: Word picture Essay, Research Paper
Of Mice and Men and The Pearl: Word picture
What is depth, and what does it intend? Depth is the extent, the strength,
deepness is a distinguishable degree of item. When person negotiations about deepness of
word picture, they are speaking about the degree of strength that person is
utilizing in order to depict a character. John Ernst Steinbeck, in The Pearl, Of
Mice and Men, and The Grapes of Wrath describes many of his chief characters in
great deepness.
Steinbeck and Characterization
What is depth, and what does it intend? Depth is the extent, the strength, deepness
is a distinguishable degree of item. When person negotiations about deepness of
word picture, they are speaking about the degree of strength that person is
utilizing in order to depict a character. John Ernst Steinbeck, in The Pearl, Of
Mice and Men, and The Grapes of Wrath describes many of his chief characters in
great deepness. In Steinbeck & # 8217 ; s Of Mice and Men, a narrative of two going labourers
who are on their manner to a occupation lading barley at a California spread. The two most
of import characters in the novel are George Milton and Lennie Small. They are
ordinary workingmans, traveling from town to town and occupation to occupation, but they symbolize
much more than that. Their names give us our first intimations about them. One of
Steinbeck & # 8217 ; s favourite books when he was turning up was Paradise Lost by John
Milton. In this long verse form, Milton describes the beginnings of immorality in the universe.
He tells of Lucifer & # 8217 ; s autumn from Eden and the creative activity of snake pit. He besides
describes Adam and Eve & # 8217 ; s autumn from grace in the Garden of Eden. By giving George
the last name of Milton, Steinbeck seems to be demoing that he is an illustration of
fallen adult male, person who is doomed to loneliness and who wants to return to the
Garden of Eden. Possibly this is why George is ever speaking about holding his
ain topographic point and life & # 8220 ; off the fat of the land, & # 8221 ; as Adam and Eve did before their
autumn. Lennie is anything but little physically. He is a large adult male who is frequently
described with carnal images. In the opening scene of the book his custodies are
called paws and he snorts like a Equus caballus ( Steinbeck, Mice 3 ) . Yet Lennie is little
on encephalons and on duty. Person has ever taken attention of Lennie and
done his thought and speaking for him. First his Aunt Clara looked after him,
and now George does. He is like a kid, a term George uses several times in
depicting Lennie to Slim. Lennie has a kid & # 8217 ; s short attending span and
inclination to hang onto one thought pig-headedly & # 8211 ; the coneies he will acquire to be given. He
is guiltless and & # 8220 ; has no beastliness in him. & # 8221 ; In a sense, Lennie and George are both
little work forces. They will ne’er be celebrated or sum to anything great. Even their
dream is a modest 1. The spread George is believing about costs merely $ 600. They
will hold merely a few poulets and hogs and, of class, coneies ( Steinbeck, Mice
56 ) . They will non hold to work existent difficult. George and Lennie are practically
antonyms in the manner they look and in their personalities. George is described
as little and speedy with crisp characteristics. Lennie is described as large, slow witted,
and shapeless of face. George can comfortably suit into the spread hands & # 8217 ; universe.
He plays quoitss with the others and goes along to the brothel on Saturday
dark. Lennie plays alternatively with his puppy in the barn and spends Saturday dark
in Crooks & # 8217 ; room with the other castawaies & # 8211 ; Crooks, Candy, and Curley & # 8217 ; s married woman. Yet
it is really hard to look at George and Lennie individually. Over and over,
under Lennie & # 8217 ; s suggestion, George explains that their uniqueness prevarications in the fact
that they are together. As Lennie says ( reiterating George & # 8217 ; s words ) : & # 8220 ; But non us!
An & # 8217 ; why? Because & # 8230 ; because I got you to look after me, and you got me to look
after you, and that & # 8217 ; s why. & # 8221 ; It is said that Sigmund Freud, the celebrated
psychoanalyst, has written that each individual has two sides & # 8211 ; the self-importance and the Idaho.
The self-importance is the individual & # 8217 ; s believing side, the leader figure within him or her. The
Idaho is the physical side of the individual, the organic structure and senses. George is evidently
the leader of the two work forces ; he does all of their thought. He remembers the
things that must be remembered and instructs Lennie about them. Lennie, on the
other manus, is all organic structure. He & # 8220 ; thinks & # 8221 ; with his senses. The most of import parts
of Lennie & # 8217 ; s organic structure are his custodies. He likes to touch soft things, and he does so
without believing. That & # 8217 ; s why he keeps acquiring into problem. Lennie crushes
Curley & # 8217 ; s manus with his manus, and breaks the cervixs of his puppy and Curley & # 8217 ; s married woman
when his custodies get the better of him. It is interesting to observe that Lennie gets
in problem merely when George is non about. Steinbeck seems to be stating that a
organic structure without a head commanding it can easy acquire carried off. A individual must be
a balance of self-importance and Idaho. Another manner to look at George and Lennie is
scientifically. Remember that Steinbeck was besides a marine life scientist. An
of import biological relationship is mutualism. Many times in nature two
different sorts of workss or animate beings live in what is called a symbiotic
relationship. That means each one needs the other in order to populate. George and
Lennie need each other in the same manner. It is obvious why Lennie needs George.
George does his thought for him and attempts to maintain him out of problem. But why
does George necessitate Lennie? Lennie is more than merely George & # 8217 ; s comrade who keeps
him from being lonely. Lennie makes George particular. As George says to Slim in
Chapter 3, & # 8220 ; L
ennie made me look God curse smart alongside of him….” He adds, “I
ain & # 8217 ; t got no people. I seen the cats that go about on spreads entirely. That ain & # 8217 ; T
no good. They don & # 8217 ; Ts have no merriment. After a long clip they get mean. & # 8221 ; George Tells
Lennie that he could hold so much merriment without him, traveling into town and possibly
passing his money in a brothel. But if he did these things he would be merely
like all the other ciphers on the spread. Lennie forces George to maintain repetition
the vision of the future farm. George seems bored or rag each clip he begins
to state the narrative, but shortly he gets more aroused himself. Lennie & # 8217 ; s enthusiasm
keeps the vision fresh and alive. When George spots Curley & # 8217 ; s married woman & # 8217 ; s organic structure in the
barn, he says, & # 8220 ; I & # 8217 ; ll work my month an & # 8217 ; I & # 8217 ; ll take my 50 bucks an & # 8217 ; I & # 8217 ; ll remain
all dark in some icky cat house & # 8230 ; . & # 8221 ; George knows he will be merely another
ranch manus without Lennie. One other manner that Steinbeck intimations at George & # 8217 ; s need
for Lennie is that whenever George is in the bunk house without Lennie around,
he plays solitaire. George is fundamentally a lone wolf without Lennie. So Lennie is
right so when he says that George takes attention of him, and he takes attention of
George. There is a 3rd manner to look at the relationship of the two work forces & # 8211 ; a
scriptural manner. Remember that the Bible was besides a really of import influence on
Steinbeck & # 8217 ; s composing. George and Lennie & # 8217 ; s narrative has some strong reverberations of the
narrative of Cain and Abel in Genesis. Make you retrieve that narrative? Cain draws Abel
into a field and kills him. When God asks where Abel is, Cain answers, & # 8220 ; Am I my
brother & # 8217 ; s keeper? & # 8221 ; George is non truly Lennie & # 8217 ; s brother, but he is the closest
thing to household that Lennie has. George is clearly Lennie & # 8217 ; s keeper. He besides is
Lennie & # 8217 ; s slayer. Harmonizing to the Bible, after Cain putting to deaths Abel, he is forced to
roll the Earth entirely as a fleeting, hankering for Eden but ne’er acquiring at that place.
George excessively will be a alone roamer who no thirster has his vision of a garden
and paradise without Lennie.
In The Pearl, a narrative about a hapless Indian fisherman, Kino who lives on the Gulf
of California with his married woman, Juana and his infant boy, Coyotito. They live in a
simple hut and depend on nature for endurance. Despite the poorness, Kino is happy,
honest, and hardworking.He is a dignified pearl frogman who works hard to back up
his household ( Steinbeck, Pearl 21 ) . He is a simple and natural being who maps
good in the traditional ways of the small town. Kino is witting of his poorness
and knows that money could purchase things that he lacks. He hopes to happen a pearl
that will vouch him future peace. Like most human existences, he wants to acquire
in front. Kino depends on nature for his income. When the Waterss are unsmooth, he
can non travel plunging. When the Sun sets, his workday terminals. The find of a great
pearl alterations Kino & # 8217 ; s life. The adult male who normally hears the & # 8220 ; Song of the Family & # 8221 ; –
the harmonious, soothing message that all is good in life & # 8211 ; begins to hear the
voice of intuition, the sounds of danger & # 8211 ; the & # 8220 ; Song of Evil. & # 8221 ; This vocal is
truly a powerful internal voice that he hears when danger arises, which links
him to his ascendants as a kind of built & # 8211 ; in protection against decease. It is
Steinbeck & # 8217 ; s poetic manner of mentioning to Kino & # 8217 ; s survival inherent aptitude. On the other
manus, Kino & # 8217 ; s intelligence and growing in societal consciousness aid him recognize that
he and other American indians have been exploited by the rich and powerful. At first,
instinctively, he senses the danger with the physician and pearl purchasers, but it is
merely after his barbarous brush with the trackers that he becomes cognizant of the
extent of this development. He comes to recognize that human existences will kill in
order to derive money and power. As Kino moves off from his natural home ground, he
becomes isolated. With the pearl in manus, he marches toward the metropolis & # 8211 ; a
symbolic move toward a more complex civilisation & # 8211 ; in his belief that he can
trade with & # 8220 ; civilized & # 8221 ; people. He lays claim to the benefits of civilisation –
power, money, an instruction for Coyotito & # 8211 ; but shortly realizes, when pursued by the
trackers, that he is a victim of the really society in which he hopes to gain a
net income. Some readers believe that Kino brings about his ain ruin by traveling
against the forces of nature. Kino loses more than his societal artlessness in the
novel. He learns that he, excessively, can kill to protect his opportunity for wealth and
power. Some readers point out that Kino is the exploited but guiltless adult male who
loses his artlessness when he tries to venture beyond his societal boundaries.
Others see Kino as the symbol of an honest, difficult & # 8211 ; working adult male destroyed by
greed. Still others see him as a adult male unable to get away his destiny. Kinos, married woman
Juana is another of import character who is instantly pointed out in the first
chapter of The Pearl. She is a loving and devoted married woman, the stabilising force in
Kino & # 8217 ; s life. At first you may see her merely as subservient. But Juana has great
interior strength and finding. For illustration, when Coyotito is bitten by the
Scorpio, Juana acts instantly and sucks out the toxicant. She besides insists that
they see the physician & # 8211 ; an unheard of event in the small town. Juana has a strong
endurance inherent aptitude where her household is concerned. When the physician refuses to
handle the babe, Kino responds by ineffectually pluging the gate ; Juana puts a
seaweed cataplasm on the babe & # 8217 ; s shoulder. She responds with the same sort of
direct action when she decides that the pearl is a menace to her household. She
attempts to throw it back in the sea.
