How does John Steinbeck present the theme of power?
Of Mice And Men is a novella written by John Steinbeck.
John Steinbeck was an author born in the Salinas, California. The area in which he lived in played a big role in the setting of Of Mice And men as he grew up in a fertile agricultural valley, not far from the Pacific Coast, which served as setting for a lot of his best written work.
Of Mice And Men is based on two migrant workers in California, George Milton and Lennie Small. The two companions depend and stick together in a world where most working men are lonely. George and Lennie have to move jobs because of Lennie's disability or love of touching soft things. This time around, they have moved because Lennie had caused a bit of trouble. …show more content…
This is social powerlessness, the reason being that he is black. However when Lennie, innocently stands at his door in hopes of making friends, Crooks tries to show or turn around the fact of powerlessness by stating that Lennie has no right to come in his room, as if to say you have no right to come into my space, just as much as I have no right to come into yours. '' You got no right to come into my room. This here is my room. Nobody got any right in here but me.'' Crooks then also goes on to wanting to show his own social powers, or rather test them as he feels he doesn't have any and uses it as an opportunity to hurt someone vulnerable, just as he has been hurt. He does all of this by provoking Lennie. '' S'pose George dont come back no more. 'S'pose he took a powder and just aint coming back . What'll you do then?' Crooks asked all these questions obviously just to hurt Lennie because he knows how dependent Lennie is on George just from the way he was mentioning George- as his guardian. It is almost as if you go to a child and ask ''What if mom doesn't come back? What would you do then." He is torturing Lennie in the sense that he is making him think the unthinkable. ''He stood up and walked dangerously towards Crooks. 'Who hurt George? he demanded.' Crooks immediately backs down as soon as he realizes and senses Lennie's fear and power. 'H edged back on his bunk to get out …show more content…
Yes, Lennie does have the physical power to wipe them all out, but doesn't have the intension to do so. Lennie's type of power, apart from physical, is unaware manipulative power-towards George. Steinbeck turned the George-has-all-power-over-Lennie fact upside down. We know this because Lennie only has to make a slight threat about himself not being present in Georges life, or doing something foolish, and George's significance of power is turned down a notch. We see this toward the end of chapter 1, when George and Lennie are having the beans for dinner at the river bank, where they spend the night. ''George, you want I should go and leave you alone?'' ''If you r want me I can go off in the hills an find a cave. I can go away anytime. No-look! I was just fooling Lennie cause I want you to stay with me.'' George then immediately wants to cover the fact that he needs Lennie by saying '' Trouble with mice is that you always kill them.'' This could also link back to my previous point of the previous paragraph where I said that George was also taking care of Lennie out of guilt. To people who don't know the story behind what George did to Lennie, it might seem as if George has such moral that he would take care of Lennie out of the goodness of his heart and use his power so too. This is because the audience would think so as they haven't
Of Mice And Men is a novella written by John Steinbeck.
John Steinbeck was an author born in the Salinas, California. The area in which he lived in played a big role in the setting of Of Mice And men as he grew up in a fertile agricultural valley, not far from the Pacific Coast, which served as setting for a lot of his best written work.
Of Mice And Men is based on two migrant workers in California, George Milton and Lennie Small. The two companions depend and stick together in a world where most working men are lonely. George and Lennie have to move jobs because of Lennie's disability or love of touching soft things. This time around, they have moved because Lennie had caused a bit of trouble. …show more content…
This is social powerlessness, the reason being that he is black. However when Lennie, innocently stands at his door in hopes of making friends, Crooks tries to show or turn around the fact of powerlessness by stating that Lennie has no right to come in his room, as if to say you have no right to come into my space, just as much as I have no right to come into yours. '' You got no right to come into my room. This here is my room. Nobody got any right in here but me.'' Crooks then also goes on to wanting to show his own social powers, or rather test them as he feels he doesn't have any and uses it as an opportunity to hurt someone vulnerable, just as he has been hurt. He does all of this by provoking Lennie. '' S'pose George dont come back no more. 'S'pose he took a powder and just aint coming back . What'll you do then?' Crooks asked all these questions obviously just to hurt Lennie because he knows how dependent Lennie is on George just from the way he was mentioning George- as his guardian. It is almost as if you go to a child and ask ''What if mom doesn't come back? What would you do then." He is torturing Lennie in the sense that he is making him think the unthinkable. ''He stood up and walked dangerously towards Crooks. 'Who hurt George? he demanded.' Crooks immediately backs down as soon as he realizes and senses Lennie's fear and power. 'H edged back on his bunk to get out …show more content…
Yes, Lennie does have the physical power to wipe them all out, but doesn't have the intension to do so. Lennie's type of power, apart from physical, is unaware manipulative power-towards George. Steinbeck turned the George-has-all-power-over-Lennie fact upside down. We know this because Lennie only has to make a slight threat about himself not being present in Georges life, or doing something foolish, and George's significance of power is turned down a notch. We see this toward the end of chapter 1, when George and Lennie are having the beans for dinner at the river bank, where they spend the night. ''George, you want I should go and leave you alone?'' ''If you r want me I can go off in the hills an find a cave. I can go away anytime. No-look! I was just fooling Lennie cause I want you to stay with me.'' George then immediately wants to cover the fact that he needs Lennie by saying '' Trouble with mice is that you always kill them.'' This could also link back to my previous point of the previous paragraph where I said that George was also taking care of Lennie out of guilt. To people who don't know the story behind what George did to Lennie, it might seem as if George has such moral that he would take care of Lennie out of the goodness of his heart and use his power so too. This is because the audience would think so as they haven't