“rain had called up tall recruits behind the shed,” this quote shows the father cannot destroy them .They differ in the way they felt powerless however as in Nettles the father is feeling powerless because of a physical threat whereas in Harmonium it is an emotional threat of the inevibility of death and unspoken feelings that makes the writer feel powerless. Furthermore they both include the reality of family life as the poems are realistic and the poems, especially Nettles, have both the love and misery of family relationships. In Nettles the love in the poem is the protective instincts of a parent towards his son but the misery is the Nettles that had hurt his child and the fact that being protective isn’t enough to stop him from getting hurt. The realistic relationship in Harmonium is the family resentment and frustration from a son to his father. We can tell that the writer resents and is frustrated by his father as it says “and he being him can’t help but say.......... and I, being me” which shows that he is frustrated at their relationship.
Candy and his dog almost shared the same relationship of George and Lennie. Like Lennie, Candy’s dog depends on George to take care of him and show him what to do. Candy had his dog as a constant companion, now he felt worthless as he didn’t own a single important thing. Loneliness is an inevitable fact of life that not even the strongest can avoid. Throughout the story, Of Mice and Men, the reader feels remorse for the characters as they endure from the loneliness of the ranch.
One of the characters who proves this is Crooks. Crooks is the stable hand who works with the ranch horses. He lives by himself because he is the only “nigger” on the ranch. Crooks is a bookworm who likes to keep his room neat, but he is constantly beaten down by the never-ending loneliness and prejudicial treatment he receives because of his skin color. Because of this inhumane treatment he is now suspicious of any kindness he receives.
To save himself Crooks tries to explain to Lennie how it feels to be lonely, ‘Maybe you can see now, you got George. You know he’s goin’ to come back.’ This monologue is important Crooks is lonely in many ways: he is crippled so he is isolated from society, he is black and he is intelligent all of which set him apart from anyone else on the ranch. At this point animal language is used again for Lennie. Crooks discusses how life would be for Lennie if he was on his own, ‘They’ll tie you up with a collar, like a dog.’ Words like ‘growled’ also show how Lennie’s temperament changes. Please note that animal language is used the most during tense scenes.
The writer portrays him to be lonely through the quote “S’pose you couldn’t go into the bunk house and play rummy ‘cause you was black” as he is segregated from rest of the ranch men. The quote suggests that he can’t go to the bunk house and do activities that other men do. The author uses colloquial language in this quote to show that all the ranch men are equal, which is in contrast with racism faced by Crook’s, Through the word “you” the author is indirectly involving the readers so that they could understand Crook’s feelings. Steinbeck also shows loneliness in crooks life by describing his possessions and his room. The quote “ And scattered about the floor were a number of personal possessions; for, being alone, crooks could leave his things about...and he had accumulated more possession than he could carry on his back” signifies the fact that he was completely lonely.
This highlights the main theme of the novel: loneliness. Living alone in his room Crooks craves the company of others but, because of his coloured skin and the era he lived in, he is shown to be separated from the other ranch workers and thus suffering from loneliness more than his colleagues. Because of his skin colour, Crooks is shown to have “kept his distance and demanded that other people kept theirs.” Steinbeck describes how crooks wants others to stay away from him and reciprocates their feelings towards him but, later in the novel, he reveals that he is very lonely all by himself and would like to have someone to talk to. However, because he is so used to being shunted away by society, he pushes everyone away from him before they have the chance to do the same, portraying him as a “proud, aloof man”. Again, this fact highlights Crooks' loneliness and, even though he has convinced himself he doesn’t need anyone else, he knows the pleasure of having company and this is something that can’t be replaced by the many possessions he has acquired.
Carver came from a broken family, who never supported him and this inspires a lot of his stories, as the sequence of event are similar to his own. For this reason, a lot of the characters in his stories are lonely, and unhappy as he lacked a stable family and the support from them. Steinbeck depicts poverty as leading to happiness and this is due to the fact that he did not directly experience severe poverty and he managed to get the support from his father. For this reason, the characters depict happiness and unity as a result of poverty. Due to them writing in their respective times, their
Even thinking about a place to belong to and friends to be with fills an old worker with hope, replacing his fear of not being needed on the ranch anymore. Friendship is not only a necessity, but it is also something that is wanted greatly by mankind. Steinbeck’s characters all have their sorrow
As the story progresses Curley's wife and Crooks admit their prolonged loneliness. George's loneliness is understandable because he has been given the responsibility to look after a grown man who lacks intelligence and common sense. He is also alienated by the other workers on the farm. George reminds Lennie that men like them, who migrate from farm to farm are the loneliest of all men. He explains to Lennie that they only have each other, "...because I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you..."(14 Steinbeck).
By giving good descriptions Steinbeck is able to make the reader feel sympathy for Crooks , Lennie, Candy and as they have to deal with prejudice. Crooks have to live in the stables by himself because he is a “nigger” and therefore not allowed to enjoy some qualities of life. Lennie is mentally slow so people treat him bad. When George and Lennie goes to the farm to get the job George has to cover for him because if the boss knows that he is mentally slow then they would not get a job. Candy has to deal with prejudice because he is old and he only has one hand.