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

Compare and contrast Of Mice And Men and The Pearl looking especi ally at how Steinbeck has interwoven the social and political concerns of that time.The invoice Of Mice And Men is sooner 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, asperity hardly also with friendship and ambitions.John Steinbeck was born in 1902, Salinas Valley, California. In 1929, aged 27, he completed his first unused Cup Of Gold. He did work as a labourer and journalist for five years. After writing his first novel, he moved back to California where he wrote umteen more novels and short stories. Steinbeck often wrote ab forth what he understood or what issues he felt were important to him. For example, he wrote many novels about the labouring people, he wrote Bombs Away The Story Of A Bomber Team, he wrote about his travels and charge a saga about his family history. He even st udied marine biological science so that he could write the Sea Of Cortez. He won the Nobel Prize in 1962. John Steinbeck died at the age of 66, in 1968.This essay will wrangle the various themes of the cardinal novels written by John Steinbeck. These themes include the hardship and suffering endured by the characters of both of the novels, racism, sexism, greed, dreams, loneliness and friendship.The first book we read, The Pearl, had 2 main characters, these were kino gum the man of the family who was husband to Juana and together had a baby boy called Coyotito. The book begins with a description of the scenery and of the daily routine of the family. The story really starts when Coyotito gets stung by a scorpion. Juana takes control of the situation and in turn does a heroic thing by asking for the fixate. Of course the doctor refuses to go down to the brush houses, so when the family decide to go to the doctor, the whole village goes with them for support. The doctor refuses to treat baby Coyotito because of the fact that gum kino and Juana couldnt gift for the treat handst. Also, the fact that the doctor was racist didnt help either. Kino and Juana were left helpless.Soon aft(prenominal) that incident with the doctor, Kino found the pearl of the world. It should give up brought them riches and happiness, just instead led them to the destruction of all their possessions and even to the death of undersize Coyotito.When Kino gets the pearl, he dreams of all the wonderful things he could do with the pearl. They werent extravagant dreams, solely of plain things, such as giving Coyotito an education, a wedding for Kino and Juana in a church and new clothes. It all goes horribly wrong though, when Kino decides that the pearl buyers are trying to rip him off. This leads to the decision that Kino, Juana and Coyotito will go to the city to try and sell their pearl. The townspeople were interrupt into two the people that thought Kino was a brave man fight ing for a better future, and they supported Kinos family, further thusly in that heed were others who thought Kino was a fool and they tended to be the jealous people.The story ends with Kino and Juana going back to their village after Coyotitos promontory was violently shot away. The couple had lost e actuallything, 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 men who are on their way to a ranch. They have a dream that they will one day own a miniature place. This would post them with security and comfort. Lennie and George travelled together, unlike many other ranchers. George looked after Lennie, as Lennie seemed to have the mind of a child, even though he was more smaller. As the story goes on, we learn that the pair were working at a ranch in Weed, when Lennie wanted to feel this girls dress. The girl panicked, as di d 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 tegument to in an irrigation ditch for a day. They got a job though a few miles south of Soledad.However, when they get there, they can sense theres disoblige ahead. The bosses son Curley, has it in for Lennie, because Curley is a picayune guy who hates Lennie as he is a big guy. Not only is there Curley they should have to look out for, but also Curleys wife. She had been described a tart and after Lennie and George had meet her, George called her jail bait 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 which to the highest degree broke every single off-white in it. Luckily he was blackmailed into not telling anyone about the incident but there was a lot of anger and resent ment.When old Candy, the one-armed swamper and Crooks, the black, disabled, stable-buck, regard of Lennie and Georges dream, they too, want a part 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 upset 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 over there. George realised that Lennie had very few choices left. George decided to shoot Lennie. Soon after Lennies death, some of the men found George. turn tried to comfort George. The novel ended with Carlson saying something trivial 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 migrant workers and Kinos people had few rights and little respect.Kinos people were mainly fishermen and they looked for pearls. Kinos family just barely survived. Everyday they ate the same things for breakfast a corn-cake and a little pulque. They couldnt afford to eat anything different, even if they wanted to.There 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 times his clothes had been washed was a lot and so the beggars, who were great experts in financial analysis came to the conclusion that Kino and Juana were poverty people.In the beginning 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 treatment 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 cost 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 filth 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 the re, 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 think much of personal hygiene. These migrant workers neer had permanent jobs, so when they were center(a) 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 individually other.In The Pearl, it was very difficult finding the pearl that would change a persons life. Finding on would be like engaging 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 pro checks. They do all the work but they dont 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 concentrate 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 comment 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 every man on the ranch. Slim called Crooks by his name and in turn Crooks showed respect for Slim. At that accompaniment time in America, separation of whites and blacks was widespread. As a result, Crooks had t o 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 equally 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 treasure 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 obedient, 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 ha ve 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 plenteous 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 stories though, is Lennie and Georges dream is told end-to-end 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.Lone liness 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 pick up its own pieces.Georges loneliness doesnt play that big a part in the novel. He is favorable to have Lennie and he realises that, but George needed 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 sagacity 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 content. 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 Curley, 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.