Similarities Between Of Mice And Men And Slumdog Millionaire

Poverty, intellectual disadvantages, and society render characters in both texts powerless which potentially prevent them from fulfilling a dream or self-development. In the novel Of Mice and Men and film Slumdog Millionaire, the characters were powerless financially, due to poverty, which was an obstacle in Lennie and George's dream/development in Of Mice and Men as well as Jamal's in Slumdog Millionaire. In Of Mice and Men, the characters were subjected to poverty due to the Great Depression in America beginning in the 1930's, thus relinquishing any form of financial amelioration. The ranch hands are all victims of society and the possibility of economic growth was diminutive due to poverty. Particularly Lennie and George, however, they

They were victims of society, like the ranch hands in Of Mice and Men. The leaders of the camp would take most, if not all, of the money they earned which meant no chance of economic growth whatsoever while they were there. At this camp, one of Jamal's dreams was introduced- to have his own house with his friend Latika and his brother Salim which again relates to the dream portrayed in Of Mice and Men- "[...] And then we might be in for money" "then we can we stop begging?" "Are you kidding? We'll live in a big house on Harbour Road. " (Boyle). This represents the dream for development, but the inability to do so because of their economic position being poor orphans, making them helpless. The camp was horrific for the children, as some would have acid poured into their eyes since "blind singers earn double" (Boyle.) Due to this, Jamal and Salim escaped, but Latika was left behind. This incident marked the beginning of Jamal's ultimate dream, to re-unite with his long-lost love Latika. This triggered him to go on

In Of Mice and Men, none of the characters seem to speak with a particularly enhanced lexicon, keeping in mind their lack of opportunity to education. However, Lennie exerts a different type of intellectual powerlessness. He is a mentally-challenged character who has a mind equivalent to a child's or is "jes like a kid," (Steinbeck, p. 43) as George says. The only power Lennie is described to possess, is physical. His inability to control his actions and diminished cognitive senses due to his disability render him powerless. As mentioned before, Lennie and George share a dream to own their own ranch together. Though, Lennie is particularly motivated by the rabbits, which serves as his vital concern. Everything he says and does revolves around those rabbits, even his morality. "George gonna say I done a bad thing. He ain't gonna let me tend no rabbits." (Steinbeck, p.__). George refuses to do anything deemed "bad," if losing his rabbits is a risk. However, due to his intellectual disadvantage, he has trouble achieving this dream since he has a "tendency" to cause trouble inadvertently. This tendency caused Lennie to accidentally kill Curley's wife which then lead to his sympathized death. This meant that could get neither his rabbits, or the ranch which was all he ever wanted with George. Being so