All characters cope with different situations in their own ways. In Tim O’Brien’s novel The Things They Carried, his character cope with the effects of the Vietnam War differently. O’Brien’s character Mary Anne and Norman Bowker deal with the war the only ways they know how to. Various characters in O’Brien’s novel deal with the war and its repercussions that occur.
How can someone avoid social privilege, or privilege in general that restricts people? In the material Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck illustrates examples of how the majority is constricted of how far they progress in life due to social advantages and relations. With the characters in Of Mice and Men, readers get a wide variety of diverse negative and positive benefits across the palate of struggling people. Privilege is a harsh reality defined by social status and molds humans into a predetermined way of living. Women are generally less privileged due to the gender barrier and roles.
Both Of Mice and Men and The Pearl are literary pieces from the author John Steinbeck. One (OMAM) contains two main characters, George and Lennie who are two people living in the Great Depression just trying to make a little money by working on a farm. Lennie is big in stature but due to a mental disability, needs assistance from George just to do basic tasks. On the other hand, George is a small, skinny man who took it upon himself to take care of Lennie after his aunt died.
Every day over 352,000 babies are born. The second these babies enter the world, the opportunities and privileges given to them vary but are set at their birth. Privilege constantly determines opportunities whether the individual can help it or not, and it is revealed constantly throughout our country's history. In the past privilege has affected minorities lives and their opportunities in careers, freedom of speech, and much more. Unconscious biases and privileges are still very well present today but not as obvious.
Social Inequality in, ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ Harper Lee demonstrates her terrific writing ability while displaying the theme of social inequality within, ‘To Kill a Mockingbird.’ She uses literary elements like symbolism and imagery to allude to the injustice and prejudice in the town. Without social inequality many of the events in the story would never have happened, especially the main conflict. Lee also used both experiences from her own life and real world events as inspirations in the story. Social inequality in ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ is reinforced by both poverty and racism with black residents being considered inferior to all other people.
Wrongs of Society Unfortunately in today's society, elderly people are mistreated along with handicapped people seen as unfit and useless. In Steinbeck's novel, they show a great deal of unfairness to both humans and animals when they are no longer useful or productive to society. Although, older generations helped raise us, in society we generally do not take care of them. Animals are put down, or killed when they no longer have a purpose to their owner. Also, in the novel handicaps are looked down on because they take time to care for and are not seen as good workers.
Although the Great Depression was a difficult time for most of the country, some people thrived. This was mostly caused by the privilege and power some had over others. In The Great Gatsby written in 1925 by Fitzgerald and in Of Mice and Men written by Steinbeck in 1937, the female and/or poor characters are portrayed very differently than the rich male characters to show the effects that privilege had on this time. Both Fitzgerald and Steinbeck criticized privilege and power through characterization. Both Fitzgerald and Steinbeck gave the women in The Great Gatsby and Of Mice and Men harsh and sexualized deaths through characterization and diction which shows that they had less privilege and power than the men in the stories.
In John Steinbeck’s novel Of Mice and Men, Crooks behaves the way he does because of the discrimination he has faced throughout his life. In chapter four, we get a description of his belongs, which includes, “ a tattered dictionary and a mauled copy of California civil code for 1905” (66). Since his copy of the civil codes is so worn, it demonstrates how often Crooks is flipping through the pages and frequently checking what his rights are. The date, 1905, shows how long he has had this book in his possession. Crooks has had to debate and battle for his rights so that others don’t get an unfair advantage because of their race, or he gets taken advantage.
In the novel “Of Mice and Men” John Steinbeck portrays the theme of social injustice throughout the story in the lives of several characters that include Lennie, Curley’s Wife, and the stable buck, Crooks. All of these characters are mistreated in some way, shape or form. The hardships that these characters faced help guide us to see the social injustice that is prevalent in the story. Lennie is a victim of social injustice due to the fact that he is mentally disabled. He is not treated fairly when he was accused of rape.
In conjunction with this time of calamity, Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird instills an apparent disparity of economic classes that is distributed amongst its characters throughout the Alabama town of Maycomb. This notion of economic disparity is manifested
John Steinbeck’s, Of Mice and Men, is a compelling story that has captured and embodied the struggle and loneliness felt by many during the Great Depression. While desire for the American Dream is prominent in the novel, Steinbeck is able to demonstrate the wants from different social classes through the construction of characters such as George Milton and Curley’s wife. With these characters, Steinbeck successfully displays the difference in ideas, values and attitudes of certain social classes in the 1930’s and the illustrates the rarity of achieving the American Dream. Steinbeck wrote this novel during the Great Depression, when America was suffering greatly by the disastrous crash of the stock market. From this point in time, separation of the different classes became
Social inequality is overlooked by many. It affects so many of us, though we have yet to realize how extreme it is. Lee argues in this novel how much stress social inequalities put on the black and white races throughout the 1930s. Although, social inequalities did not just affect different races, it also affected poor people and family backgrounds. These are proven in the novel multiple times through Boo Radley, Tom Robinson, and the Cunninghams when the book is looked at more in
In 1920 when the 19th amendment was passed allowing women to vote, many women thought that Gender Inequality was coming to an end. Soon after, the Great Depression happened, and everyone was focused on that. Life for women was especially hard then because they had to live in a world full of poverty and discrimination. Throughout Of Mice and Men we see this through Curley’s Wife. She just wants to fit in and talk to the men without thinking she wants something, or being called rude names.
“The Pearl”, written by John Steinbeck is the story of a man who lives in the town of La Paz in the state of Baja California, Mexico, during the 1900s, a period of colonialism. Within the context of the story, the author uses themes of power and corruption to show the capability and dishonesty caused by power. The Spanish descendants use their power to subjugate the indigenous. The story shows how the character Kino goes from a state of powerless poverty to controlling power. Kino is corrupted by the pearl making him ultimately responsible for his family’s plight.
The pearl became evil through all the greed in humanity; therefore, bringing bad luck to anyone who touches it. Throughout the course of the story, I felt annoyed at Kino’s greed and selfishness. After I read the book, I learned that too much greed can lead to suffering, violence, and one’s downfall. Before, I never really knew the consequences of excess greed, but after reading “The Pearl" by John Steinbeck, now I know that I should never let greed take control over me. “He looked into his pearl to find his vision.
