OF MICE AND MEN Essays (11137 words) - , Term Papers

OF MICE AND MEN KEY LITERARY ELEMENTS SETTING This book is set in two places. It starts beside a stream, close to the Salinas River, a few miles South of Soledad. It then moves to a ranch, where the major part of the story is set. At the end of the novel, the setting comes back to where it started. The stream introduces George and Lennie. They are on their way to a near-by ranch. The surrounding land is thick in vegetation and has its own wild life. Men frequent it, as there are ash piles made by many fires and the limbs of the sycamore tree have been smoothed by the many men who have sat on it. The ranch, where the major part of the story takes place, appears isolated and lonely. It includes a ranch house, a bunkhouse where the ranch workers live, a barn, and a harness-room off the barn. CHARACTERS Major Characters George - the protagonist and main character of the book. He is a caring, compassionate, and understanding human being who dreams of owning his own piece of land. Lennie - the obedient friend of George. He has a child's mind and a giant's body. It is these contrasting qualities that cause him problems. Old Candy - one of the lonely ranch workers. He is a cripple, working as a 'Swamper'. Crooks - a black ranch hand. He is sensible and neat, with a mind of his own. He is a lonely character, who is discriminated against, due to his race. Slim - a ranch worker with leadership qualities. He commands respect from all on the ranch. Curley - the boss's son who is a light weight boxer. He picks fights with everybody on the ranch. Curley's wife - the only woman on the ranch. She is very flirtatious. Minor Characters Carlson - a brutal man. He objects to Candy keeping his old dog. Whit - a ranch worker. He is sent to town to fetch the Sheriff after Curley's wife is murdered. The Boss - a 'mice fella' (in Candy's words). He is more concerned about his work on the ranch than anyone else. CONFLICT Protagonist: The protagonist of the story is George. He is the kind-hearted ranch hand who is concerned about his friend Lennie and watches out for him. Antagonist: The antagonist of the story is George's trying to care for the handicapped Lennie. Because he has a giant's body and a child's mind, Lennie accidentally kills Curley's wife; at the same time he kills the dream of owning a farm that has kept George and Lennie positive about the future Climax: The climax occurs when Lennie accidentally kills Curley's wife. George knows that he can no longer save Lennie, for Curley will want revenge. Outcome: Of Mice and Men ends in tragedy. George feels compelled to mercifully kill his friend and companion, Lennie, in order to save him from a brutal death. The death of Lennie also marks the death of the beautiful dream they have been nurturing. MOOD The dominant mood of the story is that of expectation. This mood is developed through the dreams of the major characters. The other mood that prevails is premonitory, of impending doom. There are also other moods evoked through the actions of the characters reflecting sorrow, pity, and brutality. The novel ends on a tragic note. The mood at the end is definitely one of depression and frustration. PLOT (Synopsis) One evening, two men, on their way to a ranch, stop at a stream near the Salinas River. George, who is short and dark, leads the way. The person following him is Lennie, a giant of a man with huge arms. During their conversation by the stream, George repeatedly asks Lennie to keep his mouth shut on the ranch, suggesting that Lennie has some kind of problem. After supper and before going to sleep, the two of them talk about their dream to own a piece of land. The next day, George and Lennie travel to the ranch to start work. They are given two beds in the bunkhouse. Then Old Candy introduces them to almost everybody on the ranch. They meet the boss and the boss's son Curley, who is quite rude. They also meet Curley's wife when she comes looking for her husband. She wears heavy make-up and possesses a flirtatious attitude. George warns Lennie to behave his best around Curley and his wife. He also suggests that they should meet by the pool if anything unfortunate happens to either

Essay Conclusion Sample

Essay Conclusion SampleWhen you are ready to write an essay, you will want to think about whether to use an essay conclusion or use a simple opinion essay. Both types of essays have their pros and cons, but in the end, most people will write an opinion essay to express their personal feelings about a particular subject.An opinion essay can also be used to make a point. In fact, many schools like to allow students to write their essays in this way. After all, when students are writing for the school paper, they are often considered to be making a point or stating a point of view, and no one wants to be seen as being unduly opinionated. Therefore, a good essay conclusion that supports the point being made is very important.A good essay conclusion for an opinion piece should be three to four sentences long. Make sure it is strong and supported by your argument. Try to come up with five or six supporting ideas for each sentence you include. You don't want to ramble on too much and lose t he reader's attention, so make sure you cover the basics and get right to the point.Sometimes the first paragraph of an essay conclusion can contain an essay quote. Remember, though, that it should not take the place of the argument you have made. It should only be used to support what you have written.In most cases, an essay conclusion sample will include your name, date, and grade. However, it can be something else if you would like. The important thing is that you have included your name so that you can be identified later in the process.Since you now know what an essay conclusion sample looks like, you should think about what you are going to write in order to follow the directions. This is where your imagination comes in handy. Think about a specific situation that is affecting you or someone else you know today. Decide what you would like to write about in your essay conclusion. If you are able to think of several possibilities, try to keep the idea organized and set up the es say topics so that they are easy to remember.Writing an essay conclusion should be easy if you follow the steps above. And once you start writing, you will find it easy to write as well.

Nicomachean Ethics Essays - Social Philosophy, Virtue Ethics

Nicomachean Ethics Essays - Social Philosophy, Virtue Ethics Nicomachean Ethics Philosophy 11/15/99 Achieving excellence in terms of Aristotle's Nichomachean Ethics Before actually focusing on the main details of Aristotle's Argument, we must pay careful attention to the opening remarks he makes in Book I about the nature of his inquiry. The first important point that he stresses is that the study of the character of human beings is dependent on what a human being is. Aristotle states that that a human is not a man that lives in isolation, but a man that also lives with parents, children, wife, and friends and fellow citizens generally, since man is by nature a social and political being. Humans, in other words, derive their identity and accordingly their moral purposes from their participation in their community, from the interaction with their parents, ancestors, friends, customs, institutions and laws. Because of this, every ethical uncertainty or question must be resolved by taking into account the essential and political basis of human life. If one is to discuss what it is that makes a man good, we have to really be considering which decisi ons will actually benefit or make the society good. Aristotle sees that individual as being a part as a part of a large and complex group of people with member of all sorts of capabilities. The purpose of each individuals life is evaluated in relation to the other members of the community. Although different communities live by different rules and strive for different goods, is possible to reach an understanding of what moral excellence is in any community by studying what it is that constitutes effective community membership. Another important observation made by Aristotle is the fact that to study human ethics, we must focus on the world around us. We must focus on the traditions of our community, the accepted theories of earlier philosophers, especially those most famous for their wisdom. These theories we must study, not so as to find inconsistencies in them, but to try to discover what it is they have in common and how they can affect our understanding of what the best way to live is. Aristotle also underlines the fact that everything we learn from the observations we make will be nothing more than an approximate approach for dealing with ethical questions. Ethics is not an exact science. One last introductory point is that this approach is intended only for those who already have some sense of virtue instilled in them. To understand some of the principals of moral conduct requires some existing sense of virtue. Aristotle then proceeds to explain that all human activities have a specific goal or end to them. Although not much proof is given to back this up, it is essential to his argument because it infers that the nature of goodness is linked to some final destination. The excellence of humans is linked to their growth towards to some realization of his best nature. Once he has established the notion that all human activities are directed by some final goal, Aristotle proceeds to define the final goal in human life should be. He searches for the most important activity that we pursue for its own sake, something above all other goods. This final goal is happiness. He gives a sense that happiness is derived from success. A full happy life will include success no only and necessarily for oneself, but for all of one's family as well. We do not achieve happiness by actively seeking it, but rather by following the pursuit of all the other goods. Aristotle then proceeds to explain that every object, living or dead has a specific function for which it is designed. The excellence of a person will be derived by how well he fulfills his function. Sine a human being is designed above all to be a social and political being, then excellence in humans should be measured by how well they can carry out their political or social roles. By putting together all of the above notions, Aristotle offers his listeners a fundamental moral principal. A good man is one whose life, which should consist of trying to achieve set goals, is in conformity with excellence or virtue. It is understandable that there is a difference between being successful

Should conscience always come first in making ethical choices Essay

Should conscience always come first in making ethical choices - Essay Example Thus, it is beyond any doubt that it is particularly important in the decision making process. This paper will argue that in spite of being abstract notion, conscience should always come first in making ethical choices. To begin with, one should point out that it is generally thought that there is no stable algorithm which is able to determine every single decision that a person makes. In other words, â€Å"route to a decision is not predetermined by the mechanism. In this case we need an additional theory to explain voluntary choice†1. This means that the idea of conscience may become the element which is able to make the issue of the nature of the decision making process easier to understand. Indeed, when it comes to analyzing making a decision, there is a considerable number of variables that a person should take into account. Keeping that in mind, it is rather difficult to design a fine as well as well structured approach towards decision making in general. That is why one might heavily rely on conscience when it comes to the issue in question as this concept may provide a person with the required categories that could be later used to make a decision which a person considers to be corre ct. Another important implication that the lack of clearly defined mechanism of the decision making hold is that a person is free to choose its elements. In other words, some people might find it effective to rely on conscience while making a decision and other will dismiss this notion. Thus, the evidence as well as practice shows that if conscience comes first in the decision making process it brings positive consequences. However, a person should approach the notion of conscience with caution. The opponents of this argue that â€Å"conscience has become [the] mystery of decision-making, the enigma to which man assigns human quandaries and upon which he builds this artificial speculation as to the source of moral human choices†2. As a result this point of view

Community and Citizenship Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Community and Citizenship - Essay Example The latter is mainly about how the elements of capitalism and urban living have transformed the dynamics of the community from the solid communal relationship to a mere arena of exchanges that promote the interests of individuals. The traditional community becomes the more interesting of the two and we can see this as Robyn Ferrel narrated a rural Australian experience. In the narrative, there was the European attempt in establishing settlements and, consequently, in building new communities in an unchartered land. Such experience is characterized by several elements that are fundamental in several other discourses such as in understanding utopia, democracy and citizenship. From both of the pieces, Community and Pinjarra 1970, one finds that communities evolve. It does not follow, however, that when change occurs, the very concept of community is threatened to be eliminated. There is the lesson of history to remind us of the significance of the past and the traditions that holds soci ety together. Topic 2: Communitarian Identity In reading Mark Reinhardt and Seyla Banhabib’s works, it is easy to understand how communitarian identity is seen as the ideological opposition to the liberal identity.

Prison recidivism Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Prison recidivism - Research Paper Example or excitement, wanting to get more than what one presently possess (greed), desire to impose oneself on others (lust) and to apply violent behavior due to anger, disgust, and other strong emotions (rage). The problem arises when people entertain the proliferation of these human urges beyond the laws and rules set by society. In study conducted by Burton and Marshall significantly explained pathways to criminal behavior by citing the research of Moffitt who distinguished and categorized two types of antisocial people: the life-course-persistent individuals who have been identified to be susceptible to persistently manifest in continuous engagement of deviant behavior; and the adolescence-limited, as the term implies, are only involved in criminal behavior in a temporal state, usually during the development stage of adolescence when other skills and behavioral facets are still an ongoing process of growth (Moffitt 674; cited in Burton and Marshall 47). Citing additional researches, Bur ton and Marshall stated that â€Å"entering the criminal justice at an early age generally leads to an increase in future offending† (Burton and Marshall 47). At this point, the research would determine factors that increase the chance of individuals to engage in criminal activities. Factors for Prison Recidivism The results of diverse studies on crime have paved to way for researches to indicate that there are common factors that have been found to increase the tendencies for individuals to engage in antisocial and deviant behavior. Burton and Marshall have enumerated the risk factors, defined as â€Å"factors that increase the risk occurrence of events, such as the onset, frequency, persistence, or duration of offending† (Farrington, Industrial, family and peer factors in the development of... It has been explicitly stated that people who have previously exhibited and manifested criminal behavior have greater tendencies and susceptibilities for relapse, especially for those who fall under the identified profile: those who have committed or have potentials to commit theft and drug offenses;younger individuals; male; and foreigners trying to support and sustain their living in another country. From the given prisoner profile, the identification of factors that increase the propensities for ex-convicts to relapse and engage in future criminal activities require closer evaluation of these resource difficulties and address them to prevent recidivism. By identifying the root causes for criminal behavior, at the onset, community organizations tasked with providing social welfare programs should focus on enhancing support from the family and strengthening family relationships. The identified familial problems should be detected and social workers for spouses and children of prison ers must be oriented to strengthen their bonds through counseling, offering interventions and holistic support; as well as determining ways and means to provide educational and employment support, as required. The research studies cited by Burton and Marshall validated the argument that criminal offenders who entered the criminal justice system at an early age have greater tendencies to relapse (Farrington; Moffitt; McGuire as cited in Burton and Marshall 47).

Darkness and Evil in Shakespeares Macbeth :: GCSE English Literature Coursework

Darkness and Evil in Macbeth  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Darkness in our society is indicative of evil. For instance, a black cat, a dark night, and a dark place are all symbolic of diablerie. Authors use these symbols to describe an evil character or setting. William Shakespeare employs the imagery of darkness in Act 4 of his play Macbeth to describe the agents of disorder. The witches, Macbeth, and Scotland are all described as dark because they represent the agents of chaos.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The witches in the first scene of Act 4 are depicted as agents of chaos because of the dark domain around them. The witches meet in a dark cave. The cave is an appropriate setting for the witches because caves tend to represent the under-world and hell, creating a feeling of evil. The witches appearance, "secret, black, and midnight hags" also indicates their evil nature. The witches dark meeting place and dark appearance all emphasize their destructive nature.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Macbeth in Act 4: consulted with the witches, murdered Macduff's family, and continued to create chaos in Scotland. Macbeth   in Act 4 is described as an agent of disorder, "untitled tyrant   bloody-sceptered". The language in Act 1 that described Macbeth has changed from "noble" and "kind" to the diction of Act 4 witch describes Macbeth as "black Macbeth" and a "tyrant". The Castle that Macbeth lives in, Dunsanine is also indicative of darkness. Dunsanine is similar to the word dungeon a dark and dirty place. In Act 4 Macbeth is an agent of disorder, he murders and he consults witches,   because of this he is described using dark imagery.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Scotland under the rule of Macbeth is described as, "shrouded   in darkness", by Malcolm. Scotland in Act 4 has fallen off the "Chain   of Being" and is now occupied with the forces of chaos and disorder.   Scotland in Act 4 is filled with "sighs, and groans, and shrieks, that   rent the air". Scotland is described by Ross as, "O Nation Miserable".   All these descriptions of Scotland portray Scotland as a place where the agents of darkness have shrouded the land.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The agents of chaos and disorder were symbolized by darkness in Act 4. The witches were described as, "dark as midnight"; Macbeth was described as , "devilish and dark"; and Scotland was described as "dying". The imagery of darkness also plays an important role in character development.