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... prologizes for his outbursts and says that he likes Lennie. This shows the reader that George is willing to put up with Lennie because they are friends and he enjoys Lennie's company. Steinbeck uses imagery to portray Lennie's cumbersome physique. Drank with long gulps, snorting into the water like a horse. This shows the reader that Lennie is like a horse, strong and not very bright.
He drank out of a stream without even checking the water to see if it is safe. This is the behavior common to a horse. His hands are also referred to paws, which again helps to cement the image that Lennie is large and powerful. This imagery is very effective as it gives us a direct correlation between the character and an animal with obvious talents like strength. This helps to develop the character quickly and with a certain level of realism.
The way that Lennie's characteristics are portrayed, and the way that Lennie behaves makes us think that he is a child mentality. He commits actions, which in his view are innocent. Unfortunately, for him, they can be perceived as dangerous or threatening. Steinbeck writes about Lennie's previous trouble in Weed, how he was accused of rape. This shows how Lennie's mind can see no wrong in what he did, but to others he committed a crime. This is a signal of how Lennie can cause trouble unwittingly, and that it can happen again.
In Great Expectations, the main character Pip, and the convict Magwitch are developed in very distinct ways. Magwitch is meant to be a very scary, frightening person, and therefore Dickens had to develop the characters personality in his writing to make it believable. The first thing we hear about Magwitch is his voice: Hold your noise, cried a terrible voice. On a dark night in the story the sudden introduction of a character with a terrible voice, is quite scary and instantly establishes the character as intimidating and frightening.
His accent is also not very eloquent as he uses a large amount of street slang in his speech: show us where you live. This manner helps to establish the character as a rough, coarse man. There is also urgency written into Magwitch's speech. This would also go along way to establishing Magwitch as a dangerous individual. Dickens has used speech to convey the character Magwitch but he also gives a vivid description of the convict. This goes along way as it allows us to perceive a man standing there in the rain talking to Pip.
His appearance is ragged and intimidating. He has iron on his leg, a sign of a convict who is very dangerous, he has been battered by nature and he is trembling all over. This appearance would overawe the small Pip, because it is totally out of the ordinary. It does not seem right for someone to appear like this, and the desperation of Magwitch would make Pip feel threatened. Magwitch uses the shock of Pip to make him do whatever Magwitch wants, which is to bring him food and a file. At this point Magwitch is not given a name, he is just referred to as a man.
Dickens deliberately does this, because without a name the reader cannot fully relate or sympathizes with Magwitch. It does not give him a human side, all we see is his cold, hard, coarse exterior intimidation a boy for his own use, the typical behavior of a criminal on the run. Pip is shown in this chapter to be vulnerable and nave. At the start of the chapter, he discusses himself, and his dead family.
Pip is not talking to anyone when the convict appears behind him. He begs to the convict: Dont cut my throat sir, I pleaded in terror. This establishes Pips defenselessness to the reader from the beginning. We immediately sympathise with Pip now because he is a child begging for his life from an adult criminal.
Magwitch totally over powers Pip: tuned me upside down and emptied my pockets. This shows that Pip was weak and incapable of withstanding Magwitch's power. Pip describes his fear towards Magwitch: partly to keep myself from crying, vividly. This shows us that Pip has real fear and that he tries hard to contain himself, but he is only a child.
We sympathies with this situation, as we would not like to be in it ourselves. Dickens also puts: sir, in Pips dialect several times. This shows us that Pip is trying to be polite so not to upset the convict. Pip does not want to take any risks. The two novels have certain issues arising throughout the story.
In Of Mice and Men, the main theme is of friendship and loyalty. This is unusual during the time of the Great Depression as it would be harder to find work for two people instead of one person. George and Lennie stick together through all adversities. When the people of Weed accuse Lennie of rape George gave up his job to protect and save Lennie from the angry lynch gang.
George sticks with Lennie when he could have a better quality of life if he just left him: if I was alone I could live so easy. This shows how deep their friendship really is. Loneliness is another theme in this story. Men who travelled to work around the country were very lonely people: Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. Two people travelling together are an unusual occurrence. George says in the chapter that he likes Lennie's company because he is afraid of being alone with no one to talk to.
Another theme of this book is the American Dream. It is a fantasy of George and Lennie's that they will own a ranch of their own. They will be able to live off the fatta the lan. This means that they will be self reliant and work for themselves. The men have this fantasy as a target, a goal for them to aim for. It is their direction when doing hard work for someone else, because one day they get their ranch.
George repeats the story to Lennie several times and they feel much better after hearing it. Later on in the book, other characters adopt their ideas as their own goal. Unfortunately, the reality of their situation means that the chances of them actually being able to live their dream are extremely low. In Great Expectations, many issues arise during the interaction between Pip and Magwitch. The main theme is death. Pip's family is the first occurrence of this theme.
All of them are dead except one of h...
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Research essay sample on Comparing Great Expectations And Of Mice Men
