Of Mice and Men: The Sufferer
This is my fourth quarter English essay. (We were reading about, Of Mice and Men).
Of Mice and Men, simply said, is a tragedy. The novel starts off with two men who have brilliant hopes and dreams. It is concluded, devastatingly, with one of them shooting the other. None of the characters in the novel gain anything. Everyone loses something, be it a dog or a hand or even faith. The character who suffers the most and loses the most is George, even though he seems to have it all. In my opinion, he leads a life full of suffering. This includes not only the few days shown in Of Mice and Men but also in his past and future.
Through conversation, George's past is revealed: He knew Lennie as a child and promised Lennie's Aunt Clara that he would take care of Lennie. With this pledge, he sold his entire life away. As George himself said, "...if I were alone I could live so easy. When the end of the month come I could take my fifty bucks and go into town and get whatever I want. Why, I could stay in a cat-house all night. I could eat any place I want, hotel or any place, and order any damn thing I could think of."(1.89) Because of this, he never really has a chance to enjoy life. Lennie would always get himself and George in trouble, and George would have to get themselves out of the trouble. He was a burden to George. But George stays with Lennie. The first reason is, they are friends, and George believes that friendship is more important than anything else. Another explanation is that when George and Lennie were young, George would take advantage of the trust Lennie had for him. George probably regrets it and wants to make up for it by making sure no one else would use Lennie. Yet another reason, because George depends on Lennie. Lennie possesses inhumanly strength and George relies on his friend's brawn when it comes to jobs. George also likes having someone to listen to him and do what he says.
The story Of Mice and Men occurs over a course of three days. During these days, George establishes a dream ranch with Old Candy, the swamper. They have everything planned out: where it's going to be, how they're going to get it, when they're going to get it, what they're going to do there... But what they overlook is that this dream ranch could easily be lost. If one of them three got in trouble, it would be all over. Therefore when George and Candy find out Lennie had killed Curley's wife, it strikes them hard. The dream to settle down at a place where they could call their own is gone, just as Crooks predicted. It is a dream departed.
The final blow for George is when he has to shoot Lennie. With Lennie dead, it would seem that George is finally free from his promise to Aunt Clara, but in fact George would lose three things. First: his friend. Second: his entire life from when he first met Lennie till Lennie's death. His existence which had been dedicated to helping Lennie is now worthless, since Lennie is now dead. What could he do now? His past is wasted. Third: his future. Slowly, George would be eaten away by something called "insanity" and its companion, "regret". No one could live through the fact that he had just killed his one and only best friend. Even if he does, he would live the rest of his days locked up in a room, where no one could help him. He would eventually be known as "that crazy ol' guy" whose name no one remembers.
To sum it up, George loses the first half of his life, in which he had been taking of Lennie, his dream, his friend, and likely his future. Isn't it true, then, that if you're born a sufferer, you live a sufferer?
Through conversation, George's past is revealed: He knew Lennie as a child and promised Lennie's Aunt Clara that he would take care of Lennie. With this pledge, he sold his entire life away. As George himself said, "...if I were alone I could live so easy. When the end of the month come I could take my fifty bucks and go into town and get whatever I want. Why, I could stay in a cat-house all night. I could eat any place I want, hotel or any place, and order any damn thing I could think of."(1.89) Because of this, he never really has a chance to enjoy life. Lennie would always get himself and George in trouble, and George would have to get themselves out of the trouble. He was a burden to George. But George stays with Lennie. The first reason is, they are friends, and George believes that friendship is more important than anything else. Another explanation is that when George and Lennie were young, George would take advantage of the trust Lennie had for him. George probably regrets it and wants to make up for it by making sure no one else would use Lennie. Yet another reason, because George depends on Lennie. Lennie possesses inhumanly strength and George relies on his friend's brawn when it comes to jobs. George also likes having someone to listen to him and do what he says.
The story Of Mice and Men occurs over a course of three days. During these days, George establishes a dream ranch with Old Candy, the swamper. They have everything planned out: where it's going to be, how they're going to get it, when they're going to get it, what they're going to do there... But what they overlook is that this dream ranch could easily be lost. If one of them three got in trouble, it would be all over. Therefore when George and Candy find out Lennie had killed Curley's wife, it strikes them hard. The dream to settle down at a place where they could call their own is gone, just as Crooks predicted. It is a dream departed.
The final blow for George is when he has to shoot Lennie. With Lennie dead, it would seem that George is finally free from his promise to Aunt Clara, but in fact George would lose three things. First: his friend. Second: his entire life from when he first met Lennie till Lennie's death. His existence which had been dedicated to helping Lennie is now worthless, since Lennie is now dead. What could he do now? His past is wasted. Third: his future. Slowly, George would be eaten away by something called "insanity" and its companion, "regret". No one could live through the fact that he had just killed his one and only best friend. Even if he does, he would live the rest of his days locked up in a room, where no one could help him. He would eventually be known as "that crazy ol' guy" whose name no one remembers.
To sum it up, George loses the first half of his life, in which he had been taking of Lennie, his dream, his friend, and likely his future. Isn't it true, then, that if you're born a sufferer, you live a sufferer?
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