Of Mice and Men - Discuss the themes in the play Essay Example for Free

Of Mice and Men Discuss the themes in the play Essay By themes, I mean the ideas, which the author is trying to give us. Most authors do not write just for fun, but to show us that there is a message that they would like us to learn behind the plot. Usually the ideas are ones that the author believes in deeply. The themes are under the following headings: * Loneliness Loneliness affects many of the characters, and Steinbeck seems to show that it is a natural result of the kind of life they are forced to lead. The workers are caught in a trap of loneliness they never stay in one place long enough to form long lasting relationships. Even if the relationships existed, they would probably be destroyed by the demands of their life. Candy is lonely because he is old, and is different from the other hands. His only comfort is his old dog, which keeps him company and reminds him of days when he was young and whole. He has no relatives, and once his dog is killed he is totally alone. He eagerly grasps at the idea of buying a farm with George and Lennie, but of course this all comes to nothing. Candys disappointment is shown in the bitter words he utters to the body of Curleys wife, who he blames for spoiling his dream. George is also caught in the trap of loneliness. Just as Candy has his dog for company, George has Lennie (who is often described in animal-like terms). George too is left completely alone when Lennie is killed. The dream farm is his idea, and he says Wed belong there no more runnin around the country Another lonely character is Curleys wife. Newly married and in a strange place, she is forbidden by Curley to talk to anyone but him. She constantly approaches the ranch hands on the excuse of looking for Curley. The only result is that the men regard her as a slut, and Curley becomes even more intensely jealous. Finally, her loneliness leads to her death as she makes the mistake of trying to defeat it by playing with Lennie. Curley himself is lonely. His new wife hates him, as do all the ranch hands who dislike him for his cowardice. He has married, to try and escape his loneliness, but has chosen a wife totally inappropriate for the kind of life he desires. His feelings are all of aggressive behaviour, which places his wife further away from him and leads to the incident with Lennie where his hand is crushed. Crooks is another who is isolated because he is different. He copes with it by keeping a distance between himself and the other hands. When he does allow himself to be drawn into the dream of working on George and Lennies dream farm, he is immediately shut out by Georges anger. * Violence The story has many examples of a kind of needless violence. For example, Candy relates how the boss gave them whisky and allowed a fight to take place in the bunkhouse. Curley is the most obvious violent character, and whenever he appears there is a feeling of tension. He causes George to remarkwhat the hells he got on his shoulder. Candy explains that Curley often picks on big guys (a sure sign of trouble for Lennie). We are prepared for Curleys later anger, which adds up at the end in his wish to shoot him in the guts. Carlson is another character associated with violence. He is unconcerned about killing Candys dog (and in fact cleans the gun in Candys presence). He goes to watch the fun when Curley thinks Slim may be with his wife, and later threatens Curley more, saying kick your head off. Later he is very keen to get his gun to join in the hunt for Lennie. The last words in the book belong to Carlson, and it is little surprise that they reveal his complete inability to understand Georges feelings about the death of Lennie. Compared to the other characters, Lennie reveals an unintentional violence. He does not even think to fight back when Curley attacks him, but when he does, it is with immense and uncontrollable power. He has so little control over his own strength that he accidentally kills his puppy, and then minutes later snuffs out the life of Curleys wife. His actions on these occasions are compared to those of an animal, powerful but thoughtless. Curleys wife is attracted to him because of the violence he had shown in crushing her husbands hand. It is the threat of violence to be used against Lennie that causes George to take the final step of killing his friend. * Dreams Dreams are one of the ways in which the characters fight the loneliness and hopelessness of their day to day lives. The most obvious example is the dream farm, a dream shared at first only by George and Lennie, but which later spreads to include Candy and Crooks. Crooks reveals that it is the favourite dream of the ranchers: Seems like ever guy got land in his head. It is a powerful dream, and even Crooks falls under its spell for a short time. To Lennie, the dream is a cure to disappointment and loneliness, and he often asks George to say the description of the farm to him again. Curleys wife is another who has dreams, her fantasies of a part in the movies and a life of luxury. Part of her sadness with her life is that it can never measure up to her dreams. But, none of the characters ever achieve their dreams. * Nature Steinbeck shows that nature is a beautiful and peaceful place, but threatened by the actions of men. The beginning of the story sets this pattern, as the creatures at the pool are disturbed by George and Lennies approach. The ranch and its buildings, being created by men, are in contrast with the natural world. For example the bunkhouse is quite bare and stark. Even more unnatural is that Candy and Crooks are either deformed in appearance. Contrasted to these two characters is Lennie, who almost seems a part of the natural world as he is described in animal terms. In fact, one of Lennies dreams is to go and live by himself in a cave. Maybe this would be the only way in which the natural world of Lennie would not come into conflict with the world of men.. Steinbeck referred to this story as a play/novel, and we are shown how closely it does resemble a play. Each section or chapter is set in a clearly defined place like a scene in a play. The beginning of each section contains detailed description, like stage directions in a play, while the rest of each section is mostly dialogue. This may seem like a rather unreal way to write a novel, but Steinbeck does it so well that we do not notice. A noticeable feature of the language of the novel is what a critic might call economy. One result of this is that almost every sentence is important in one way or another, either in developing a character, moving the plot forward or hinting at action still to come. Steinbeck has skilfully created a number of parallel events into the story. Candy and his dog provide a parallel to George and Lennie. And also, when Lennie kills Curleys wife, it echoes his earlier killing of the puppy. There are many such echoes and parallels in the book. Steinbeck has also shown us the way in which capturing the spoken language of the characters gives a better feel to the story. Most of them are uneducated, and this shows through in their use of broken and slang language. Even their uneducated pronunciation has been shown Steinbeck also uses colours and sounds to great effect. For example, Curleys wife is associated with red, symbolic of danger or passion perhaps. A further strong association is that of Lennie with animals. At various times he is described as a bull, a bear and a dog. Even when not directly compared with an animal, he is described in animal terms. For example, his hand is a paw. This is particularly appropriate for Lennie, as he usually acts in the simple, natural way of an animal. Soledad is a real place in California and its name can mean loneliness or a lonely place. A cue to one of the major themes of the novel right at the beginning.

Willa Sibert Cather And His Works :: essays research papers

Willa Sibert Cather and His Works Willa Sibert Cather was an early twentieth century writer. She wrote about the qualities of courage, sensitivity, and perseverance. Most often, her novels and short stories took place in rural townships. She was born sometime in 1873, in her grandmother's house. She was named after an Aunt Willela who had died; however, she chose to believe that her name was derived from her grandparent's names. She was the first child of Charles Fectigue and Mary Cather. Willa was the oldest of the seven children. In 1877, Willa and her family moved out of Virginia to Nebraska. The Cather family had been living in Virginia for four generations. When she was nine, her father bought a ranch near Red Cloud, Nebraska. Willa was excited with this change, because she was free to roam outdoors. Willa would often listen to old ladies, and hear of their immigration from Bosnia and Sweden. There were no schools near the ranch, so Willa studied at home. A neighbor taught her Latin, and Willa would practice English skills by reading the classics to her grandmother. When Willa was in her teens, the family moved out of the ranch and into the village, where she attended Red Cloud High School. She attended the University of Nebraska, and graduated in 1895. As a student she worked as a journalist, copy editor, critic, and fiction writer. When she graduated, she moved back east to Pennsylvania. It was here where she worked on a Pittsburgh newspaper named The Library. She also taught English in a high school. Willa published "The Dance at Chevalier's," and four other short stories under a pen name of Henry Nicklemann. Another major publication for her was in April 1900, when "Eric Hermannson's Soul," was published in Cosmopolitan magazines. In 1903, The April Twilights, a collection of poems was published. In the Spring of 1905, publisher's Melbourne and Phillips brought out the Troll Garden, a collection of short stories. Willa then took time off from her writing. She took a month off to go home and visit her family in Nebraska. In 1907, Willa Cather sent Sara Jewett a letter that contained a story. This story would later appear in the April issue of Harper's. The story was entitled, "The Treasure of Car Island." It was a story of a man who comes home after an absence of 12 years, and the emotions and feelings he deals with upon returning home. Willa also continued to publish stories in McClure's magazine. In 1908 she became the magazine's managing editor. However, she resigned in 1912, because editing left her little free

Imports of Pakistan Essay

An import is any good or service brought into one country from another country in a legitimate fashion, typically for use in trade. Import goods or services are provided to domestic consumers by foreign producers. An import in the receiving country is an export to the sending country. Imports, along with exports, form the basis of international trade. Import of goods normally requires involvement of the Customs authorities in both the country of import and the country of export and is often subject to import quotas, tariffs and trade agreements. When the â€Å"imports† are the set of goods and services imported, â€Å"Imports† also means the economic value of all goods and services that are imported. The macroeconomic variable I usually stand for the value of these imports over a given period of time, usually one year. [pic][pic] Pakistan Imports Pakistan is a fast growth country given that it is in a tough neighborhood. For the last 5 years it has averaged 6-7% growth. Pakistan has been burdened with a costly arms race with the 8 times larger India. This has placed severe strain on her resources ever since her independence. However, there are signs that the country is trying to work its way out of the costly foreign policy and move towards greater economic development. Pakistan imports were worth 3649 Million USD in February of 2012. Pakistan imports mainly petroleum, petroleum products, machinery, plastics, transportation equipment, edible oils, paper and paperboard, iron and steel and tea. Its major import partners are: European Union, China, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and United States. This page includes: Pakistan Imports chart, historical data and news. Major Imports of Pakistan 1. Machinery. 2. Petroleum. 3. Chemicals. 4. Vehicles and spare parts. 5. Edible Oil. 6. Wheat. 7. Tea. 8. Fertilizers. 9. Plastic material. 10. Paper Board 11. Iron ore and steel. 12. Pharmaceutical products. Imports of Pakistan Pakistan’s imports are also highly concentrated in few items namely, machinery, petroleum and petroleum products, chemicals, transport equipment, edible oil, iron and steel, fertilizer and tea. These imports accounted for 73% of total imports during 2006-07. Among these categories machinery, petroleum/petroleum products and chemicals accounted for 53. 4% of total imports. Direction of Imports of Pakistan Pakistan’s imports are highly concentrated in few countries. Over 40 percent of them continue to originate from just seven countries namely, the USA, Japan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Germany, UK and Malaysia. Saudi Arabia is emerging as major supplier to Pakistan followed by the USA and Japan. The shares of USA and Japan, with some fluctuations, exhibited a declining trend because of the shift in the import of machinery/capital goods and raw materials to other sources. On the other hand, the share of Pakistan’s imports from Saudi Arabia has been rising due to higher imports of POL products. Malaysia share has shown rising, as well as, falling trends over the years mainly on account of fluctuations in palm oil prices.

Spanking A Child Is Wrong And Harmful - 1413 Words

What goes through your head when someone asks,†How did you discipline your children?† Parents will either lead in one of three ways: strict discipline, mild discipline, or no discipline at all. No matter how a parent disciplines their children, there will be complications in a home, but when parents can no longer be â€Å"parents† due to others trying to step in and control their style of parenting, that is where a problem comes up. There are people who think that spanking a child is wrong and harmful to the child, and will harm the child psychologically as well. There are people who believe that the only way to influence good behavior is to be their friend; a parent has to be a friend and a mentor in order to create a positive outcome. This†¦show more content†¦In addition to many parents using spanking as a form of discipline because of their childhood, a personal account from a man who is a father today gave a reporter a few moments of his time to speak of what his life was like as a child. He said that his parents treated him with love and compassion, but were not afraid to â€Å"spare the rod† when he or his siblings misbehaved. He said that being a parent now he dreads hearing that phrase being said from his wife, but he understands that a man has a more authoritative voice over children due to a man’s usual size and strength. The man said that he can count on his fingers the number of times he has spanked his children, which shows that his children have been raised properly to not disobey their parents, and everyone knows that they will misbehave eventually somewhere down the line. This man did not want the usual stereotype of the â€Å"man of the house† and made it to where his kids could function how they should without constantly having to tell them to behave (Adler 80). To me, this father has raised his children a certain way to where he does not have to constantly punish them. He only had to disciplin e his children once or twice in order for them to understand what it was that they were doing wrong, and that it is not right to do it again. This type of parenting comes with being patient and understanding that sometimes children can not comprehend everything they are told. In the same fashion as the benefits of earlyShow MoreRelatedArguments on Spanking Essay505 Words   |  3 Pagespeople do not believe in spanking are spanking can cause harmful side effects, spanking is no more effective than other punishments, and spanking promotes violence in children. 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