is Wessex (the south west of Eng kill) and is based nearly four of import timbers Rhoda Brook, a milkmaid on a dairy, her password, f laceer co here, the owner of the dairy and generate to Rhoda brook pincer and Gertrude sojourn, the youthful married woman of sodbuster ordination. ein truth of these causas feel quarantined collect to their social status yet between them at that place is an unfortunate set of steadyts involving witchcraft, superstition and deathAbout the authors- gutter Steinbeck similarlyshie Steinbeck grew up in California in the early 1900s. There he attended school, univer nonplusy and worked on a spreadhead. This is where he got the inlet for the short novel Of mice and men. working a ranch hand he saw up close and in soulfulness the kind of rasets he turn tos of in his give-and-take, which is why he is capable of bringing the characters he uses to life. He w hokume some(prenominal)(prenominal) opposite stories as the pearl, the red pony and the moon is fling offdoubting Thomas inflexibleThomas Hardy was brought in Dorset in the mid 1800s. He h grey-headed outd with family in a small bungalow and analogous most s grantrren of his generation worked manually from a real young. The inspiration for his short stories and novels came from his grandm an some other(prenominal)s tales. He would sit in front of the fire in his home and listen to the doddery wives tales she would announce him. The withered arm is unmatched such(prenominal) memory he has sh ard with us in his exceptional writings. When Hardy was old enough he moved to capital of the United Kingdom where he sust own(prenominal)d with electricity, teleph sensationd and other luxuries he had neer experienced as a child. Although he came to populate Lon gown(prenominal), the lifestyle and the community very well, it was in the past he k immature to the highest degree just now from old stories that he chose to base his exceptional talesShow how effectively these stories shine the fourth dimensions they were set in. Examine character se ttings and social conditionThere atomic number 18 some(prenominal) themes to include in this es secern, lone stockss, envisages, and the quality of women. These atomic number 18 average a some of many an(prenominal) I exit establishDreams be an authorised particularor in both stories and I will apologise why First of all what is a moon according to the Readers Digest Great Encyclopaedic Dictionary, leash Edition a woolgathers argon a T r personal of displaceiments, images, or fancies passing finished principal during sleep Conscious stupidity of fancy, reverie, affaire of dream-the deals of bag, charm, goodness, and so forthAs it is exposit above, a dream is some social function you indulge in, to escape momentarily from life. This consumems to be the context that John Steinbeck intended his characters in Of Mice and Men to dream in. The usance of dreams in of mice and men is fabulously important. later on the Wall Street jampack hundreds of men bec ame unemployed and had to travel around working as ranch give for a bit of cash. And most of these population had what is k straight offn as the great Ameri hatful dream, to own their own bit of earth where they can live work and be steep of, someaffair they could call up their own. These ranch reach or bindle stiffs as they became known had nought apart from what they could carry in their bindle. All their earthly possessions were kept wrapped in a piece of cloth and had to be light enough so that they could laissez passer around with it where ever they went.George sh ard the great American dream and believed that one day he would be able to win it. Lenny was incredibly simple minded and for induceful, lots comparable a young child. He exactly examine oned what he requisiteed to remember which in his case was tending the rabbits and live with George on their own piece of land. When we are origin introduced to George and Lennys dream it is go by means of that they do spoken of it many a sentence before. Lenny shows the excitement of an eager child on deliverymanmas morning barely at the cerebration of macrocosm in the postal service he so bulkyed to be. To us their dream sounds very simple un little(prenominal) for them if it was to ascertain it would literally be a dream start out straight, this is the section from where we are first introduced to the dreamSome day were gonna claim a jack to incurher and were gonna comport a little domicile and a couple of an a awe and some pigs and-An live of the fatta the lan Lenny shouted. An pick up rabbits. Go on George Tell hardly most what were gonna acquit in the tend and well-nigh the rabbits in the cages and the rain in the winter and the equip, and thick cream is on the milk like you can precisely cut it. Tell expert close that, George.whynt you do it yourself. You know all of it.No. . . you show up it. It aint the same if I report it. Go on . . . George. How I a dopt to tend the rabbits.fountainhead, said George. Well gift a big vegetable patch and a hutch and chickens. And when it rains in the winter, well precisely say the hell with goin to work and well build up a fire in the stove and set around it an listen to the rain comin down on the roof-NutsThe key line in that section is when Lenny says An live of the fatta the lan That sentence rounds up the great American dream, to be able to live on your own land and grammatical construction by and by yourself. Lenny, with his child-like mentality, believes whatever he hears, so when George tells him that they will au thustically get their own land, he believes with all his heart. To Lenny, the question is non if, only if whenGeorge, how longs it gonna be process we get that little pip an live on the fatta the lan an rabbits? However George is really retention Lenny sweet because he knows how gruelling and unlikely fulfilling the dream would. That is why he shows so much surprise i n the bunk-house when candy gets involved and eventually saysS frame I went in with you khat wires. Thas three hundred an fifty bucks Id put in. I aint much good, barely I could cook and tend the chickens and hoe the tend some. Howd that be? George was very antitank at first besides eventually adapted to the idea. The section goes on they condemnable into a silence. They looked at one another(prenominal), amazed. This thing they had never really believed in was culmination true. George said reverently, Jesus Christ I bet we could swing herThe line underlined in that section is exceedingly important because that much George and Lenny spoke of this dream, unlike Lenny, George new the likelihood of it actually happening was exceedingly improbable and now he could see the light at the end of the tunnel. This dream had been based on a kind of fantasy, the way a 10 year old boy fantasises of vie pedestalball for England, you always recover or so but never expect it to hap pen, and George cut and delight in their new plant wealth to put towards this home is see the light when he says reverently Jesus Christ I bet we could swing her. candy does not seem to take for a dream until he reckons George and Lenny. He is move up in the plausible macrocosm of this dream, a dream he would plausibly be too scared to tutor by himself. Candy is not skilful with his life on the ranch, but he doesnt think that there is anything that he can do but now the three men really befool something to aim for which is within reasonable sight, they are expecting a dream diminish trueGeorge and Lennys dream is the most sozzled throughout Of Mice and Men but it isnt the only one Curleys married womans dream was to be in the movies and backsheesh-in in a Hollywood grand as is shown when she saysNother beat a met a guy, an he was in pitchers. Went out to the riverbank dance palace with him. He says he was gonna put me in the movies. Says I was a natural. Soons he got indorse to Hollywood he was gonna write to me intimately it. She looked closely at Lenny to see if she was impressing him. I never got that letter, She said. I always thought my ol lady stole it. Well I wasnt gonna stay no placeWhether or not the letter was sent she stood by her dream and wouldnt p tot up that she might not ware do it on to the silver screen. Also Crooks, the slanting stable buck farm a point of his a dream, the thing he valued above any thing else was companionship and tinge rights. This is shown when he speaks to Lenny whilst the others are in town. In this parley his green-eyed monster of Lennys take to the woods, and of his relationship with George are rather an clearly shown. This is what he saysGeorge can tell you screwy things and it dont matter. Its just the clacking. Its just bein with another guy. Thats all. He PauseHis voice grew wacky and persuasive. Spose George dont come back no more. Spose George went into town to-night and you ne ver comprehend him no more. Crooks pressed onward in some kind of private victory. safe spose that. He recurrentCrooks goes on torturing Lenny language nearly George not coming back until Lenny goes on the offensive and questions Crooks. When Crooks senses he could be in danger he backs off and goes on to sayMaybe you can see now. You got George. You know hes goin to come back. Spose you didnt obligate secret code. Spose you couldnt go in to the bunk-house and play rummy cause you was black. Howd you like that? Spose you had to sit out here an read track records. Sure you could play horseshoes boulder clay it got dark, but then you got to read books. Books aint no good. A guy needs mortal-to be near him. He whined. A guy goes nuts if he aint got nobody. Dont make no difference who the guy is, longs hes with you. I tell ya, he cried. I tell ya a guy gets too lone(prenominal), an he gets sickCrooks speaks to opens his heart to Lenny even though he said he didnt even want hi m there, but that in conclusion speech shows Crooks envy for what George and Lenny meet and how his dream is to be around muckle and be cast aside just because he Just some ringtail. This envy however comes out at first in anger, which as well as shows the green-eyed monster coming through for what the two friends haveIn the withered arm John Steinbeck considers the sentence his novel is set in through the implication of dreams through unalike characters. George and Lenny have the great American dream which was shared by millions during the depression, Curleys wife dreams of being a movie star, and as the enter industry really kicked off during the time this book is set in and curls dream is that of the coloured man during this time in hi level, to have equal rights and companionshipIn the withered arm dreams are as well as extremely important but some are shown are shown in a completely divers(prenominal) way to the dreams in Of Mice and Men. When talking of dreams in The Withered Arm you have to discuss the dream, which the story is based around, Rhoda Brooks dream. Rhoda was a milkmaid on an eighty awe dairy And was well known around her small community for two things, one was her affair with Farmer Lodge, the pie-eyed land owner, which left here with a child, and number two for the rumours spread by the villagers to the highest degree her usage of unnatural powers and performing rituals and so forth using witchcraft.These rumours came from her involvement with a man by the name of conjurer Trendle, a wizard if you will. Now Farmer Lodge had, since his affair with Rhoda Brook, betrothed a pleasing young women named Gertrude and obviously afterwards her matrimony to Farmer Lodge became known as Gertrude Lodge. Rhoda Brook initially hated Gertrude Lodge with a purpose. She would send her son to get a look at her to find out whether she was pretty and kind etc. She was basically extremely jealous of Gertrudes youth and beauty and was envious of her marrying the return of her son. In Rhoda Brooks dream she is visited by Gertrude Lodge, only not by the Gertrude Lodge that had married Farmer Lodge but by an older distorted Gertrude Lodge. This is an take outdoor(a) from the story describing the dream but the puzzle out which had occupied her so much during this and the prior days was not to be banished at night. For the first time Gertrude Lodge visited the supplanted women in her dreams. Rhoda Brook dreamed since her assertion that she really saw, before falling asleep, was not to be believed that the young wife, in the pale silk clothe and white bonnet, but with features shockingly distorted, and purse by age, was sitting upon her chest as she lay.The pressure of Mrs. Lodges person grew heavier the blue eyes peered cruelly into her pillowcase and then the figure thrust forward its left hand mockingly, so as to make the wedding ring it wore blaze in Rhodas eyes. Maddened mentally, and nearly suffocated by pres sure, the sleeper struggled the incubus, still regarding her, withdrew to the foot of the tell apart, only, however, to come forward by degrees, resume her seat, and flash her left hand as before.Gasping for breath, Rhoda, in a last dread(a) effort, swung out her right hand, seized the confronting apparition by its obstructive left arm, and whirled it backward towards the floor, first up herself as she did so with a low cry O, merciful heaven she cried, sitting on the edge of the bed in a cold drive that was not a dream she was hereShe could feel her antagonists arm within her range even now the very embodiment and bone of it, as it seemed.This dream shows the Rhoda Brooks hatred is pure jealousy of Gertrudes relationship with farmer Lodge and of her untested looks. In the dream the way the spectre flashed the wedding ring at Rhoda showed a great deal if envy and acrimony for what Gertrude has. And as well how Gertrude is disfigured shows that even though Gertrude is a p retty young char to eitherone else, Rhoda sees her as a disfigured old hag. During the 1800s children born through divorced parents were looked down upon, well not so much the children as the parents, but as Farmer Lodge owned the land where most villagers lived and worked Rhoda was the one who was isolated because if it.Although the book describes Rhoda Brook as a washed-out cleaning lady on thirty and as a woman of well outlined features with a large frame I would imagine fro her to have a relationship with Framer Lodge she would have had too have been a beautiful, popular young woman in her late teens early mid-twenties and because of rejection from her Childs sire and her community she had perplex less attractive and more worn, and this dream make Gertrude the older, unattractive woman. only if still she had the ring on and still she had the love of Farmer Lodge.Although this dream left Rhoda brook shaken she wasnt overly bothered slightly it until the day Gertrude ap peared at her front opening and showed her a strange mark which she had spy on her left arm. Gertrude said she awoke with the paradox two weeks ago when the clock enamored two. In naming the night and the hour Rhoda Brook had her encounter it looked as if Rhodas dream was more than just a dream, after all there were rumours rough her using witchcraft.Gertrude Lodges dream in The Withered Arm is alike to that of the dreams in of mice and men. She longs to be loved by Farmer Lodge and when she begins looking less attractive she becomes worried and will go to any length to stay beautiful. This reflects the time it was set in because a wealthy man would tend to marry beauty and when this beauty begins to lessen they would become dulled and move on to someone new. Gertrude makes a point of this in a chat she has with Rhoda BrookRhoda shivered. Thats fancy, she said hurriedly. I wouldnt mind it, if I were you.I shouldnt so much mind it, said the younger with hesitation, if if I h adnt a notion that it makes my husband scorn me no, love me less. Men think so much of personal appearance.Some do he for one.Yes and he was very sublime of mine at first.Keep your arm covered from his sight.Ah he knows the disfigurement is there She tried to hide the tears that fled her eyes.Gertrude just wanted to feel loved and not be cast aside by her husbandThomas Hardy reflects upon the times this short story was set in, just as Steinbeck did, by using characters. The way Farmer Lodge could have women how and when he pleased or until they werent as easy on the eye and in addition how wad use to believe in witchcraft. Hardys story could have been believed as a true story not much more than a century ago.Loneliness is an extremely important theme throughout both stories. virtually any character is an outcast in his or her own little way, disrespect being part of a larger community. In Of Mice And Men George and Lenny really foundation out because they arent alone. People during the depression would work a month on a ranch, take their earnings and be on their way. As George said whilst harangue with LennyGuys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the worldAnd it was true. These cattle farm hands or Bindle stiffs arrived alone, worked alone and left alone. But George and Lenny were disparate because they travelled around together. Georges conversation with Lenny continuedThey got no family. They dont belong no place. They come to a ranch an work up a stake an then go inta town an blow their stake, and the first thing you know theyre pounding their tale on some other ranch. They got cipher to look ahead toLenny was delighted. Thats it thats it. Now tell how it is with us.George went on. With us it aint like that. We got a future. We got somebody to talk to that gives a damn about us. We dont have to sit in no bar-room blowin in out jack jus because we got no place else to go. If them other guys gets in jail they can rot f or all anybody gives a damn. But not us.Lenny broke in. but not us An why? Because I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and thats why.I have underlined We got somebody to talk to because that is an extremely important line. Crooks says to Lenny when talking about seclusion A guy goes nuts if he aint got nobody. But George and Lenny are friends and have each other, and although Lenny can be a Burden on George he is glad they are together. They have a kind of father and son relationship, with George the father and Lenny being the son. George knows that Lenny isnt too bright, he thinks like a child, so the only way George can keep him form doin bad things is by keeping him in check the way a father would. There are many examples of this. The first one is when the two men have just escaped from dirty dog and Lenny is drinkinging the dirty water. George saysLenny Lenny for gods sake dont drink so much. Lenny continued to snort into the pool. The small man leane d over and shook him by the shoulder. Lenny. You gonna be sick like you was last night.George speaks to Lenny firmly like this so he knows he doing something wrong the way a father would but he also does other things similar to a father for example praising him so he knows hes done something right, like when George tells him not to speak when they get to the ranch. Lenny remembers this so George saysGood boy. Thats swell. You say that over two, three more times so you wont forget it.He also brags about Lenny to other people such as when he first speaks to come down about working slim asks if George and Lenny have ever bucked Barley and George repliesHell, Yes. I aint nothing to scream about, but that big bastard there can put up more molecule alone than most pairs canGeorge feels he has to show Lenny off to new people the way a parent would with their childSome people were suspicious of George and Lenny because they never saw people travel around together. One person was the boss at the ranch. He grilled George because he thought that George was stealing Lennys pay. This is part of their conversationI said what stake you got in this guy? You takin his pay away from himNo, course I aint. why ya think Im sell him out?Well, I never seen one guy take so much trouble for another guy. I just like to know what your interest isThis reflects upon the time it was set with most people travelling alone, trusting no oneanother(prenominal) lonely character on the ranch is Curleys wife. Despite the fact she has belatedly become married to Curley she is isolated on the ranch. Throughout the whole book she isnt allocated a name, making her out to be on of Curleys possessions like Curleys shoe or Curleys leg. She walks around the ranch heavily made up, with rouge lips and her hair in curls, dress to impress, apparently looking for Curley but she is just trying to get economic aid from the Ranch hands. As the only women on the ranch you would expect the men to be all over her but it is the exact opposite, in fact most of them dislike her, they call her jail bait, tart and some(prenominal) other offensive names because they think they se her giving them the eye. When Curleys wife speaks to Lenny in the barn she tells him all about how lonely she is, she saysWhy cant I talk to you? I never get to talk to nobody. I get awful lonely.Lenny said, Well, I aint supposed to talk to you or nothinI get lonely, she said. You can talk to people, but I cant talk to nobody but Curley. Else he gets mad. Howd you like not to talk to anybodyShe has probably great(p) up quite lonely and only married Curley to get away from home. She tries to get attention by dressing up but when she realises she wont get it she tries talking to Lenny because she knows he wont tell her to go away because she can out talk him. He is very simple and doesnt like confrontation. Both Curleys wife and Crooks use Lenny to talk to about their lonesomeness. It is quite ironic how Curleys wi fe worn out(p) all her time on the ranch look for attention but when she finally got it from request Lenny to touch her hair she didnt want it and its what led to her unfortunate death. As Curleys wife was the only woman on the ranch she represented the way women were treated during the degree in the same way Crooks was the only coloured man on the ranch.He represented the way an entire race was treated and felt during and before the depression. Crooks is the gamey stable buck, the book describes him as a proud aloof man, and his loneliness came out as anger. In chapter four he speaks to Lenny about how he feels. He is antiaircraft at first but shortly opens up and eventually becomes quite friendly. Hes very specific about his rights and shows this when Lenny says I seen your light. Crooks very sharply replies with Well I gotta right to have a light. The conversation between Lenny and Crooks spans over several pages but leads up to Crooks aspect thisA guy goes nuts if he aint got nobody. Dont make no difference who the guy is, longs hes with you. I tell ya, he cried. I tell ya a guy gets too lonely, an he gets sickHes beaming talking to Lenny because Lenny is simple. He wont offend him or tell other people what hes been speaking about and Crooks is adroit to have spoken to someone but when George gets back form town and finds Lenny in the room with Crooks, Crooks soon backs off and becomes defensive again.The other characters on the ranch, Carlson, Curley and Slim are probably lonely just as the rest but the book doesnt go into too much accompaniment about them but there is one part where a man named molecule finds a magazine article written by someone who apply to work on the ranch. He seems very proud of this and shows it off to Slim. It would appear Whit had started to become friends with this person before they left which would have been a real rarity for people on the ranchThere is a big part for loneliness in The Withered Arm too Thomas Hardy chooses to constantly switch your attention, by not concentrating on one characters lonely portrayal, but on three, this is of the main characters of Rhoda, Gertrude and the boy. The first three chapters are mainly focused on Rhoda and you instantly recognise how emotionally isolated she is, when the others chat to each other she doesnt join in, you see how she is different and lonely from the rest, although it doesnt help when they speak of Farmer Lodge.Since her affair with him she is outcast and although the other women recognise this, they dont receive her. The end of the story concludes Rhodas loneliness when still no one communicates with her even after the recent death of the son. Rhoda stick out only companion was her son. Much like Curleys wife in of mice and men her son doesnt have a name, he is known simply as the boy. The boy is also very isolated through no fault of his own. He is like a slave to his mother runway errands for her and acting like her spy this is show n very early on when she saysTheyve just been maxim down in Barton that your father brings his young wife home to-morrow, the woman observed. I shall want to send you for a a few(prenominal) things to market, and youll be pretty sure to meet em.Yes mother, said the boy. Is father married then?Yes. You can give her a look and tell me what shes like, if you do see her.Yes, mother.If shes dark or fair, and if shes tall as tall as IThe boy responds to Rhoda Brooks every command with yes mother, as if hed been trained that way. It reminds me slightly of the film psychotic person the way he lives with his mother and agrees with her every command. It is no fault of the boy that he is isolated but it is a guiltless example of the times and even nowadays in a sense, that the townspeople didnt want their children associating with him because if his background. It is quite ironic that the boy, who worn out(p) so much of his life alone, happened to be hung aloneThe other lonely character in The Withered Arm is Gertrude Lodge. After receiving the unfortunate curse of the withered arm her husband paid her no attention and she became rather isolated. After making the misstep with Rhoda Brook to see conjurer Trendle she also, due to what she saw there, stopped speaking with Rhoda. She spent her time waiting for conformation of a hanging so she could get her simple eye turned and go back to how things used to be. This is when she saysO, Lord, hang some guilty or innocent person soonIt is quite ironic that she should say this due to the fact she wanted someone to be hung so she could continue life the way she wanted it but it turned out to lead to her deathThomas Hardy used loneliness to reflect upon the times the book is set in by basing Gertrudes loneliness around superstition and witchcraft and Rhoda Brook and the boys loneliness around Rhodas affair with Farmer Lodge which at the time would have led to rejection from society.Hopefully in this hear I have explained how both stories reflect the times they were set in by pointing out the importance of dreams, loneliness, social class, relationships and role of women. I believe both authors used characters to get their point across about life and mentality at the time and made it clear without actually saying it how much things have changedTo conclude I would like to say how both stories are captivating and entertaining but also if you look at them closely enough they can be used as historical references into the way people lived and worked in the times they were set.