Compare and contrast ‘Of Mice And Men’ and ‘The Pearl’ Essay

Comp atomic number 18 and contrast Of Mice And workforce and The Pearl flavour especially at how Steinbeck has interwoven the mixer and political c oncerns of that time.The story Of Mice And Men is quite a similar to the story of The Pearl. Both stories deal with the social and political issues of that time. The stories deal with the issues of sexism, racism, greed, loneliness, hardship only when also with friendship and ambitions. funda custodyt Steinbeck was born in 1902, Salinas Valley, California. In 1929, eond 27, he completed his root novel Cup Of G octogenarian. He did work as a labourer and journalist for five years. After writing his first novel, he moved binding to California where he wrote many much novels and diddle stories. Steinbeck often wrote about what he understood or what issues he tangle were important to him. For workout, he wrote many novels about the labouring people, he wrote Bombs onward The Story Of A Bomber Team, he wrote about his travels and stock-still a saga about his family history. He scour studied marine biota so that he could write the Sea Of Cortez. He win the Nobel lever in 1962. John Steinbeck died at the age of 66, in 1968.This essay result discuss the various themes of the two novels written by John Steinbeck. These themes intromit the hardship and suffering endured by the characters of both of the novels, racism, sexism, greed, imagines, loneliness and friendship.The first entertain we read, The Pearl, had two main characters, these were kino gum the man of the family who was husband to Juana and unitedly had a baby boy imposeed Coyotito. The book begins with a exposition of the setting and of the daily routine of the family. The story really starts when Coyotito amounts stung by a scorpion. Juana takes control of the situation and in turn does a heroic subject by asking for the revivify. Of course the doctor refuses to go down to the thicket houses, so when the family decide to go to the d octor, the whole village goes with them for support. The doctor refuses to take baby Coyotito because of the fact that kino and Juana couldnt pay for the treatwork forcet. Also, the fact that the doctor was racist didnt help either. kino and Juana were left helpless.Soon after(prenominal) that incident with the doctor, Kino found the pearl of the world. It should have brought them wealthiness and happiness, and instead led them to the destruction of all their possessions and withal to the end of weensy Coyotito.When Kino describes the pearl, he fancys of all the wonderful things he could do with the pearl. They werent extravagant dreams, but of simple things, much(prenominal) as loose Coyotito an education, a wedding for Kino and Juana in a church and clean attire. It all goes horribly wrong though, when Kino decides that the pearl buyers are essay to rip him off. This leads to the decision that Kino, Juana and Coyotito provide go to the city to try and dish out their pearl. The townspeople were split into two the people that thought Kino was a brave man fighting for a get around future, and they supported Kinos family, but then thither were others who thought Kino was a fool and they tended to be the grasping people.The story ends with Kino and Juana going funda manpowert to their village after Coyotitos head was violently shot away. The pair off had lost e very(prenominal)thing, they had lost their home, their boat, and their baby son. Kino ends up throwing the pearl back into the ocean where it came from.The story Of Mice And Men starts off with Lennie and George, two white hands who are on their way to a spread. They have a dream that they will one day own a slim place. This would stomach them with security and babys dummy. Lennie and George travelled together, unlike many other ranchers. George looked after Lennie, as Lennie seemed to have the mind of a child, plane though he was a good deal smaller. As the story goes on, we learn that the pair were working at a ranch in Weed, when Lennie wanted to flavour this young cleaning ladys dress. The female child panicked, as did Lennie, who then wouldnt let go of the dress. When he did, the girl told the men at the ranch, who then wanted to lynch Lennie. As a result Lennie and George had to hide to in an irrigation ditch for a day. They got a duty though a few miles south of Soledad.However, when they get there, they abide brain theres trouble ahead. The bosses son Curley, has it in for Lennie, because Curley is a little guy who hates Lennie as he is a large guy. Not altogether is there Curley they should have to look out for, but also Curleys married woman. She had been described a tart and after Lennie and George had meet her, George called her jail enticement all set on the trigger. Lennie quite liked her, but George tells Lennie to stay away from Curley and his wife. Of course, there was the incident which involved Lennie crushing Curleys hand w hich most broke every single bone in it. Luckily he was blackmailed into not telling anyone about the incident but there was a lot of anger and resentment.When old glaze over, the one-armed swamper and Crooks, the black, disabled, stable-buck, reveal of Lennie and Georges dream, they too, want a fail of it. However, when Lennie is left alone with Curleys wife, he accidentally kills her. He runs off to the brush as George had once instructed him to do if he ever got in to trouble. When Curley finds out, he leads the other men to go out with him to shoot Lennie. Curley really didnt seem tip-tilted that his wife had died, but it was more to do with the fact that Lennie was the one who had killed her. George knew where Lennie was and went everyplace there. George realised that Lennie had very few choices left. George decided to shoot Lennie. Soon after Lennies death, almost of the men found George. Slim tried to comfort George. The novel ended with Carlson saying something trivia l to Curley.The main characters in the books lived in poor conditions. Kino and Juana and Lennie and George had little money, but the characters are strong in the novels as a result. The hardship they had suffered and endured made them stronger as characters. Both migrator workers and Kinos people had few rights and little respect.Kinos people were mainly fishermen and they looked for pearls. Kinos family near barely survived. habitual they ate the same things for breakfast a corn-cake and a little pulque. They couldnt cede to eat anything different, even if they wanted to. in that respect is a description of Kino and Juana, in the story that the beggars in the city had made. They saw Juanas old skirt, the tears in her shawl, the beggars even saw through the age of Kinos blanket and they saw the amount of quantify his clothes had been washed was a lot and so the beggars, who were great experts in monetary analysis came to the conclusion that Kino and Juana were poverty people. In the head start of the story, the family seem to be happy and comfortable. Steinbeck describes their mourning routine s though Kino and Juana didnt mind being poor, but we learn that isnt true. When Coyotito is stung by the scorpion, Juana and Kino feel helpless as they cannot afford to treat their son. To make the situation worse, Coyotito is their first born son, and so it is very important that they are able to provide adequate medical discussion for him. When Juana has to make do with the seaweed poultice, we learn that the traditional methods of treating a scorpion bite were frowned upon by Juana, as the remedy lacked the doctors authority just because it was simple and it didnt monetary value a penny. Not only that but they couldnt afford to get married even.Lennie and George were very poor too. On average they got 50 dollars a month, but they got accommodation and food. The migrant ranch workers, tended to live in raunch conditions and many had body lice. For example, in Of Mice And Men when George is being introduced to the place by Candy, George gets angry when he sees a bottle of lice-killing stuff above his bed. Candy tells George that the previous guy that stayed there, was the kind of guy that would wash his hands even after he ate. This gives off the impression that most of these men didnt look at much of personal hygiene. These migrant workers never had standing(prenominal) jobs, so when they were in-between jobs they lived in real poverty. They had no security in their lives, and they must have got very lonely all by themselves, so at least Lennie and George had each other.In The Pearl, it was very herculean finding the pearl that would change a persons life. decision on would be like winning the lottery. Even if they were to find one, whos to say that theyll be able to cash it in? the pearl buyers bought the pearls cheaply from the nave village people, who thought they were getting a good deal, and in Kinos case, when he tried to stand up for himself, he paid the price of his son.In the case, Of Mice And Men, the migrant workers would never get a cut of the profits. They do all the work but they weart ever get to reap what they sow. This is the reason why Lennie got so excited from living of the fat of the land.The Pearl didnt seem to support too much on the theme of racism. Steinbeck looked at the affects of the persecution of Kinos people, generations ago and on Kinos generation now. Steinbeck focused on the collapsing of Kinos people. For example, after the European settlers moved in, they took over almost everything leaving the Indians with very little rights. The doctor did make a annotate though, that showed his racism. The statement he is saying that these little Indians are not even human but animals instead.The novel Of Mice And Men though, did discuss racist themes. The men at the ranch call Crooks the only black man on the ranch nigger. All but the exception of Slim who had won the respect of ever y man on the ranch. Slim called Crooks by his name and in turn Crooks showed respect for Slim. At that particular time in America, separation of whites and blacks was widespread. As a result, Crooks had to live by himself. He wasnt allowed in the bunkhouse purely because he was a Negro. Apparently the men at the ranch say that he stinks. Crooks is bitter towards these men. In fact, when Curleys wife comes in Crooks room, and Crooks warns her not to come in there she threatens Crooks, by claiming that she can have Crooks lynched so easily that it would be no bother to her.Juana and Curleys wife are not treated every bit by the men around them. However, it is fair to say that Juana was treated with a lot more respect by her husband. Juana was a strong woman and Kino recognised and respected her for that. For example, when Coyotito was stung, Juana took charge of the situation it was her who decided to call the doctor and her who decided to go to see the doctor. Although she was obedie nt, she had an important part of the relationship. She kept the family together but one of the sad things of Curleys wifes life was that nobody respected her of loved her not even to Curley. He seemed to have no respect for her. The men at the ranch called her a tart, a looloo and all sorts of other names. I think that both women were misunderstood and werent given enough respect.The dreams that Juana and Kino had were quite different, from what Lennie and George dreamt. However, we learn that there are many similarities in both the characters dreams. For example, Kino and Juana just want to get married in a church and Lennie and George would love to have the choice of not going to work. Both dreams are affected by what was the most important belief, The Pearl saw that Kino wanted an educated son because through his son, his people could learn. Whereas Lennie and George wanted their little place, because land meant power, and in their case, freedom.The difference between the two st ories though, is Lennie and Georges dream is told throughout the story and we know it and understand what they want, but Kinos dream is only told to us when Kino believes that they can be a reality.Loneliness is something that almost every character felt. Kino and Juana went through such a lot, that after having gone back to the village, I doubt they will ever full fit in again. They will feel alienated from the village people and the community that was so close was ripped apart by Kinos pearl so the community was trying to plectron up its own pieces.Georges loneliness doesnt play that big a part in the novel. He is lucky to have Lennie and he realises that, but George unavoidable more that just companionship from Lennie he needed to talk to someone. This was why George was so quick to tell Slim some of his most innermost thoughts, and secrets. Lennie was just like a child, and children cannot have adult conversations.This is far better than the others on the ranch. Crooks isnt allowed to make friends with others because he isnt anything more than just a nigger to them. Candy too, is discriminated against because of his disability and his old age. The shooting of Candys dog was a fine example of how if something isnt of any use any more then just kill it.I think Steinbeck tried to get his readers to be more aware and understanding towards the underprivileged. Steinbeck understood these people, so he wrote about them. There is a hidden moral here to be learnt, that I feel Steinbeck was trying to give across. I believe Steinbeck was saying that in those times and even now, money doesnt always equal to prosperity. Take for example, the doctor, he was a wealthy man in The Pearl, but he wasnt actually happy and contentedness. Kino and Juana were by far better off than the doctor, as they had love, not money, even though money can seem to solve problems.As for George and Lennie, they seemed to be happy enough in their dreams and ambitions, far happier than Cu rley, who had inherited his fathers wealth. Curley could have even been jealous of the ranch men and their freedom.Steinbeck showed that none of his characters, in either book, were fully content with their situation. This could be saying something about the nature of humans, how the grass is always greener on the other side, and how nobody is going to fully happy with wealth.