‘Of Mice and Men’ by john Steinbeck and ‘The Withered Arm’ by Thomas Hardy Essay

Points of comparison between ‘Of Mice and Men’ by john Steinbeck and ‘The Withered Arm’ by Thomas Hardy. Include social and historical context, setting, plot, characters, theme and language. ‘The Withered Arm’ written by Thomas Hardy and ‘Of Mice and Men’ written by John Steinbeck have many differences in their social and historical background but similarities can be seen between the two. Of Mice and Men’ is set in Soledad, California during America’s great depression in the 1930’s. Transport was very different then, most people travelled around on foot or by horseback. There were busses but very few of them and if you were a couple of ‘bindle stiffs’ like George and Lennie you never got a full ride or taken to where you wanted to go. A train were available but for people like George and Lennie hiding in boxcars and riding for free was more common. As it was during the great depression many business es went bankrupt and many people lost their jobs. This was the reason that many people, including George and Lennie, travelled around so much looking for work. Work was mostly found on farms and ranches but pay was very little. Wages were $50 per month with food and accommodation included. However the accommodation was very basic, they were communal bunkhouses so George and Lennie and anyone else had little privacy. Jobs on the ranch weren’t that glamorous either, ‘barley bucking’ was the most common then there were skinners, stable bucks and swappers. There were few employment rights and no job security because as soon as a job was finished workers were just dropped and had to move on to find other jobs in other places. Even through all the work there was plenty of entertainment. Betting and gambling were very popular, any chance they had to play a game of horse shoes or a game of cards they would more than likely always have a bet on each game. When they had enough money they would go into the local town for a couple of drinks in ‘cat houses’. Punishment for any crime committed was severe, but there was no real law. It was normal for just anyone to take the law in to their own hands, as shown in the story when Lennie killed Curley’s wife and Curley went out to shoot Lennie and it wouldn’t matter, † ‘ I’m gonna get him. I’m going for my shotgun. I’ll kill the big son-of-a-bitch myself’ † ‘The Withered Arm’ is set in holmstoke in Wessex in the mid 1800’s. Holmstoke is a very isolated little village and is only joined to Anglebury, a near town, by a cart track. Transport back then was even more primitive than in ‘Of Mice and Men’. People mostly travelled by foot and by horse and cart along dirt tracks, as there were no proper roads. Pretty much everyone was labouring class as the only jobs really available were on farms an d land. Dairy and animal farming was very popular. The farms were owned by wealthier farmers that employed the local people to do the farming and dairy work. The wages were 37p per week, which just like in ‘Of Mice and Men’ is very little. The women did the milking in the dairies and cider making and the men did the harvesting, just like in ‘Of Mice and Men’, cropping and wood cutting but just like in ‘Of Mice and Men’ there was little job security and hardly any employment rights. Entertainment was still a big part of people’s lives. The farmers had house gatherings and even back in the 1800’s drinking was still popular as in ‘Of Mice and Men’. Local bands were often booked for traditional dances and festivals. They celebrated Christmas with little plays from house to house. You could also go and see a hanging when there was one and purchase a part of the rope used. Punishments for even little crimes like theft could be punishable by death. There were almost no legal rights for anyone in the labouring class and if u were just thought to be guilty of a crime you could still be hanged for it and you weren’t given a chance to prove yourself innocent. The settings for these two stories are quite similar even though both are set in different countries and years apart. In ‘Of Mice and Men’ a vision of the place is clearly described. It is set on a rural farm that ‘bucks barley’. The local town is Soledad where the men found some of their entertainment. Steinbeck makes the setting sound very bare and lonely and portrays the idea that the farm is cut off and very much on its own very well. The valley is described well and is described as open and free, â€Å"On one side of the river the golden foot hill slopes curve up to the strong and rocky Gabilian Mountains, but on the valley side the water is lined with trees†. There is a ‘brush’ in this story, which Steinbeck mentions clearly, â€Å"The sycamore leaves turned up their silversides, the brown, dry leaves on the ground scudded a few feet†. Farming is a big part in each story as well, even though the farms themselves are different , the different types of countrysides are both described well by each other in their own well. In ‘The Withered Arm’ a clear description of it’s setting is also given. This story is also set in and around farmland but this farm is a dairy farm unlike the one in ‘Of Mice and Men’. The setting in this story however is much greener with more of a typical English countryside. It is set just outside of Holmstoke and is surrounded by Egdon Heath, which is described as barren moorland, â€Å"their course lay apart from the others to a lonely spot high above the water-meads and not far from the border of Egdon Heath, whose dark countenance was visible in the distance†. This makes the place sound very cut off and lonely just as in ‘Of Mice and Men’. In ‘The Withered Arm’ dairy farming dominates and is the main way of working and living just like in ‘Of Mice and Men’ where crop farming is the main way of working and living. In each of the stories there are similarities in the plots. In ‘Of Mice and Men’ Lennie and George are two incomers to the farm where the story is based. They are wor kers that travel around to find work in different places and to gat some money. They arrive just down the road from the farm as the bus driver refuses to drive them any further. They are there to work as ‘barley buckers’ which is pretty much the lowest rank of worker. Their welcome to the farm from the other workers wasn’t that pleasant because to them Lennie and George were just another pair of passers by. When they first arrived all they got was a † ‘ The boss was expectin’ you last night’ † The other workers were a bit curious about George and Lennie because normally men travel around on their own so they thought there was something suspicious going off between them,† ‘say-what you sellin’?’ † In ‘Of Mice and Men’ Curley’s hand gets broken. Curley provokes Lennie and starts hitting him, Lennie is really very gentle but he grabs hold of Curley’s hand and squeezes it until he ends up breaking every bone, † Looks to me like ever’ bone in his han’ is bust†. Also in both stories there is an unhappy marriage. In ‘Of Mice and Men’ the unhappy marriage is the marriage of Curley and his wife. She’s thought of so little that she isn’t even given a name. She tells Lennie how she only married Curley on the rebound to get away from her mother, † Well, I wasn’t gonna stay no place where I couldn’t get nowhere or make something of myself, an’ where they stole your letters. So I married Curley. Met him out to the Riverside Dance Palace that same night† Curley doesn’t seem to pay that much attention to her or care about her, as he doesn’t hesitate to go to the ‘cat house’ in town with all the guys and leave her on her own. In ‘The Withered Arm’ the incomer in this story is Gertrude. She enters the story as Farmer Lodges new wife. Unlike Lennie and George, Gertrude enters the story at the top of the social scale. However, like George and Lennie she also doesn’t receive the friendliest of welcomes and all the villages are very curious about her on her arrival, † ‘Well, did you see her?’ â€Å". In ‘The Withered Arm’ there is also an injury but this one is very different to the one in ‘Of Mice and Men’. This injury has a strange, paranormal meaning to it as the dream Rhoda had about hitting Gertrude’s arm mysteriously comes true when a hand mark appears on her arm and it starts to wither, â€Å"She uncovered her left arm, and their outline confronted Rhoda’s gaze as the exact original of the limb she had beheld and seized in her dream†. In this story there is also an unhappy marriage of Gertrude and Farmer Lodge. At the beginning of the story they seem like a happy couple in love but he only really sees her as is pretty girl to go on his arm, â€Å"you must expect to be stared at just at first, my pretty Gertrude†. When Gertrude becomes marked and her arm begins to wither, Farmer Lodge begins to loose interest. As Gertrude becomes imperfect the marriage begins to fall apart, â€Å"‘six years off marriage and only a few months of love’ † The female characters in both stories have many differences through how they live but some similarities can be made between the three. In ‘Of Mice and Men’ the female character is Curley’s wife. She is described as young and pretty but she hates the life she’s got with Curley on the farm. She had dreams of living a life a luxury and being put it the ‘pitchers’, † ‘Well a show come through, an’ I met one of the actors. He says I could go with that show’ â€Å". Women were pretty much at the bottom of the social scale compared to men so Curley treated her like she belonged to him, Steinbeck show this in the story by not giving her a name and just referring to her as Curley’s wife. Curley goes off in to town with the other guys in to the ‘cat house’ withou t giving his wife any consideration. In ‘The Withered Arm’ there are two female characters, Gertrude Lodge and Rhoda Brook. Rhoda is a dairymaid on Farmer Lodges farm and just like Curley’s wife has been treated badly by a man. Rhoda had once bin the lover of Farmer Lodge and accidentally got pregnant, because of this Farmer Lodge ended it and left her to bring up their son on her own with no help. He tries to ignore her and his own son and tries to pretend he doesn’t really know who they are. When he sees his son he discards him as just another villager, † ‘I think he lives with his mother a mile or two off’ † the way Rhoda was treated by Farmer Lodge shows that she was just being used and treated like an object and not properly respected like she should be, this is just like how Curley treated his wife in ‘Of Mice and Men’. Gertrude Lodge is Farmer Lodges new wife. He is very proud of her in a way at the beginning because she is young and beautiful. However all this does change, when Gertrude’s arm begins wither and she become imperfect, Farmer Lodge slowly begins to loose interest. In this way she is also treated badly by a man like Curley’s wife and Rhoda Brook were. Farmer Lodge got to think very little of Gertrude, as she never gave him a child along with her disfigurement, he grew to not love her just because of they way she looked. In both stories all the women were treated very unfairly by men and can relate to one another by how badly they were treated by men. Each stories has different themes but the two main themes in these stories are friendship and loneliness. In ‘Of Mice and Men’, Candy, Crooks and Curley’s wife are the three main lonely ones. These three are considered at the bottom of the social scale. Candy is lonely because he is old and only has one hand, Crooks is lonely because he also has a disability and he is black and black people weren’t thought of very highly because of the colour of their skin and Curley’s wife is lonely because she is female and women were considered to be second class to men, she is only seen as Curley’s wife and not her own individual person. All three are lonely because they’re all different or have a disability in some way. The idea of loneliness is also expressed through the things Steinbeck writes about. When George is in the bunkhouse playing cards, â€Å"his solitaire hand† is mentioned, solitaire a game played on your own so this shows George’s loneliness. Also the local town is called Soledad and ‘sole’ is also expressing the loneliness of the story. The main and strongest friendship in ‘Of Mice and Men’ is the friendship of Lennie and George. When the Great Depression hit America men travelled around on their own looking for work but Lennie and George travel together. George and Lennie have been friends for years and Lennie is ‘simple’ so needs looking after, George is the one to do this, he looks after Lennie the best he can and cares for him. From some of things George says you can tell that he does care about him. â€Å"Jesus Christ, you’re a crazy bastard!† is said in a kind of sarcastic way and shows that George does like Lennie and cares for him but try’s not to show it. In ‘The Withered Arm’ Gertrude is the lonely one. She is lonely because she has come into the story and enters Holmstoke as a complete stranger and doesn’t know anyone. She finds herself very much alone after her arm starts to wither and her husband beings to loose interest in her and ignore her. Just like Candy and Crooks in ‘Of Mice of Men’ one of the reasons she feels loneliness is because of a disability or injury. The main friendship in ‘The Withered Arm’ is the friendship of Rhoda and Gertrude. This friendship is very different to the one of Lennie and George in ‘Of Mice and Men’. At first Rhoda didn’t like Gertrude just because she married Farmer Lodge and then Rhoda has her strange dream. When Rhoda meets Gertrude she sees how nice she is and then she finds out about Gertrude’s withering arm and realises it’s because of her dream and Rhoda feels guilty. Unlike Lennie and George’s friendship being based on care and love this friendship is partly based on Rhoda’s guilt over disliking Gertrude in the first place. In both stories dialect and slang are used by each writer to give you a more realistic view on each of the characters and the stories. In ‘Of Mice and Men’ the slang and dialect used could be quite hard to understand. In 1930’s California the speech is a very old American accent. Steinbeck used this in his story to convey a more realistic picture of the characters and how they spoke. † ‘She slang her pups last night,’ † said slim, simply means that she gave birth last night to her new puppies. † †Cause I can jus’ as well go away, George, an’ live in a cave’ â€Å", Simply means ‘of course, I can just go away and live in a cave’. † ‘We’ll take ‘um into Soledad an’ get ‘um fixed up’ â€Å", all ‘um means is him, and the ‘d’ is misses off of ‘and’. Using the actually dialect and slang makes the story sound more real and to try and give you more of an idea about what each character is like. In ‘The Withered Arm’ Hardy also uses slang and dialect to bring his characters to life and make them sound more realistic through the way they speak. Nineteenth century ‘Wessex’ has a very different dia lect to ‘Of Mice and Men’. † ‘He do bring his bride home tomorrow’ â€Å", almost doesn’t make sense but it just mean that ‘he will bring his bride home’. † ‘Ah- ’tis all a-scram’ â€Å", just means that ‘it is all shrivelled up’. The dialect in this story also has completely different word for things like ‘chimmer’ means bedroom and ‘fancied’ means imagined. Hardy uses all this language to make his story and characters more believable and to give the effect of the place it’s set in. Out of these two stories I preferred ‘Of Mice and Men’ by john Steinbeck. I think that this story has more of a powerful ending than ‘The Withered Arm’. I think that ‘Of Mice and Men’ is more realistic than ‘The Withered Arm’ because in ‘The Withered Arm’ the ending is all tied up neatly and really that’s not like real life. Where as in ‘Of Mice and Men’ it just ends and is left open like it can carry on, just like life really is. â€Å"Curley and Carlson looked after them. And Carlson said, ‘Now what the hell ya suppose is eatin’ them two guys?’ â€Å". I think that ‘Of Mice and Men’ has a more interesting plot that keeps your reading till the end unlike ‘The Withered Arm’ that I found got a bit boring.