Steinbeck

Paper Summary:

This paper briefly outlines the plots of "Of Mice and Men" and "The Pearl" and highlights the common themes that both novels share. Steinbeck's focus on the virtue of the simple life, the corruption of humankind that results from greed and the desire for more and more money, and racial and social discrimination are evident in both works of art. The paper illustrates these shared themes by citing examples from both novels.

From the Paper:

"Both stories also have a somewhat deterministic quality. It seems that from the very moment any individual dreams of something better than their current social position, they are fated for an unhappy ending. Social aspirations or dreams are seen in both novels to lead unerringly to destruction. To begin with, both novels show the protagonist dreaming of something beyond their ken. In The Pearl, Kino dreams of the stone's potential: "My son will read and open the books, and my son will write and will know writing. And my son will make numbers, and these things will make us free because he will know he will know and through him we will know" (TP, 3) Kino's dream of what the pearl will bring mainly revolve around his son -- and so it is his son that the pearl will destroy most completely. Likewise George dreams of his farm, and the way in which he and Lennie will be free from bosses and schedules. The freedom they crave is only death and the connection is made explicitly: when Lennie begs to go to their farm immediately, George agrees to take him there and then shoots him. Going to the farm has become a euphemism for death. Both books foreshadow their ends extensively, from The Pearl's antlion trap the Of Mice and Men's scene in which Candy's old dog gets shot. As Crook says, "Nobody never gets to heaven, and nobody gets no land." (OM, 4). Hope for change, Steinbeck seems to suggest, is always met with change for the worse! This is unquestionably one of the more important themes that Of Mice and Men and The Pearl have in common."

More papers on Steinbeck:

• Analytical Essay # 122529 : "The Grapes of Wrath" and John Steinbeck"
• Term Paper # 73694 : "John Steinbeck"
• Book Review # 72360 : "Steinbeck's Gender Roles "
• Analytical Essay # 1373 : "John Steinbeck's "Grapes of Wrath"

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