Path George And Lennie example essay topic

"Of Mice and Men" by John Steinbeck is a novel involving two extremely different main characters. George is reasonably intelligent, hard working ranchman. Lennie on the other hand always manages to find trouble. He is equally hardworking and honest as George but his simple childlike mind always finds him trouble wherever he goes. where as in The Withered Arm by Thomas Hardy the two main characters hate each other. Rhoda is old and has a child to farmer Lodge. On the other hand Gertrude is young, beautiful and is Farmer lodges new wife.

In terms of emotional stability, there is only one thing in life that is really needed and that is friends. Without friends, people would suffer from loneliness and solitude. Loneliness leads to low self-esteem and deprivation. In the novel 'Of Mice and Men' the characters, Crooks, Candy and Curley's Wife all exhibit some form of loneliness.

They are driven towards the curiosity of George and Lennie's friendship because they do not have that support in their life. Through his novel, 'Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck demonstrates that often times, a victim of isolation will have a never-ending search to fulfil a friendship". A guy goes nuts if he ain't got nobody. Don't matter no difference who the guy is, longs he with you. I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an he gets sick". Steinbeck writes the novel 'Of Mice and Men' using a 3rd person narrative to show how emotionally remote the characters are and to show that they don't get to know people intimately.

This for me is enhances the success of the book as it gives an equal account of all the characters feelings. Although in The Withered Arm it does 'use a 3rd person' but not as conclusively as 'Of Mice and Men " In the opening chapter Steinbeck immediately introduces the idea of loneliness and the idea of the men living very temporary lives, with no real direction. Steinbeck cleverly uses the setting to convey these ideas. The path George and Lennie are walking on is described as"A path beaten hard by boys... and beaten hard by tramps who came wearily down from the highway in the evening to jungle - up near water" and "an ash pile made by many fires " It is a quite similar story in The Withered Arm, Hardy has introduces the concept of loneliness too, which follows on as the novel progresses.

The main thing I think is that he has really gave a bad impression of Rhonda. He makes out that Rhonda is extremely jealous of Gertrude, which she is but she is just curious. She is not a bad person she just is lonely. The novel described Rhonda's past and it described that she was used by Farmer Lodge and then discarded when she became pregnant. The thing that brings the both novels together in which they both have in common is that the main theme in both books is about the dream they both have, although the dreams are totally different. In The withered Arm the dream is about pain and death but in 'Of Mice and Men' it is about happiness and joy.

In 'Of mice and men' if George had not met Lennie he would be drunk in a whorehouse dying of cirrhosis. If Lennie didn't meet George he would of died soon after his aunt did, because he would either have got himself in a bind with no one to help him or he would of simply wondered off and died of loneliness. In The Withered Arm it is a totally different story again, as if Gertrude had not met Rhonda she would have had a happy life. If she hadn't married Farmer Lodge she would have had a normal life and it would have probably been another young lady.

Another thing that both novels have in common is that they both have many deaths in them. In the withered arm the main death is Rhonda's son's death and the conspiracy when Rhonda was caught touching the corpse by his mother and father. In 'Of Mice and Men' Lennie killed Curlley's wife. Then when George found out that Curley and his posse were going to kill Lennie painfully. Although you may think it was easy for George to pick up the lugar and shoot Lennie, right in the back of the head. This, however, is not so.

The internal conflict that George must have faced was no doubt greater than anything you can imagine. George, an angel of mercy to his good friend and confidant, Lennie Small, is not a murderer. He is the opposite. The care of Lennie had been placed into George's hands by a dying woman. George had promise that he would take care of Lennie, watch after him, make sure he was safe. Because the greatest danger to Lennie, George and this Aunt Clara must have known was himself.

His sheer strength and simple mindedness had gotten Lennie in trouble many times before, and then, suddenly, he had killed a women. The blame can not be placed anywhere for this woman's death. Lennie had no idea what he had done, the only thing he knew was that George would be upset. George did not kill Lennie out of spite, not because of his thoughtless, innocent, act had dashed George's hopes of having a small farm. George had to do this because the other choices were grim. Lennie could be hanged, bludgeoned and beaten by the group of ranch hands that were after him.

Or, maybe worse, Lennie would have been ripped from George's side and been thrown into some horrid mental institution, a danger to himself, a danger to others. After all, if they had escaped that town there would be a next town, the next dead girl, and another gang to out run. Perhaps it is best if Lennie's last, simple thoughts were of George telling him of the land they would own and work together. George did not, after all, just go up to Lennie and shoot him, point blank in the back of the head.

He painted a lovely picture for Lennie to gaze upon before he died, the vegetable garden they would plant and the rabbit hutch that Lennie would be in charge of. Also, had Lennie lived, he would have never understood why there would be no ranch, only that there would be no soft rabbits for him to tend. What would George did was a duty to himself, to society, because they would have always been running from something to somewhere. George has suffered the most out of any of these parties involved. He has lost a good friend and companion, a rarity in these times... What he did was out of love, not malice and he should not be prosecuted.

George has to live with what he had to do. That should be enough punishment..