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As nearly perfect as any book can be. It is straightforward, it has simplicity and unsentimental tragedy, and it has a swift, unforced style, which stamps it as permanent. Humbert Wolfe In this classic novella, which established him as one of the worlds most celebrated writers, John Steinbeck tells the story of two friends in 1930 s California. John Steinbeck wrote a naturalistic novel that dealt with three powerful and universal themes, imperative in the latter success of the novel. These themes were the value of dreams and goals, hopes and friendship. The novel also illustrates the importance of moral responsibility, and veracity of social injustice.
His book Of Mice and Men is a story of two men living during the Great Depression in California. This is a book of defeated hope and the harsh reality of the American Dream. Steinbeck's naturalistic and unrefined style of writing is helpful because of its ability to connect with his readers. The three strong themes in the novel are important because they depict human life in an interesting way, which can be understood.
Of Mice and Men is a universal story because people everywhere can relate to the dreams, pleasures, and struggles of the characters. Whilst Charles Dickens pointed out problems within society, a blinding and mercenary greed for money, neglect of all sectors in society, and a wrong inequality, he offered us, at the same time, a solution. Through his books, we came to understand the virtues of a loving heart and the pleasures of home in a flawed, cruelly indifferent world. In the end, the lesson to take away from his stories is a positive one. Alternately insightful and whimsical, Dickens' writings have shown readers over generations the reward of being truly human, and how important hopes, dreams and friendship really are.
One of the most significant and common tools that authors use to illustrate the themes of their works is an individual that undergoes several major changes throughout the story. In Great Expectations, Charles Dickens introduces the reader to many intriguing and memorable characters, including the eccentric recluse, Miss Havisham, the shrewd and careful lawyer, Mr. Jaggers, and the benevolent convict, Abel Magwitch. However, without a doubt, Great Expectations is the story of Pip and his initial dreams and resulting disappointments that eventually lead to him becoming a genuinely good man.
The significant changes that Pip's character goes through are very important to one of the novel's many themes. Dickens uses Pip's deterioration from an innocent boy into an arrogant gentleman and his redemption as a good-natured person to illustrate the idea that unrealistic hopes and expectations can lead to undesirable traits. At the conclusion of Great Expectations, the reader most likely finds Pip's fate acceptable and enjoyable. Earlier in his life, he had changed from an innocuous, caring boy into an egotistical young man as a result of his non-realistic hopes and expectations. However, when those expectations came to an end, so did his undesirable traits, as he was shown to be a truly good-natured person. Therefore, it is fitting that, in both of Dickens' final episodes, Pip is happy and content with his life.
It is here that if we unravel the simplicity of Great Expectations and the concealed erudition in Of Mice And Men, we see that their antithetical nature in context are balanced out by their convergence of analogous virtues and intrinsic beliefs. The initial collision of similarity between the two novels is the relationships and hardships of the characters. Great Expectations explores various rapports amongst the many captivating characters in the novel, but the pivotal relationship in the novel is that between Pip and Mr Joe Gargery. Pip is the narrator as well as the protagonist of the story. Pip is an orphan being raised by his sister, Mrs. Joe Gargery and her husband, Mr.
Joe Gargery. Pip is shown both through his own portrayal of his younger self, and in his relationship with others. In outline, he is, at the start of the novel, a kind and intelligent child, who lacks formal learning but is aware of the humbug of Pumblechook and Mrs. Joe.
He sees Joe's goodness, but mistakes his simplicity for lack of wisdom. His ambition at this time is to avoid "Tickler" and in due course to become Joe's apprentice. His introduction to Satis House gives him a glimpse of another world, to which he is anxious to gain access socially. Its un feasibility is embodied in Estella.
He becomes unhappy with his lot and only remains at the forge because Joe is so good to him. Why, he is a common labouring-boy! Page 57, Penguin Popular Classics The discovery of his "expectations" seems to give Pip reason for his shame at his origins, and he is swift to place some distance between himself and his home village. He retains his fondness for Joe, but cannot admit it openly, and is embarrassed by Joe in London. Pip confirms his snobbery by keeping a servant and joining the "Finches of the Grove." He exceeds his income and leads the impoverished Herbert into extravagance; We spent as much money as we could, foolishly, and got as little for it as people could make up their minds. We were always more or less miserable, and most of our acquaintance were in the same condition.
Page 252, Penguin Popular Classics While it suits the plot for Pip's protector to be a blacksmith (he has the means to remove the convict's leg-iron) it also seems a fitting occupation for the man Dickens wishes to depict. The job is hard and requires skill, yet no formal learning, so Joe seems a fool to those around him. We forgive the child, Pip, but Mrs. Joe and Pumblechook by turns, patronize Joe and ignore him. Miss Havisham, a shrewder judge, seems to see what Joe is really like, in spite of his awkwardness, when she signs Pip's indentures. Joe becomes self-conscious and tongue-tied in unfamiliar surroundings, yet is not without eloquence.
This does not appear in his intended epitaph for his father but, in his earlier comment about his hammering and his remark about keeping a pig in Barnard's inn (page 44); " What sume " er the failings on his part, Remember reader he were that good in his hart. " Page 45, Penguin Popular Classics Joe appears to be a poor scholar, but Biddy's patience succeeds where Pip has failed, and he learns to read and write. The physical strength of blacksmiths is proverbial (so much so that Pip's rowing tutor almost loses his pupil by saying Pip has the arm of a blacksmith, page 180) and Joe conforms perfectly to this idea. Orlick, himself a big man...
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Research essay sample on Mice And Men Joe Gargery
