Compare and contrast essay: Of Mice and Men” and “The Pearl” were two interesting novellas that I was able to read, both written by the famous author John Steinbeck. In both books, Steinbeck described a lot of social injustice and hardships, and showed how his characters kept their dignity throughout.
In both books, Steinbeck describes social injustice and hardships, and how his characters maintain their dignity throughout. The Pearl takes place in Baja, California, where Kino, one of the main characters, has a trustworthy wife named Juana and a loving baby boy named Coyotito. Kino works as a poor pearl fisherman, going out every day in his old canoe to fish for pearls. Every fisherman in the village has heard the famous myth about the Pearl of the World, a pearl the size of a gull’s egg, and every fisherman dreams of finding it. One day, Coyotito is stung by a scorpion, and Juana and Kino rush him to the doctor who lives in the wealthy part of town. The doctor refuses to help them because they have nothing to pay him except some small pearls.
In rage, Kino punched the metal gates with all his might, causing him to bleed at the knuckles, which proves that if you have no money, then you have no power. The next day, Kino found a clam set aside far from the others, so he picked it up, opened it, and inside was the pearl of the world! The next day, Kino and Juana went to town to try to sell the pearl. When more injustice comes in, it’s worth fifty thousand, you know it. You want to cheat me!” he told the dealers.
It shows that the dealers thought that Kino was just a stupid Indian who didn’t know any better about how much the pearl was really worth. Kino kept his dignity and his head high and went home to bury the pearl. Then the pearl started to give Kino trouble. People tried to steal the pearl and hurt Kino and his family until he, Juana, and their little boy headed for the mountains. Near the end of the book, everything started to go backwards. Kino and Juana had to hide in the caves, and their only son was shot in the head and killed. Their pearl, which filled Kino’s head with dreams and possibility, was thrown into the deep blue sea.
None of Kino’s dreams came true. In a more realistic story, Of Mice and Men,” which takes place in Salinas, California, Steinbeck wrote this story set during the Great Depression. For example, when Lennie and George had to move from job to job to earn enough money to live on. Once again, if you had no money, you had no power. Much like Kino and Juana, Lennie and George were both dream followers, only their dream was to one day have a farm and own land. Lennie had a disability that was giving George a lot of grief because Lennie was making trouble at every job that they got, which caused George and Lennie to move from job to job to earn their fifty cents an hour working hot days in the fields.
George found them a job bucking barley. The social injustice was when George told Lennie not to say anything because if people found out about Lennie’s disability, they wouldn’t get any job. Throughout this story, I had mixed feelings for both George and Lennie. For example, George was basically a babysitter for Lennie because he was always telling him what to do and what not to do. What are you gonna say tomorrow when the boss asks you questions?” “I ain’t gonna say a word.” “Good boy!” When they finally got settled, Lennie got into trouble a lot with Curly.
Curly would always pick on poor Lennie because Curly didn’t like big tall people, and poor Lennie would never fight back. One day, Lennie was in the barn playing with his new puppy like a two-year-old would do, and Curly’s wife stopped in to check things out. Lennie likes to pet things, especially soft things, so when the wife told Lennie to feel her hair, he wouldn’t let go.
