Loneliness in Of Mice n Men
In addition to
dreams, humans crave contact with others to give life meaning. Loneliness is
present throughout this novel. On the most obvious level, we see this isolation
when the ranch hands go into town on Saturday night to ease their loneliness
with alcohol and women. Similarly, Lennie goes into Crook's room to find
someone with whom to talk, and later Curley's wife comes for the same reason. Crooks says that a guy goes nuts if he doesn’t find anybody to talk to. Even Slim mentions that I have seen the guys that
go around on the ranches alone. That isn’t
good. They don't have fun. After a long time they get
mean.
George's taking care
of Lennie and the dream of the farm are attempts to break the pattern of
loneliness that is part of the human condition. Similarly, Lennie's desire to
pet soft things comes from his need to feel safe and secure, to touch something
that gives him that feeling of not being alone in the world. For Lennie, the
dream of the farm parallels that security.
George and Lennie,
however, are not the only characters who struggle against loneliness. Although
present in all the characters to some degree, the theme of loneliness is most
notably present in Candy, Crooks, and Curley's wife. They all fight against
their isolation in whatever way they can. Until its death, Candy's dog stopped
Candy from being alone in the world. After its death, Candy struggles against
loneliness by sharing in George and Lennie's dream. Curley's wife is also
lonely; she is the only female on the ranch, and her husband has forbidden
anyone to talk with her. She combats her loneliness by flirting with the ranch
hands. Crooks is isolated because of his skin color. As the only black man on
the ranch, he is not allowed into the bunkhouse with the others, and he does
not associate with them. He combats his loneliness with books and his work, but
even he realizes that these things are no substitute for human companionship.
Steinbeck reinforces
the theme of loneliness in subtle and not so subtle ways. In the vicinity of
the ranch, for example, is the town of Soledad. The town's name, not
accidentally, means "solitude" or "alone." Also, the
others' reactions to George and Lennie traveling together reinforces that, in
Steinbeck's world, traveling with someone else is unusual. When George and
Lennie arrive at the ranch, four other characters — the boss, Candy, Crooks,
and Slim — all comment on the suspicious nature of two guys traveling together.
This companionship seems strange and, according to at least the boss and
Curley, the relationship is sexual or exploitative financially.
Critically appreciatiate the essay
A Piece of Chalk
One sunny morning, G.K.
Chesterton (writer) puts on a hat, a walking stick and some chalks and set off
to draw some pictures. He needed paper for drawing. But he didn't have any. So
he went to the kitchen to ask the landlady if she can give him a brown paper.
She thought he needed it for packing something but he tells her he wanted it
for drawing. She then offered note paper but writer told her that he wanted
brown paper for its brownness.
He then explains why brown
paper was necessary that it appeals his imagination like brownness of trees in
autumn, or beer, or dim light in early days of creation. He further says that
coloured chalks can create fire gold or brightness of stars on brown paper.
Then he tells about importance
of small things like pocket knife and goes towards chalk mountains. Mountains
are best quality of England. They are huge and mighty yet merciful or the
cottages woukd have been engulfed. Similarly England is powerful but people
there are kind and courteous.
He will not draw natural things
but will draw the pictures of devils, seraphims, angel, saint, holy men
etc. He says that Homer and Vergil didnt1 understand nature exactly like
Wordsworth but their approach was indirect. They used to stare at the falling
white snow for great lengths of time, but they expressed it by just drawing a
holy virgin in a white robe. They used to look at the vast expanse of greenery
all around them, but when it came to expressing their impression, they drew a
Robin Hood in his green attire.
When the author found a rock to
sit on and began to draw, he discovered that he had left the white chalk piece
behind. The white coloured chalk is indispensable for drawing. For painters
white is the colour to express a positive feeling, especially if the drawing
was to be made on brown papers.
He was disappointed to find he
had no white chalk with him as without it drawing would be lifeless. White is
not just an absence of colour but is itself a sharp and definite one. It makes
stars. Morality is similar. Virtue is like white colour in religion. God
creates the most magnificent in white like men of virtue and paradigm of
creation.
He was frustrated to not have
white chalk. He thought his picture would remain incomplete. It would be
tragedy. Without white, the picture would be like thinking of a world with no
good man in it.
Suddenly, an idea ticked to his
mind and he started laughing loudly. He felt like a man who was standing at
Sahara desert and searching for handful of sand. He felt like a man who was
standing in the middle of the ocean and worrying about not having a little salt
water.
He realised that the hill where
he was standing was entirely made of white chalk. He became happy, picked a
piece of white stone and completed his drawing. Chesterton became so happy
after he finished the drawing that he compares the white rock to the white
chalk and sees no difference. He may have started out without a piece of white
chalk but the end is different. Through his ingenuity and resilience Chesterton
has managed to finish his drawing. A drawing that he himself is proud of and
expects that others will be proud of too. Chesterton has taken what could have
been a tortuous day and turned into a day of ingenuity and happiness.
Themes
of The song of Death
This one-act play “The Song of Death” has been
written by a prominent Egyptian writer Tawfiq Al-Hakim. This play has presented
various themes as hope, jealousy, betrayal and vengeance. This play is
about a peasant woman Asakir and her lifelong resolution which shatters at the
end of the play.
Asakir has been waiting for her son to come and
take revenge to the enemies who she thought has killed her husband. She has
sent her son to foreign nation so that he could be brought up safely and take
revenge to them. Her son was her hope. Her hope was in her son’s arrival. She
has told the villagers that her son has already died and she has nobody left in
the world. But with the news of her son’s arrival, her hope has risen up. As
soon as her son appears, she tells her son to take revenge on the enemies but
the son refuses. She felt betrayed. She felt that her son has shattered all her
dreams and she isn’t convinced with her son. Her son seeks the proof of the
murder. As a result, she comes to the higher level of revenge and tells her
cousin to kill her own son. By killing her own son, she tries to satisfy her
anger with her enemies.
v
theme
of our house is on fire.
v
differences
between miracle n morality plays, Shakespeare n marloe, competence n
performance, langue n parole
v
affixation
n its types
v
sentences
n its types
v
seven
ravens
v
the
myth of Prometheus
v
half
a day
v
modern
poets
v
pragmatics
