ipl-logo

Comparing Power In Of Mice And Men And Maggie A Girl Of The Streets

842 Words4 Pages

In Of Mice and Men and Maggie, a Girl of the Streets, John Steinbeck and Stephen Crane describe differing roles of power. In Of Mice and Men, power comes from the male workers respecting the leadership Slim demonstrates but the fear Curley brings also plays a part in having power from the men. In Maggie, a Girl of the Streets, Maggie has a false image of Pete, believing him to be sophisticated and of a higher station in life. Maggie is allowing herself to give Pete more power than he deserves. With contrasting views of power, Steinbeck demonstrates power through the men honoring Slim’s leadership and fearing Curley, while Crane displays power through Maggie’s false perspective of Pete. Steinbeck demonstrates leadership among the men, using …show more content…

Each of the men admire him and honors any decision he makes because of the wisdom he brought to them. “There was a gravity in his manner and a quiet so profound that all talk stopped when he spoke” (Steinbeck 33). The men expected a lot from Slim because he earned his power from him taking charge on the ranch. However, on the ranch, Slim wasn’t the only person who had authority though. Curley, the boss’ son, gained his power by the men fearing him. The men felt they did not have to honor what Curley said, but they knew they could not disrespect him. By Curley’s dad being the boss, the men except Curley when he is harassing or harming the other workers on the ranch. “Don’t tell Curley I said none of this. He’d slough me. He just don’t give a damn. Won’t ever get canned ‘cause his old man’s the boss” (Steinbeck 27). The respect from the men was the greatest respect you could gain at …show more content…

When Maggie starts feeling attractions towards Pete, she imagines the power people give to him. This imagining comes from her inexperience to the lower-class pleasures he offered her. When Maggie was around Pete, she admired the way Pete presented himself towards her. He showed loved to her, but he also acted he was better than the people in the same class as him. “She thought he must live in a blare of pleasure. He had friends and people who were afraid of him” (Crane 23). Nellie, Pete’s crush, disrespect him and treats him below her. She teases him into liking her, but she doesn’t feel Pete is worth the disgrace to herself. On the other hand, Maggie views Pete as honorable, sophisticated, and admires all of his actions. She allowed herself to get manipulated by Pete because of the declared power she thought he had. She started loving him based on his elegance and knowledge. “Maggie perceived that Pete brought forth all his elegance and all his knowledge of high-class customers for her benefit” (Crane 25). Pete’s knowledge and elegance moved Maggie deeply. Maggie’s admiration towards Pete shows that Maggie views Pete as high-class, but in reality is in the class as Maggie. She believed that Pete being around her brought her a benefit, but it was more of a vice versa effect to her life. By Maggie’s admiration and inexperience with this finer life Pete displays, she encourages

Show More
Related
681 Words | 3 Pages

In “A Teachable Good Book: Of Mice and Men” by Thomas Scareth, the author’s purpose is to show the reader that Of Mice and Men is great tragic literature that provides the reader with many complex ideas through a simple story. One point Scareth makes is that sometimes tragedies are needed to show a positive about humanity when he says the story is,”but a tragedy in the classic Aristotelian/Shakespearean sense of showing humanity’s achievement of greatness through and in spite of defeat.” Scareth explains humans can do good things through seemingly bad things. Achievements can be made even through turmoil. I agree with this point because while George does something horrible, killing Lennie, it is done out of love and his need to protect him.

Read More
670 Words | 3 Pages

Getting the Blame When Not Due Is it right to blame anyone for their own death on themselves when they were murdered for doing nothing wrong? People who are murdered should not get the blame for the killer's actions when not due. Curley’s wife was murdered by Lennie in John Steinbeck’s story, Of Mice and Men. Curley’s wife did not know that day in the barn would be her last. Being the only woman on the farm and her past, resulted in her being depressed and lonely.

Read More
288 Words | 2 Pages

Slim, one of the most respected and admirable characters in John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, is a static character who is always present during the most crucial moments in the story. Slim is the ideal Western man, he is understanding, strong, and is remarkable at his job. In the ranch, Slim is described as having “a gravity in his manner and a quiet so profound manner that all talk stopped when he spoke. His authority was so great that his word was taken on any subject”(33). Because of his fairness in his decisions and ideals in equality, Slim is always held in great regard.

Read More
478 Words | 2 Pages

Of Mice and Men is a book written by John Steinbeck. Power, and how it is used is very important in the book. In this essay I am going to be talking about how the characters, themes, and symbols and how people's weaknesses in the novel ar exploited and how this is all related to the concept of power. One of the themes of power is when Carlson decides he’s had enough of Candy’s dog smelling up the place and decides to take it out to shoot it. Now, Candy is an old man that is missing a hand so he is considered too weak to stop Carlson from taking his dog out and shooting it.

Read More
541 Words | 3 Pages

Dominance over others Most people have the desire to establish dominance on others and have power over them even if they do not admit it. This aspect is quite common in people to be trying to obtain dominance. In the book Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck it is set in the Great Depression, the novel tells the story of two migrant workers, George and Lennie who both try to get a job and own their own farm. Some people George and Lennie meet have attempted to try and establish dominance over them.

Read More
543 Words | 3 Pages

In John Steinbeck’s novel, Of Mice and Men, Curley being portrayed as the“bad guy” and Slim as the “good guy”. As Curley and Slim interact with other characters in the novel, their good and evil traits impact not only the other characters but the reader as well. Slim makes Curley’s wife feel exceptionally well while Curley makes her feel awful. George and Slim become friends while George and Curley become enemies.

Read More
816 Words | 4 Pages

Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men presents complicated relationships that deal with power struggles and human nature. While Of Mice and Men only focuses on one small ranch, the ideas Steinbeck expresses can be related to society as a whole, then and now: those that have a higher position in society will continuously utilize their power to oppress the

Read More
757 Words | 4 Pages

Have you ever not interacted with people for awhile then, once you do, do you feel refreshed? This “refreshed” feeling is perfectly represented in the book Of mice and men when characters strive to interact with others. Of Mice and Men is a novel written by John Steinback about how two men, George and Lennie, venture out to a farm, including labor, with big dreams ahead based on the Great Depression. Of mice and men does a good job of portraying the different types of power throughout all of the characters. There's several different sources of power, including referent power, shown in the character Slim, and Coercive power shown in the character Curley.

Read More
610 Words | 3 Pages

Have you ever had a dream that seemed almost impossible? Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck shows the destructive imbalance of social power structures in American society. The importance of idealized relationships between men, or the social structure, is proven by the many characters that live on the farm. Because of this unspoken structure, multiple characters have goals and dreams to have a better life, but George and Lennie prove the impossibility of the “American Dream.” Think of social structure like this: superintendent, principal, teacher, student.

Read More
1318 Words | 6 Pages

In this novel, Slim is portrayed as the rich and wise one on the ranch. He is the one people go to when they need advice, or maybe just someone to talk to. He is the only person that understands what everyone is going through, and isn’t judgmental. He is always there to listen to people talk about their problems, which is one of the many ways Slim uses his power for the good. “There was a gravity in his manner and a quiet so profound that all talk stopped when he spoke.

Read More
825 Words | 4 Pages

Slim is very respected by the other men on the ranch so much so they call him the Prince of the Ranch. “He moved with a majesty only achieved by royalty and master craftsman”- “He was a jerkline skinner the Prince of the Ranch” (pg 33). Slim has never had to fight anyone for people to respect him, he just lived free by not judging and treating everybody equally. “...all talk stopped when he spoke…”-”His authority was so great that his word was taken on any subject” (pg 33).

Read More
623 Words | 3 Pages

In the 1930’s, migrant workers were very common and were usually treated very unfairly by their bosses. Of Mice and Men is a novella by John Steinbeck that focuses on two migrant workers who are best friends. The story focuses on their experience working on a ranch with a group of strangers. John Steinbeck reveals the weaknesses of migrant workers in his book to show the Marxism that migrant workers went through in the 1930’s. When George and Lennie meet their fellow workers, they are told how angry their noss was that the two didn't get to the ranch on time.

Read More
1790 Words | 8 Pages

Every relationship must face a power imbalance because power is never shared equally. Anyone holding power can control those who do not, which causes the powerless to be resentful. During the 1930s when both of the works were set, the Great Depression was taking place. This caused an unequal power for the citizens. In Of Mice and Men, the battle for authority is a never-ending war.

Read More
1377 Words | 6 Pages

The fight for equal rights has been a battle long fought for women all across the world. In his book, Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck does a superb job at portraying the social outlook of women in the 1930’s Salinas River Valley. During this time, a woman was deemed inferior to man and they had very little rights compared to men, though they were making a climb up the social ladder. Women had recently gained the right to vote nearly a decade earlier in 1920 and were continuing to change their daily life, but things were not progressing as quickly everywhere.

Read More
823 Words | 4 Pages

The short story “Sucker” by Carson McCullers portrays the one-sided admiration expressed by the main character’s younger cousin, Richard, towards him, as well as his own towards his crush. McCullers conveys the idea of the story through characterization and irony of the way the main character, Pete’s treatment of Richard, previously referred to as Sucker, parallels the treatment he received from his crush, Maybelle. Pete consistently took advantage of Richard because he was always eager to please his older brother figure, much like Maybelle was only nice to Pete as long as he was useful to her. In the end, after losing both his love interest and the respect of Richard, Pete learns that those who are cruel to others typically do so because they remind them of themselves. Characterization plays a large role in the development of the theme.

Read More

More about Comparing Power In Of Mice And Men And Maggie A Girl Of The Streets

Related Topics

Open Document