Dreams in of mice and men Essay Example for Free

Dreams in of mice and men Essay Of Mice and Men Dreams Of Mice and Men is set in Salinas, California in the 1930s Great Depression. Life was hard and men could be cruel. Hope might be the only escape from hard reality. This links to the American Dream – represented in George and Lennie’s dream of working hard and getting their own land and farm, and control over their own lives. But it was harder than ever to achieve due to the tough economic conditions of the Depression. After Lennie’s death, it might be possible for George to realise his dream, but the emptiness at the end of the novel shows that financial success is nothing when you are lonely. So the dream is not just something to own, or possess, but also something to share. ‘Compassion and love’, to Steinbeck – as outlined in his Nobel Prize speech are the most important things, as is ‘hope’ – having a dream. Lennie and George have a fairly simple dream: to own a small farm, and be their own bosses, which contrasts with the large factory type farm they are on, where men are treated like machines, which are frequently broken (Crooks and Candy), and isolated from each other. George repeats his and Lennie’s dream like a mantra: ‘we got a future’, suggesting that they are different to the others. ‘Future’ here is a metaphor for something bright, and greater than what they have now – like the American Dream to ‘live off the fatta the land’. The phrase ‘fat of the land’ almost suggests a biblical promised land after the hard, ‘wilderness’ years. The function of the dream therefore is to help them to endure hardship and not give in to despair. They want control of their own lives: ‘we’ll just say the hell with goin to work’. This can make them seem naive however, as farmers have to work whether they want to or not – especially smallholders. When George sets out the dream, he then says that he and Lennie are ‘not like those other guys’. The dream sets George and Lennie apart from the others; they make themselves special: in the inclusive ‘we’ against the exclusive ‘those other guys’. The juxtaposition of ‘us’ and ‘them’ verbally bonds the protagonists together in contrast to the other men – even though they are all, George, Lennie, Crooks, Candy, in the same situation. Still, George and Lennie separate themselves from the others by using the third person to describe farm hands as, ‘the loneliest guys in the world.’ The superlative ‘loneliest’ and hyperbole ‘in the world’ exaggerates the harshness of the world of the Depression as shown in the novel. Sometimes it seems that George ‘owns’ the dream – as he is the one who tells it to Lennie, like a child’s bedtime story, prayer or mantra, in keeping with his role as ‘parent/protector’ to his child-like companion. This is emphasised by the simple, mantra-like structure, where Lennie keeps filling in the gaps if George hesitates, and repeating short phrases after him as if he knows it by heart, even though – as George says frustratedly, Lennie always ‘forgets’ everything else. It is not always certain if George believes the dream is possible or if he is saying it to keep Lennie quiet. Sometimes, George seems sceptical, saying they will have ‘every colour rabbits’ including ‘red and blue’. He is patronising to Lennie, saying ‘good boy’, keeping him safe from his own stupidity. In these scenes the dream seems more of a spell or placebo to keep the main characters safe than something that is really possible. Other characters are very cynical about the dream. The reader is made to question how realistic these dreams are. Curley’s wife dreams of when she threw away the chance to become famous, but we can see that her dream is a sham. Of George and Lennie’s dream, Crooks says: ‘every damn one of them’s got a little piece of land in his head’. Crooks’ final judgement is that ‘never a God damn one of ‘em ever gets it.’ The repetition of the absolute ‘never’ and ‘ever’, as well as the strong slang ‘God damn’ emphasises how desperate life is. However, it is not certain whether Steinbeck shares Crooks’ negative view. Crooks is an extreme character. His language is hyperbole – very extreme and relentlessly negative. Crooks’ phrase ‘God damn’ suggests that God has abandoned these men, in contrast to the biblical image of hope in George and Lennie’s dream of living ‘off the fatta the land’. The biblical imagery continues negatively when Crooks compares the dream of land to being ‘like Heaven’ – the Christian idea of perfect bliss, not considered a physical reality – and which Crooks says is just as impossible to get as a piece of land. It’s hard for George to keep Lennie out of trouble and keep them on track for their dream. But when they tell Candy, it starts to seem as if it might be possible. [needs evidence/ quotation/ language analysis] In an instant, Candy’s faith (and money) take them close to the ideal/dream becoming real. As the dream is shared, or heard by more people, the more it seems that together they might make it come true. Even the ultra negative Crooks starts to believe.[needs evidence/ quotation/ language analysis] But all the time, Steinbeck has built up a foreboding feeling, that this world is hard and horrible and nothing good can live in it. We feel that the gentleness of Lennie and George’s friendship, and their shared dream, will be crushed by the cruel world – even by Lennie’s desire for gentle, soft things. ‘I like soft things’ Every time he kills an animal – mouse or puppy, Lennie’s biggest, darkest fear is that he won’t be allowed ‘to tend the rabbits’. The dream is so precious to him that he wants it at any cost. Curley’s wife is lonely and wants someone to listen to her dream. [needs evidence/ quotation/ language analysis] When she finds Lennie in the barn, she lets him stroke her hair. When she starts screaming, Lennie screams at her to stop or ‘George won’t let me tend the rabbits’. She’s so frightened that she can’t stop and Lennie accidentally kills her. In a way, Lennie’s desire to keep the dream (by keeping Curley’s wife quiet – and smothering her) is the thing that has destroyed it. The irony of this makes it even more poignant. When Candy discovers what has happened all he wants to know is that he and George can still get the farm. [needs evidence/ quotation/ language analysis] He loses sight of human decency – the woman is dead and Lennie will soon die too. Steinbeck makes us ask whether any dream of financial prosperity should be more important than human life? Should we try to get it at any cost? At the end, George tells Lennie the ‘fairy story’ of the dream again – to make him happy at the moment he has to kill the dream of togetherness by shooting him in the head. He almost can’t speak because he is so upset. [needs evidence/ quotation/ language analysis] Even though George could still have the farm with Candy, he is deeply sad that he couldn’t keep Lennie alive. Because the dream isn’t worth much when he doesn’t have his old friend to share it with. Lennie loved the dream more than anyone and he never gets it.

The Civil War Essay -- American History, War

The growing decline in morale and suffrage on the Confederate home front eventually led to its collapse between 1864 and 1865. Seeing as it was the main arena for combat during the Civil War, the south felt many effects from the war (N). The prolonged war ultimately led to an economic decline and lack of resources in the Confederacy along with a negative sentiment among southerners (N). Due to the internal demise, the Confederacy could not carry on a war without the support of its home front. Beginning with the onset of the war, differences between the northern and southern economies and resources proved to be detrimental to the Confederacy (N). The north contained the majority of the factories, iron works, and railroads in the United States (N). Agriculture in the north was based on cereal crops whereas the south depended on staple crops (N). In addition, the north contained the majority of the financial assets in the United States and allowed them the ability to fight a prolonged war (N). The south, lacking economic diversity and financial affluence, could only sustain itself for so long before its economy collapsed and the effects threatened the livelihood of its home front (N). As the war continued to escalate, the south began to feel the effects of its inadequacies (N). Due to the lack of transportation resources and the blockade established by the Union, the south was unable to import and export goods needed to maintain its economy (N). The diminishing availability of goods led the Confederate government to search for alternative measures to obtain the financial support required to continue the war (N). The Confederate government decided to pass a progressive income tax and excise tax on goods (N). In additio... ...federacy that it would be too difficult to continue a long drawn out war, especially with its home front in turmoil (T 288). The Civil War was a war in which both sides, the Union and Confederacy, expected a war which would subside quickly (N). With the north having a diverse and abundant number of resources, it was able to fight the war as long as was required (N). As for the Confederacy, from the beginning, it was destined to have its hardships (N). Since most of the war was fought along the home front of the south, the south faced more disparities than the north (N). The home front ultimately played a considerable role in the collapse of the Confederacy. Furthermore, Sherman’s march and the election of 1864 contributed to the inability of the Confederacy to continue the war. The south had a good run, but in the end, its own internal turmoil failed it.

Separation of Mixtures and Solids

After gathering all the material needed to conduct these experiments, the first experiment was initiated. The mixture of solids was weighed out as well as the 10cm square piece of paper and the weighing dish. The mixture was spread out in a very thin layer on a piece of paper, the magnet was wrapped with clear plastic and the magnet was passed over the mixture several times to remove the iron from the mixture.The iron was placed on the 10cm square paper and weighed. The next step was to separate out the sand. The sand was placed in the beaker with 50mL of water and heated to close to boiling. The hot liquid was poured into a Styrofoam cup and another 10mL of distilled water was added to the beaker and again it was heated to near boiling and poured into the same Styrofoam cup. The second heating was to ensure all the sodium chloride and benzoic acid was removed from the sand.The Styrofoam cup was placed into an ice bath, the benzoic acid began crystallizing in the ice bath as it start ed cooling. The sand in the beaker was heated very carefully to allow it to dry. After the sand was dried it was weighed. The benzoic acid and salt were separated. A filter paper was inserted in the funnel and the cup with the salt and benzoic acid was poured into the funnel. A graduated cylinder with 5mL of water was inserted into the ice bath; this was poured into the funnel to eliminate any of the sodium chloride that may have been missed.The filter paper was laid out on several paper towels to dry. After the filter paper has dried it will be weighed and the weight of the filter paper will be subtracted from the total to obtain the exact amount of the benzoic acid. The paper cup of sodium chloride was set aside to allow it to dry. Once it is dry it will be weighed and the weight of the paper cup will be subtracted to obtain the weight of the  sodium chloride.GramsPercent of MixtureTotalsSand5.4g54%54% Iron0.9g9%63% Dried Sand1.2g12%75% Salt1.8g18%93% Benzoic Acid0.7g7%100%Discu ssionI can see room for error when pouring the water out of the beaker some of the sand could be poured out with it, thereby creating an inaccurate result of dried sand. There is also the possibility of some of the benzoic acid and sodium chloride remaining in the beaker, getting stuck to the sides and again creating an inaccurate result for these two mixtures. When the water is poured through the paper in the funnel some of the benzoic acid could remain in the sodium chloride which would create another inaccurate amount for the benzoic acid.The iron could be slightly inaccurate due to the fact that it was not possible to get every single piece off the plastic wrap and into the dish, although the very small pieces may not have added up to much it might have contributed to an inaccurate amount. The initial sand weight is the most accurate; there was no room for error there.Questions1.How did your proposed procedures or flow charts at the beginning of this experiment compare to the ac tual procedures of this lab exercise? I knew the iron could be removed with a magnet. I wasn’t sure how to remove the sodium chloride and benzoic acid. 2.Discuss potential advantaged or disadvantaged of your proposed procedure compared to the one actually used. The only advantage to my procedure was using the magnet to remove the iron. I didn’t know how to remove the sodium chloride or benzoic acid. 3.How would you explain a sand recovery percentage that is higher than the original sand percentage?Perhaps you didn’t remove all the iron out or there was still some sodium chloride or benzoic acid still left in the sand. 4.What were potential sources of error in this experiment? When pouring water out of the beaker some of the sand could be poured out with it. There is also the  possibility of some of the benzoic acid and sodium chloride remaining in the beaker, getting stuck to the sides and again creating an inaccurate result for these two mixtures.When the wat er is poured through the paper in the funnel some of the benzoic acid could remain in the sodium chloride which would create another inaccurate amount for the benzoic acid. The iron could be slightly inaccurate due to the fact that it was not possible to get every single piece off the plastic wrap and into the dish, although the very small pieces may not have added up to much it might have contributed to an inaccurate amount.

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