Of Mice and Men By John Steinbeck - Coursework Essay Example for Free

Of Mice and Men By John Steinbeck Coursework Essay Of Mice and Men was set in the 1930s in North California. This was a time of economic hardship due to the Wall Street Crash. Men were forced to leave their families and find work on ranches. Pay and working conditions were poor. Men scraped by, spending any extra money they had gambling or in one of the many whore houses. This is where Steinbeck drew his inspiration from; he spent time on the ranches experiencing the hardships experienced by the workers. The book is about these workers and the extremely lonely lives they led. It also exposes underlying themes of racism and how badly the disabled were treated. This was a time when people looked after number one, as there was nobody else to do this for them. The two main characters are somewhat different, as they travel and work together, looking out for each other. This was very unusual because life would have been hard enough without the extra responsibility of looking after another person. The two main characters have just been evicted from their work in a town called Soledad (which means loneliness). They are the only people in the book whose names Christian names are actually used. It shows that nobody makes the effort to make friends enough to be on first name terms. This is symbolic of the loneliness of each of the characters and shows how unusual the two main characters are. The two main characters are called George ands Lennie. There is very little information about them in the book. They work for their keep on the ranches. Lennie is slightly brain damaged and has a very limited memory. He is an enormous man and Steinbeck often compares his actions with those of a large, clumsy animal using similes and metaphors: Dragging his feet a little, the way a bear drags his paws. These are intended to subtly give the reader the impression that Lennie is big and clumsy, like an animal that does not know its own strength; Lennie dabbled his big paw in the water. George is exactly the opposite of Lennie. He is small, dark and quick, and is cautious about his surroundings; The small man stepped nervously George is always on the look out and he knows how to look after himself. The town they had just come from was called Weed which could signify that they were unwanted, like a weed, there: they were forced out of there because Lennie made a mistake. He had grabbed a woman and she said that he had raped her. George is very much the dominant figure in the relationship and makes all the decisions. At the very start you can tell this because Lennie copies George in the way he looks and acts; Lennie, who had been watching imitated George exactly. This suggests that Lennie looks up to George and wants to be just like him. This is quite sad really as he has ended up nothing like him. Lennie hates to make George angry, like a dog that hates to make his master angry. George feels responsible for Lennie. He is like a father figure to him, and he knows that Lennie would never be able to survive without him. He feels a sense of duty because Aunt Clara told him to look after Lennie. The other reason they travel together is George, though he doesnt like to admit it, enjoys Lennies company and he doesnt want to let go of the American Dream. They share the dream of owning their own place with a few animals; livin off the fatta the lan'. George knows it is very unlikely to happen but Lennie still believes and always likes to hear the story of how its gonna be. This is painful for George and he is reluctant to talk about it. You can tell it is important to Lennie because he forgets anything he is told but he remembers the dream. George and Lennie are always dreaming of the future. When George and Lennie arrive on the ranch, the ranch hands and the boss are suspicious of their relationship. They suspect that George is taking Lennies stake for himself; I said what stake you got in this guy? You takin his pay away from him? They cannot see why someone else would travel with someone who would restrict them unless they were getting paid. They are lonelier than George and Lennie, and have no real concept of friendship. Despite having Lennie as a companion, George is also lonely. He is alone in his responsibility for Lennie. In a way it is more like speaking to an animal than a human when speaking to Lennie because George knows that whatever he says to him will be forgotten and mean nothing. From the very beginning we get a hint of this by the way Lennie is made to seem more like a responsibility than a friend to George. Lennie is made to seen like an animal, like a terrier that doesnt want to bring his ball back to his master, maybe signifying that he is like a pet that always needs looking after. Steinbeck also uses George playing solitaire as a metaphor for his loneliness; George cut the cards again and put out a solitaire lay, slowly and deliberately. George lays the cards out like he has done it many time before. Solitaire is a single player game (and solitaire is derived from solitary), this shows that Lennie is not capable of acting like an adult and so George must play on his own. George is held from having his own life by the responsibility of caring for Lennie. He continuously tells Lennie how life would be without him; how he could have a girl and a decent job: God amighty, if I was alone I could live so easy The truth though, is that George would be even lonely without Lennie. It is ironic at the end of the book that George should be so upset by the death of Lennie, because then he realiz es that he will have to spend all the rest if his time alone. You never know what you have until it is gone. One of the ranch workers, Candy, features heavily in the book. He tries to join the friendship of George and Lennie. Candy is extremely lonely. He has been working on the ranch for many years and due to his disability. He is unable to leave because he knows that no other employer would take him on. The only reason he has got work now, is that he suffered the injury to his hand on the ranch. He has seen many men come and go but he cannot move on. Candy knows he will probably die on the ranch. Candy is very talkative because he is so eager to make friends. He warms to this gossip because he on his own when all the workers are in the fields. As soon as he meets George and Lennie he engages them in conversation, hardly letting them speak. He lets out all the opinions, about Curley and his wife and the other ranch hands that he has formed and never had anybody to tell them to. In fact the only sort of a friend he has is an old dog. The dog is old, has no teeth and it stinks. The dog is used to symbolise Candy: old and useless. The dog is also used as a foreshadowing device for Lennies death. When Carlson tells him that he should kill the dog he tries to stop him by making up excuses: Maybe itd hurt him, and tries to put the inevitable off; wants to spend just one more day with the dog by killing it in the morning. The only reason Candy had left to live was the dog so in a way Carlson killed a part of him. The dog is also used as a second foreshadowing device for what George has to do to Lennie in the conclusion of the book. Lennie, unlike the dog, however will be killed by the only person he trusts in the world. This will come from the pressure of other people. In the early 20th Century, blacks were heavily persecuted because of their colour. The stable buck is called Crooks and is discriminated because he is a black; Spose you couldnt go into the bunkhouse and place rummy cause you were black. He is kept apart from the other ranch hands because of his race. He is very nervous when Lennie enters his room. This is because crooks has his own living space away from the other men. The only people he sees are probably going to insult or hurt him so he is immediately on guard when someone comes in to his room. He is also discriminated against because of his crippled back, which means that he cant work in the fields like the other men. Crooks reveals his past to Lennie in his barn. The irony that his father used to own his own ranch and once he used to lead a comfortable life must be extremely painful for him to relive when he thinks about his present lonely self. That is probably why he is so bitter towards the other men who are treating him so harshly. Crooks is always dreaming of the past; Remember when I was a little kid on old mans chicken ranch. The other men would probably dream of having their own space but Crooks is so lonely he would rather be with other people; A guy ne eds somebody to be near him. All Crooks has for company is a small collection of books that he reads over and over again. It must be very lonely being on your own all the time when he thinks about what it had been like when he owned his own ranch. Sometimes he almost goes crazy with loneliness; Maybe if he sees somethin, he dont know whether its right or not. He cant turn to the other guy and ast him if he sees it too, He is only admitting this because he knows that Lennie is not listening, and even if he was, he couldnt remember and repeat what was being said anyway. Crooks is proud and doesnt want to admit that he is lonely or that the men are getting to him by calling him names and abusing him, If I say something, why its just a nigger saying it. When someone calls somebody something enough times a person will start to absorb the names and start to believe that there is some truth to what the person is saying about them. Crooks is treated like an animal. One Christmas time they let him into the bunkhouse and made him fight. The word let is used like letting an animal in for a treat. He then leaves after his fight, for his own room. The men just use him as entertainment. His life is always under threat because he means nothing them. Curleys wife plays a very prominent role in the book as she brings the death of Lennie and herself. She is not given a name through the whole book. This signifies how little everyone thinks of her. She is referred to as jail bait and slut by all the ranch hands. This is due to the manner she has adopted to befriend the men. She constantly flirts with any man she meets and being pretty at the same time, she is bound to get herself into some sort of trouble. She acts like this because she is lonely and it is her way of attracting attention to herself. The problem is that all the workers are afraid to talk to her because they fear what Curley would do to them if they did. Curley is always looking for a fight to show how much of man he is. If he got just the faint scent of her cheating on him he would fight. Nobody want to get on the wrong side of Curley because they know he is a good boxer and because he is the bosss son he can probably get anyone canned if he wants, In reality, Curleys wife doesnt actually like Curley and even admits to Lennie: I dont like Curley. She married him to show her mother that she could be independent and to get back at her for the letter that could have been her big break that she thinks her mother stole. Curleys wife is dreaming of what could have been, how she could have been in the movies and what a lifestyle she could have had. The marriage between Curley and Curleys wife is not based on love but on sexual attraction Curleys wife is also very lonely, that is why she is always skulking around the bunkhouse with the men. She needs someone to talk to; She uses the excuse that she is looking for her husband. In the end her loneliness is the end of her when she tries to talk to Lennie (much the same way as Crooks let out his thoughts to him). The climax of the book starts in the barn. The scene begins with Lennie worrying about his puppy which he has just killed accidentally. Curleys wife enters, as usual looking for someone to talk to. She begins telling Lennie her life story. All through the book she has been portrayed as a spiteful woman; foolin around with other guys, causin trouble., but here her true character comes out. Lennie ends up telling her about his love for soft things so she lets him stroke her hair. The other men can resist her charms but Lennie is not clever enough to know. Lennie strokes it a bit too vigorously and her panic affects Lennie. He breaks her neck by accident, then thinks that if he hides the puppy, which is used as a foreshadowing device to Curleys wifes death George will be more likely to let him tend his precious rabbits. This is sad and ironic, as Lennie cannot grasp the enormity of the thing he has just done. Curleys wife seemed peaceful after her death; the ache for attention were gone from her face. She was realised from her prison on the ranch and was now free and happy. When George hears, he despairs, for Lennie has ended their chance of achieving the impossible American Dream. One of the themes of this book is certainly loneliness. The people are segregated into groups. Age, disabilities, race and sex separate many people. Also the time of economic hardship forced men to look after number one. It made it very hard for the men to form friendships as they have very few responsibilities. The book is about the unusual friendship of George and Lennie who have nothing in common with each other apart from they share the American Dream. That is all that keeps them going. It is extremely sad when George is forced to kill Lennie because he was all that George had left. It was ironic because George had always spoken about what life would be like without Lennie; how he could be free. Now he had his wish he was devastated that he had had to kill the only friend that he had in the world.

A Comparison of Orlando and Othello Essay -- comparison compare contra

Orlando and Othello In her novel Orlando: A Biography, Virginia Woolf draws upon Shakespeare's Othello to both enhance the images within her novel through allusion and further Orlando's character development using juxtaposition. Spanning about 400 years, various historical eras, and gender ambiguity in the characters, Orlando is certainly not a traditional novel. Thus, it follows that its use of historical information and literature breaks from convention as well. This is true for Woolf's use of Shakespeare's Othello. While the play is drawn upon in various contexts, from character traits to plot line, Woolf carefully places her allusions such that they support her plot line at one moment while they may be inconsistent at another. This works well within her novel because as she breaks from convention by utilizing multiple timelines and shifts in gender and sex for her characters she is able to shift in her parallels from the characters in Othello to the characters of Orlando. These shifts accen t the changes she is making within her characters and plot line and also force the reader to break with the long standing views of gender and "otherness" established in Shakespeare's work. During the first half of Orlando: A Biography, Woolf clearly draws off of the play Othello. At times this is clearer than others. In both Orlando and Othello, there is little reference to Othello by name. He is referred to instead by an ethnic background--he is the Moor. One might question the certainty of the Moor representing the figure Othello in the novel Orlando. In the case of the play, it is quite obvious that Othello is being referred ... ...his ideal of love. Orlando is jealous because of actions he observed Sasha make. While it seems that he would have more of a reason to be upset, he does not take the same magnitude of action. While is does have a long term effect on his life, he eventually moves on with his life instead of destroying it. 1 Orlando, pg. 13 2 Orlando, pg. 15 5m 3 Haines-Wright, Lisa and Kyle, Tracy L. "Fluid Sexuality in Virginia Woolf" Virginia Woolf: Texts and Contexts New York, NY: Pace University Press, 1996 4 Byles, Joan M. "The Winter's Tale, Othello and Troilus and Cressida: Narcissism and Sexual Betrayal" American Image: Studies in Psychoanalyss and Culture 36, no.1: 81 5 Byles, Joan M. "The Winter's Tale, Othello and Troilus and Cressida: Narcissism and Sexual Betrayal" American Image: Studies in Psychoanalyss and Culture 36, no.1: 83

Nature of Philosophy Essay

Philosophy * Comes from the 2 Greek words  « philos -love  » and  « sophia -wisdom  » * tasks that requires a deliberate effort to seek the truth. * The act of questioning or wanting to know initiates philosophy, and most of the time we relate philosophy to thinking. * Knowledge of all things, through this ultimate causes, aquired through the use of reasoning * Is the intense and critical examination of beliefs and assumptions Philosopher * Lover of knowledge * A person who seeks knowledge for its own sake and not for any other motive. * Philosophers examine questions dealing with life’s most important aspects. * Raphael (1994) describes philosophy as essentially divided into two branches: the Philosophy of knowledge and the Philosophy of practice. * The Philosophy of knowledge is attentive to critical examination of assumptions about matters of fact and argument. Included in this branch are: epistemology (study of knowledge), metaphysics (the study of ultimate reality), the philosophy of science, philosophy of mind and philosophical logic. * Philosophy of practice, on the other hand, focuses on critical examination of assumptions about norms or values and includes ethics, social and political philosophy, and the philosophy of the law. It is the Philosophy of practice, particularly moral philosophy, that provides a groundwork for discussion of many of the troubling issues facing nurses. Objectives of Philosophy * To seek the deepest explanations of existence and the nature of being. It specifically uses reasoning to show its natural scope in deriving explanations Spiritual / religious influences * Historically, many of the dominant religious institutions made judgements about the origin and essence of healing and described those who would hold positions as legitimate healers. * Nevertheless, nursing in  some form has existed in every culture, and has been influenced by spiritual beliefs, religious practices, and related cultural values. Gender influences * In every culture, women have been healers * As a result of the perception that women are more humane and more caring by nature, they have been viewed as naturally endowed with nursing talents. *  «Every woman†¦ has, at one time or another of her life, charge of the personal health of somebody, whether child or invalid- every woman is a nurse.  » ~Nightingale ANCIENT / PRESOCRATIC (7th century B. C) * Greek thinkers, called themselves  « wise men  » but of humility. * PYTHAGORAS- * One of the Greek thinkers, wanted to call himself a person who just love wisdom or a philosopher. * From then on, the Greek used the word philosophy for love of wisdom and philosopher as a lover of knowledge. * In the ancient times the position of healer was practiced by those thought to have special spiritual gifts. * When the reigning deity had a feminine, bisexual or androgynous nature, women were leaders in the healing arts. * As the world became a harsher place, and the Gods assumed a masculine nature, women’s role as independent, primary healer was taken away The Early Christian Era. * Early Christian nurses were frequently women of high social status and often became independent practitioners. * When religious belief moved toward a single male God, women’s healing role changed from that of sacred healer to subservient caregiver. MIDIEVAL / MIDDLE AGES * Christian scholars and Arab philosophers were the first to create a direct link of Philosophy to Theology, one of its main inspirations in the Christian faith which became a stimulus to reason. * During this time, monastcism and other religious groups offered the only opportunities for women to pursue careers in nursing. * Much of hospital nursing was carried out by repentant women and widows called sisters and by male nurses called brothers. * Deaconesses, matrons, and secular nursing orders were among the organized groups that had religious foundations and offered nusing services. * Much of hospital nursing was carried out by repentant women and widows called sisters and by male nurses called brothers. * Deaconesses, matrons, and secular nursing orders were among the organized groups that had religious foundations and offered nusing services. * Women who entered nursing orders donated their property and wealth to the Church and donated thier lives to service-believing that  « charity  » was synonymous with  « love  » * The term empirical relates to knowledge gained through the process of observation and experience. * Consequently, people were more likely to seek healing through religious intervention since the position of the Church was that only God and the devil had the power to either cause illness or promote healing * The crusades, which begin in 1096 and lasted nearly 200 years, brought many changes in health and population. * In response to the compelling need, military nursing orders were formed. These orders draw large numbers of men into the field of nursing. * During the Middle Ages, the status of women also declined. In many ways this was directly related to church doctrine. * St. Thomas Aquinas, known as the  « Angelic Doctor  » wrote that one should  « only make use of a necessary object, woman, who is needed to persevere the species or to provide food or drink†¦woman was created to be man’s helper, but her unique role is in conception†¦ since for all other purposes men would be better assisted by other men.  » * St. Jerome remarked that  « women is the gate of devil, the path of wickedness, the sting of the serpent, in the world a perilous object » * It was a popular religious view that women were essentially evil by nature. The pain of childbirth was believed to be punishment for Eve’s transgression, and served the purpose of reminding women of their original sinful nature. * Although the medical profession was officially sanctioned by the church, and male physicians were beginning to be trained in the university setting, there was scant scientific knowledge. They used bloodletting, astrology, alchemy, and incantations * Peasant women were  often the only healers for people who had no doctors and suffered bitterly from poverty and disease * These folk healers had extensive knowledge about cures that had been handled down for generations via oral tradition. * These women developed an extensive understanding of bones and muscles, herbs, drugs, and midwifery * This atmosphere set the stage for Church-sanctioned crimes against women in the form of the witch hunts. * Any women who treated an illness, even if she aplied a soothing salve to the diseased skin of her child, was likely to be acused of witchcraft. * If the treatment failes, she was sough to have cursed the patient. If the treatment succeeded, she was believed to be in consort with the devil * Although women were permitted to practice midwifery, these women were in danger of being accused of witchcraft if anything went wrong with either mother or baby MODERN (16th- 18 century A. D * During this period, Rene Descartes was known as the Father of Modern Philosophy, to his philosophy of rationalism and empiricism * RATIONALISM- – is a philosophical doctrine that specifically uses resoning and proof in explaining reality EMPIRICISM: – regards experience as the only source of knowledge,for it was during this time that the abundance of knowledge in science became a challenge for all philosophers to prove their discoveries and breakthrough to the aid of the aforementioned doctrines Renaissance and the Reformation * The sixteenth century heralded the beginning of two great movements: the renaissance and the reformation. * The renaissance produced an intellectual rebirth that began the scientific era * The reformation was a religious movement precipitated by the widespread abuses that had become a part of Church life and doctrinal disagreement among religious leaders. * The scientific community made advanced in mathematics and the sciences. * Rene Descartes is credited with proposing a theory that quickly altered philosophic beliefs about the separation of mind and body. * He proposed that the universe is a physical thing, and that everything in the universe is like a machine, which can be analyzed and understood. * Based on Descartes’ work  « cartesian philosophy  » began to replace religious beliefs related to the physical and spiritual beliefs of humankind. * As a direct result, a separation was created between the acts of caring and curing in the healing arts. * The reformation produced a split in the church. * A struggle between Catholic and Protestant groups spread across Europe, as a result, Catholicism lost its power in many countries. * Laws and cusotms in Protestant countries discouraged the humane care of the  « downtrodden and the weak  » CONTEMPORARY (20th century) * The existence of a great variety of doctrines of philosophy strenghtened its grasp in seeking the truth. * Among these are the doctrines of: * Karl Marx- Marxism * Immanuel Kant- Kantianism * Jean Paul Sartre- Existentialism The modern era * Florence Nightingale became a model for all nurses. She was a nurse, statistician, sanitarian, social reformer, and scholar. * she was politically astute, intelligent, and single-minded. * Although she was opposed to using church affiliation as a criterion for admision to nursing programs, her religious beliefs were evident in her dealings with students, whom she admonished to work, work, work, because  « if there is no cross, there is no crown  » * Another of nursing’s great modern leaders is Lavinia Lloid Dock * She was concerned with the many problems plaguing nursing, warning that male dominance in the health field was the major problem confronting the nursing profession.

Analysis Of The Book Zeitoun By Dave Eggers - 978 Words

I am currently a Junior at Mills High School that is enrolled in the AP Language and Composition class. For our summer assignment, we were assigned to read Zeitoun by Dave Eggers, which recounts the true story of a Muslim-American man named Abdulrahman Zeitoun who remained in New Orleans during 2005’s deadly Hurricane Katrina. While trapped in the city, Zeitoun paddles in his canoe in the flooded streets coming to the aid of those who are in danger; however, Zeitoun is arrested under accusations of being affiliated with an Al-Qaeda Terrorist Cell. Throughout the novel, Zeitoun is portrayed as a gentle and compassionate person who puts his own life on the line to save others; defying the harsh stereotypes that surround Muslims following 9/11. While Zeitoun certainly redefines the views of the reader and portrays a real struggle for Muslims in our nation today, would you still appreciate this story’s message and meaning if I informed you that the real Zeitoun was a man kn own for committing domestic violence to his wife? Mr. Zeitoun does indeed abuse his wife and has been under trial several times and was convicted for domestic violence and later faced allegations of hiring attacks on his wife, Kathy. The controversy divided my class into two distinct advocates, some of my classmates encourage Zeitoun to be remain in the AP Language and Composition curriculum. While others, including myself, agree that by reading, studying, and writing about Zeitoun we glorify a man who abusesShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of The Book Zeitoun By Dave Eggers988 Words   |  4 Pagessummer assignment, we were assigned to read Zeitoun by Dave Eggers, which recounts the story of a Muslim-American man named Abdulrahman Zeitoun who remained in New Orleans during 2005’s deadly Hurricane Katrina. While trapped in the city, Zeitoun paddles in his canoe in the flooded streets aiding those who are in danger; however, Zeitoun is suddenly arrested under accusations of being a ffiliated with an Al-Qaeda Terrorist Cell. Throughout the novel, Zeitoun is portrayed as a gentle and compassionateRead MoreZeitoun Rhetorical Essay1440 Words   |  6 PagesCortnie Schierman Fijacko English 111 5 October 2012 Rough Draft: Rhetorical Analysis Essay David Eggers, in Zeitoun, shows a story of a Muslim American family living through many challenges. After 9/11 Muslim families, like the Zeitouns, face many problems living in America. Eggers wants to inform other Americans on the situation of Muslim living in the United States, present day. People who are uneducated about the Muslim religion need to be informed on how similar lives are of other people allRead MoreIslamophobia Essays1853 Words   |  8 Pagesupheavals that continued a half decade later† (The New York Times). In his book â€Å"Zeitoun† Dave Eggers, a national bestseller and well respected poet, analyzes the dramatic dialogue and action of the Zeitoun family during the crisis of Hurricane Katrina. For long time New Orleans resident Abdulrahman and Kathy Zeitoun were dragged into an unexpected struggle with forces far beyond wind and water. We Learnt from Eggers novel, that Zeitoun and others are forced to get in a boat, then taken into custody andRead Mor eZeitoun Essay example2192 Words   |  9 PagesZeitoun Have you even judged someone on who he or she is or what they looked like? And have you ever had a bad experience or traumatic experience happens and you looked for someone or something to blame, but in reality there was nothing to blame? Well, a natural disaster can be blamed on no one, but in times like that emotions run wild and blame can be put on someone who fits a certain profile. Racism and Hurricane Katrina were two forces that clashed together to create an even bigger problem for