A Different Form of Tragedy Critical Analysis of Of Mice and Men - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 5 Words: 1558 Downloads: 7 Date added: 2019/06/12 Category Literature Essay Level High school Topics: Of Mice And Men Essay Did you like this example? Thomas Scarseth, the author of the examination A Teachable Good Book: Of Mice and Men, is correct in saying that Steinbeckrs Of Mice and Men is a tragedy. Yet it is not a tragedy in the classic Aristotelian or Shakespearean sense, which Scarseth states. The majority of the characters in the novel are in stasis. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "A Different Form of Tragedy: Critical Analysis of Of Mice and Men" essay for you Create order The world is limited around them and results in minimal possibilities, and the lack of love and friendship both contribute to them being stuck. J.A. Cuddon, the late English teacher and author, defined tragedy in saying, the overwhelming part about tragedy is the element of hopelessness, of inevitabilitythe greater the person, so it seems, the more acute is their tragedy (Cuddon). Yet this acute tragedy is found when the lowliest of lowly exploited people fail to become anything more. The characters in Of Mice and Men are inevitably lead to disappointment, for many reasons, including their social status, job, and even the time period, which plays a part in their struggles. A release from this struggle is hopeless. The tragedy that the characters are a part of results in them being one archetype of being in stasis, and this is due to the constraints the characters have and the lack of love and friendship around them. The struggle of limitation and constraint is a clear message that Steinbeck portrays through many of the characters. Scarseth is quick to notice and comment on this theme, though he only discusses the explicitly mentioned limited characters. Curley, as Scarseth mentions, is limited: Curley doesnt know how to hold on to what he finds important: his young wife, his status as the Bossrs son, his reputation as a man [his] aim to be a respected husband/boss/man is foiled by his own limited abilities (Scarseth). Curley is stuck in his place. He, on paper, has the most power on the ranch compared to most of the other men. He is the boss son, rich, is able to boast that his wife is a sex object, a status symbol (Scarseth), but he is lost. His aggressiveness and his unforgiving attitude on life and people around him puts him into the same cycle of anger. Curleyrs wife, one of the most marginalized characters, evident by the name she is called and her gender, is also brought up by Scarseth. Sh e is a lost little girl in a world of men whose knowledge of women is largely limited (Scarseth). She is called names, teased, and has no power, and is limited due to Curley. Scarseth also writes about George, Lennie, and their struggle, saying [the] aim of Lennie and George to have a small placeis doomed to frustration also by their own limitations (Scarseth). Lennie, being his poor dumb big (Scarseth) self cannot have his dream with George come true. His disability limits this. However, Scarseth doesnt bring up the fact other characters can be limited, such as Slim. Slim is described as having God-Like eyes, (Steinbeck 40), he is the prince of the ranch (Steinbeck 33); his opinions were law (Steinbeck 45). Everyone respects Slim and considers him the highest in ranking. But why isnt he the boss? Slim is exploited like the rest of the workers. He doesnt have power in the outside world, and all he is able to achieve is making Curley tell everyone his hand was hurt in the machine. Ho lding positions of power dont always equate to being unlimited. Slim is stuck in his routine; he earns his money, then at the end of the month blows it all, and starts the cycle over again. Scarseth puts Slimrs troubles into words perfectly: The man who could lead well does not have the position; the one who has the position and authority is not the leader (Scarseth). The tragedy in the novel is due to the characters inability to improve or succeed because of their limitations, which brings them into the positions they are stuck in. In addition to the limits of the characters, friendship, love, and themes of dreams (Scarseth) are all mentioned in Scarsethrs analysis. He argues that they are what Of Mice and Men is all about. But there are few friendships or expressions of love in the novel, so this cannot be true. George and Lennie have the only friendly relationship in the novel, but the love isnt completely mutual or true. The codependency of it is beneficial to Lennie alone. George helps keep him alive. There is no emotion or loving support, no attachment is present. This is emphasized when George explodes and says if I was alone I could live so easyyou keep me in hot water all the time (Steinbeck 11) and calls Lennie names. Scarseth also mentions that George and Lennie as friends share a good dream (Scarseth). However, this goal isnt good, nor attainable. If their relationship isnt a two-sided one, this dream could never come true or be possible in their limited world, and George comes to learn this. George, because of the his burden of Lennie, his job, and lack of friendship and support that he has, is destined to become just like Slim. He will earn his pay, then he will blow it at the end of the month, like he does when the workers go to the whorehouse at the end of the week. He is going to be stuck, and Lennie puts him in that position. The men in the bunkhouse with George and Lennie share no intimacy either; their relationships consist of working, sleeping, and getting by day by day. The only example of a connection between them is when the men go to the whorehouse and play cards, but there still is no friendship present. Love is also missing between Curley and his wife. They demonstrate no care for each other or share a bond aside from the rings on their fingers. Curley uses his wife, labeled as his, for sexual pleasure and boasting. In turn, she is lonely. She would like to talk to somebody ever once in a while (Steinbeck 77). With no one to turn to and confide in, the characters are limited in themselves because of this lack of love, and this limits their development. Finally, Scarseth observes that Steinbeck creates simple yet significant (Scarseth) characters that are archetypes. The fact that they are an archetype is true, yet Scarseth fails to discuss that the characters are all very similar, and in fact, they share a single archetype. He first mentions Candy, the old, one-armed worker with no place to go, as useless as his toothless dog; there is Carlson, gruffly and delibritaly unfeelingand there is Crooks, the dignified proud and aloof butvictim of racial discrimination. There is Slim, calm, reasonablethe real leaderAnd there is Curley, the arrogant but inept Boss son (Scarseth). These characters represent common social issues and topics that the reader can connect with in their life, which is what archetypes are. These problems, such as racial discrimination and loneliness can be found anywhere. Scarseth, however, does not connect the archetypal characters to the other themes he presents, nor does he address the fact that they are all simi lar, due to those themes. These archetypes are all constrained, as mentioned earlier, for many different reasons. ADD QUOTE FROM STEINBECK! The characters are one archetype, one kind of person despite their differences: they are tragic people who cannot change. Yes, the characters have their own conflicts and personal struggles, but they are the same. Their restrictions and the scarcity of love around them causes their shared tragic fate, and this results in the characters sharing a single archetype. The fact that the book is a tragedy, yet not in the classic sense, is a direct result of characters representing one archetype; people being in stasis. This is due to the limitations the characters have and the lack of love and friendship. Time and time again the characters fall into despair. But both Scarseth and Steinbeck are trying to prove the same point: tragedy can befall any man or any woman, and Of Mice and Men is a tragedy. The greatest tragedy is when people who are not great become consumed by their struggles. Steinbeck shows this through many different issues with society: racism, sexism, mistreatment of the mentally disabled, and even just with farm workers and their exploitation. They become in stasis. Anyone, even the lower classes or people of society can experience tragedy. In Of Mice and Men, it is due to their limitations and the worldrs limitations and the reality that there is no love and friendship. This is shown with the archetype that the characters represent. Steinbeck himself provides the thought that represents the tragedy of the novel best: Nobody never gets to heaven, and nobody gets no land. Itrs just in their head. Theyre all the time talkin about it, but itrs jus in their head (Steinbeck 74). Works Cited Cuddon, J.A. The Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory. New York, N.Y., U.S.A.: Penguin Books, 2000. Scarseth, Thomas. A Teachable Good Book: Of Mice and Men. Censored Books: Critical Viewpoints, edited by Nicholas J. Karolides, Lee Burress, and John M. Kean. Scarecrow Press, 1993. pp. 388-94. Steinbeck, John. Of Mice and Men. New York, N.Y., U.S.A.: Penguin Books, 1994. Print.

Was Brutus Really That Honorable - 1266 Words

Brynna Haupt English10H Mr. Bagenstose 25 October 2014 Was Brutus Really That Honorable? In William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, one of the most complex characters that is introduced in the play is Marcus Brutus. Brutus is the most complex character in the play because even though he is proud of his reputation for nobleness and honor, he is also often naà ¯ve and hypocritical about his actions. When Brutus was killed by Strato in V.v., Antony mentions how Brutus â€Å"was a man† and the noblest out of all the Romans. However, Antony’s statement is disagreeable because in some ways, because Brutus (at times) is not noble at all. Antony doesn’t say he was an honorable man, he just calls him a regular man. If Antony just calls him just a man, then that could mean he was referring to all of mankind. Humans, like everyone else, make mistakes and are not perfect. Brutus fits perfectly into that description because he has made a ton of mistakes that reflect on the book’s outcome and history. 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Marion Sparg Free Essays

Marion sparg Marion Sparg was one of the few white women to join Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), the armed wing of the African National Congress during South Africa’s apartheid era. A Sunday Times journalist, she was prompted into action after 32 ANC members and 19 civilians were killed by the South African Defence Force in an attack on Maseru, Lesotho. She would spend the years between 1981 and 1986 in exile where she received training in guerrilla warfare and worked in the ANC’s Communication Department on a publication named Voice of Women and thereafter joined the Special Operations Division of Umkhonto We Sizwe In 1986 she was sentenced to 25 years’ imprisonment on charges of treason, arson and attempted arson. We will write a custom essay sample on Marion Sparg or any similar topic only for you Order Now Pleading guilty to all charges, she admitted planting and exploding limpet mines at Johannesburg’s notorious police headquarters, John Vorster Square, and also at Cambridge Police Station in East London Following the unbanning of the ANC, she was released in 1991 at the same time as fellow treason prisoners Damian de Lange and Iain Robertson, shortly after which she was nominated to the ANC delegation that participated in an early round of CODESA, the multiparty negotiations that led to South Africa’s first multi-racial elections in 1994. In the same year, at the age of 34, she was appointed deputy executive director of the Constitutional Assembly, the body that would draft South Africa’s groundbreaking 1996 constitution. 1996 she was appointed Town Clerk of the Eastern Metropolitan sub-structure of the Lekoa- Vaal-metropole. [7] Three years later she became the Secretary to the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) and in 2000 joined the office of Bulelani Ngcuka where she became Chief Executive Officer of the National Prosecuting Authority and the accounting officer of the Directorate of Special Operations, commonly known as the Scorpions. In 2003, amidst a public spat between the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) and Jacob Zuma, South Africa’s then-disgraced deputy president, anonymous letters were sent to the Public Service Commission (PSC) accusing Sparg, her deputy Beryl Simelane and integrity unit head Dipuo Mvelase (also Deputy Chairperson of the South African Communist Party) of tender-rigging, corruption and nepotism. The Commission found no criminal wrongdoing and referred the matter to the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development – the parent body of the NPA. The Department head instituted 30 charges against the three women. South Africa’s Financial Mail would describe the allegations as ‘bizarre’ after the charges were withdrawn at the formal disciplinary hearing, only to be reinstated two days later. They would be officially dropped in early 2007. In June 2007 she resigned from the NPA to take up employment in the private sector. Marion has since joined Draftfcb Social Marketing, a division of Draftfcb SA. How to cite Marion Sparg, Papers