浅析《人鼠之间》中兰尼的悲剧,英语论文.docx

浅析(人鼠之间）中兰尼的悲剧,英语论文Chapter One Introduction Chapter Two Manifestation of Lennie s tragedy in OfMice and Men 2.1 Isolated by people around him 2.1.1 Pressed by the upper class 2.1.2 Fellowmen s misunderstanding ofLennie 2.2 Disillusion of Lennie s dream 2.2.1 Lennie s failure to get land 2.2.2 Lennie s failure to seek love Chapter Three Great Depression - the leading criminalof Lennie s tragedy in Of Mice and Men 3.1 Wider gap between the rich and the poor 3.2 Corruption of social morality Chapter Four Conclusion References ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Chapter One Introduction After the World War I, America became a creditor country. Unlimited expansionof stock speculation and overproduction led to the collapse of New York stock marketwhich resulted in the economic crisis. Unprecedented economic disaster promoted anew awakening of the working class in the United States. John Steinbeck started tofocus on social problems and tried to expose hard situations of the low class in hisworks. John Steinbeck (1902-1968) was born in Salinas, California. Influenced by hismother, Steinbeck studied English Literature at Stanford University. Leaving withouta degree in 1925, he started to make a living by doing many different jobs such aspasture worker, road-building team worker, migrant worker, land surveyor andjournalist. These working experiences provided him the chance to get in touch withpeople from the low class and many writing materials. He made up his mind to be awriter when he came to New York in 1926. John Steinbeck achieved his first criticalsuccess with Tortilla Flat (1935), which expressed moral bankruptcy caused bymaterialism. From 1930 to 1936, as a prolific writer, John Steinbeck published nearly15 novels and dozens of short stories, including In Dubious Battle (1936), Of Miceand Men (1937) and The Grapes of Wrath (1939). He also wrote an article seriescalled The Harvest Gypsies (1936) for the San Francisco News about the hardsituation of the migrant worker. Many protagonists in his works are people from thelow class because he is very familiar with them. His works showed kind and rusticcharacteristics of them. John Steinbeck was one of America s most influential writersof the 20th century. He was awarded the 1962 Nobel Prize for Literature for hisrealistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humor and keensocial perception. (Mao, 2005: 375) John Steinbeck got huge success because of Of Mice and Men which can be seenas the foundation of The Grapes of Wrath. It is critically acclaimed and Steinbeck s1962 Nobel Prize citation called it a little masterpiece . Of Mice and Men talks aboutdreams of a pair of migrant agricultural laborers Lennie and George in California. They have a dream of owning their own idyllic farm someday so that they can be freeto live in their own way. George is a smart guy while Lennie is physically strong, yetmentally slow. However, Lennie s accidental murder of Curley s wife destroys theirplan. Finally, George shoots Lennie to death and their dreams come to naught. Somecritics focus on abundant themes and think this novel covers collapse of theAmerican Dream, human loneliness, common people s powerlessness Wang，2006：28. Others center on Steinbeck s writing techniques especiallyhis clever employment of symbolism that there are lots of symbolic images in thetitle, the settings, animals, characters in the novel. (Wang, 2020:1) Although Of Miceand Men narrates a short story in three days, it centers on the tragedy of Lennie withthe purpose to allude to the tragedy of the low class and problems of the social system. This paper, consequently, aims to probe into social causes of the tragedy in OfMice and Men. Based on a brief introduction of Steinbeck and his Of Mice and Men,the paper illustrates the manifestation of Lennie s Tragedy in Of Mice and Menthrough the isolation between people and the disillusion of his dream. Then the papertries to analyze reasons of Lennie s tragedy with back groundings of the GreatDepression in two aspects. Finally the paper reaches the conclusion that it is the GreatDepression kills Lennie as a representative of Lennie s times. Chapter Two Manifestation of Lennie s Tragedy in Of Mice and Men In Of Mice and Men, Lennie is described as a huge man, shapeless of face, withlarge, pale eyes, with wide, sloping shoulders; and he walked heavily, dragging hisfeet a little, the way a bear drags his paws , (Steinbeck, 1937:2) His tragedy is mainlyreflected in two aspects: people s isolation and his disillusion of dreams. 2.1 Isolated by people around him Curley s father and Curley envy Lennie s tall height. Their envy graduallybecomes hatred of Lennie. As owners of the farm, they torture Lennie as much as theycould. Also, as a migrant worker, Lennie has characteristics of innocence andchildishness which others do not have. So Lennie is isolated not only by the upperclass but also by his fellowmen. 2.1.1 Pressed by the upper class Lennie is a migrant worker working for Curley s father. Lennie s tall heightmakes himself an eyesore of Curley and Curley s father. Because of their highersocial status, they press workers such as Lennie both physically and mentally. Physically, as the owner of the farm, Curley s father endeavors to get maximumbenefit from migrant workers. He is furious at Lennie and George s lateness at thefirst time they come here. It is described as follows: The boss was expectin you last night, the old man said. He was sore as hellwhen you wasn t here to go out this morning. (Steinbeck, 1937:18)The owner does not care about why Lennie and George are being late, but only caresabout how much money he loses because of their lateness. In his heart, once Lennieand George promise to come to work, he will start to calculate their values. He seesLennie and George as working machine but not people. Mentally, as the upper class, Curley s father and Curley think themselves aredifferent from workers and look down on workers, which is vividly described by whatthey wear as follows: A little stocky man stood in the open doorway. He wore blue jean trouser, aflannel shirt, a black , unbuttoned vest and a black coat. His thumbs were stuckin his belt, on each side of square steel buckle. On his head was a soiled brownStetson hat, and he wore high-heeled boots and spurs to prove he was not alaboring man. (Steinbeck, 1937:20)He wore a work glove on his left hand, and like the boss, he wore high-heeledboots. (Steinbeck, 1937:25)These two paragraphs describe clothes of Curley s father and Curley. They all wearhigh-heeled boots to differ themselves from workers to express their higher socialposition. Also, during Curley s father s talk with Lennie and George, the boss squintedhis eyes. (Steinbeck, 1937:21) He sends a message with his eyes that he is doubtful ifLennie and George are good migrant workers and will supervise their work Hiscontemptuous eyes gives Lennie and George a sense of crisis which is moreoppressive than bad living situation and meager income. As migrant workers, Lennieand George know clearly about their low social status and their weak position. Theyneed to work hard and keep obedient to their boss so that they can keep the job tomake a living. To sum up, migrant workers are pressed both physically and mentally. 2.1.2 Fellowmen s misunderstanding of Lennie Lennie s huge body and strong strength will make people away from him. Hisfellowmen consider Lennie as a frightening man and refuse to get to know him. When Lennie and George work on the first farm before Curley s father s farm, anaccident happens which leads to their leaving. Lennie likes to touch soft things. A girlthere asks him to touch her red dress. However, Lennie is obsessed with the touchingand won t let her go. So the girl starts to squawk which shocks Lennie. Finally Georgecomes and socks him over the head so Lennie would like to let her go. It is only anaccident which Lennie can explain it to other workers. However, they don t provideLennie the chance to explain and make the cruel decision as follows: Well, that girl rabbits in an tells the law she been raped. The guys in Weedstart a party out to lynch Lennie. (Steinbeck, 1937:42)The girl tells the law the lie and guys in Weed do not let Lennie explain but decide tolynch him. They make the decision all by themselves because they know Lennie ischildish and he doesn t understand to defend himself. So as Lennie s only friend,George has to take Lennie away from this farm to another. In the second farm, however, Lennie is misunderstood again. It is described asfollows: Lennie smiled helplessly in an attempt to make friends. Crooks said sharply, You got no right to come in my room. This here s myroom. Nobody got any right in here but me. Lennie gulped and his smilegrew more fawning. I ain t doing anything, he said. Just come to look at my puppy. And I seen your light, he explained. Well, I got a right to have a light. You go on get outta my room. Iain t wanted inthe bunkhouse, and you ain t wanted in my room. (Steinbeck, 1937:68)Lennie is very innocent. He sees lights in Crooks s room and comes into the roomhimself. What he does may seem a little abrupt to other migrant workers who are usedto keep distance from each other. When Crook meets Lennie, Crook feels offendedand directly asks Lennie to get out. He refuses to talk with Lennie and has no thinkingto make a friend with him. These fellowmen s misunderstanding of Lennie is not theirmistakes. They are used to keep distance with other people. If they open their heart, itis easily to get hurt. They have been apathetic and can not accept Lennie s difference. 2.2 Disillusion of Lennie s dream Lennie and George have dreams of owning a piece of land and being loved inharmonious environment. They calculate their income and find it is possible toachieve their dream if they make an effort. However, things do not go smoothly asthey imagine. Of Mice and Men is most often read as one of Steinbeck s mostpessimistic works, smacking of pessimistic determinism. (Owens, 2008:18) Theyfinally fail. Lennie fails to get land. Also, he fails to seek love. 2.2.1 Lennie s failure to get land Lennie dreams of getting a piece of land to raise rabbits. As a migrant worker, hepossesses nothing valuable except his dream. It is his dreams which differ him fromother migrant workers. He can t remember anything except his dreams and every timeGeorge talks about the dream, Lennie will be very quiet and happy. However, Lenniefails to get the land in the end. For one thing, Lennie s accidental murder of Curley s wife ruins their plan of thedream. Lennie has to pay the cost so he is killed by George in the last. Their plan isdescribed as follows: We got ten bucks between us. Then he said thoughtfully, Look, if me an Lennie work a month an don t sprn nothing, we ll have a hundred bucks. That dbe fifty. I bet we could swing her for that. Then you an Lennie could go get herstarted an I d get a job an make up the res , an you could sell eggs an stufflike that. (Steinbeck, 1937: 60)George makes a feasible plan with Lennie and Candy, a new friend in Curley sfather s farm. However, Lennie kills Curley s wife in the accident which ruins theirplan that Lennie can not keep working on the farm. For another, their dream may never be realized because it is just a vision. Thisritual is performed often in the story, whenever Lennie feels insecure. (Peter Lisca,1958:135) Each time Lennie and George meet with difficulties, Lennie will askGeorge to tell him the dream, such as the time when they run out of the first farm orafter Lennie being hit by Curley. They need a faith to live with so they can have afuture to look forward to and forget the cruel reality. The dream is just like a light intheir life. 2.2.2 Lennie s failure to seek love Lennie is very innocent and childish. He is eager to be close with others. However love is hard to find duiring the period of the Great Depression. On the one hand, Lennie fails to seek love from people. Firstly, in Lennie s earlyperiod, he has not got much love from his family. He has no parents since he is a littleboy. He only has an aunt who also dies early and doesn t pay much attention to him. Secondly, during the working period on the farm, Lennie also fails to seek love. Crook is a black man so he is pushed aside by other workers and lives in his ownroom. But Crook refuses to make friends with Lennie. Also, when Lenniecommunicates with the red-dress girl and Curley s wife, he doesn t understand hisstrong strength and easily hurt them. Lennie just want to feel softness of the red dressand Curley s wife s hair, however, his wrong control of his strength hurt the red-dressgirl, and he kills Curley s wife. He fails to get love from these women but make othermigrant workers misunderstand him. Thirdly, Lennie is abandoned by his best friendGeorge. Lennie and George stay together for many years. They have the mutualdream and the future to look forward to as follows: Guys like us that work on ranches are the loneliest guys in the world. They gotno family. They don t belong no place. They come to a ranch an work up astake and then they go inta town and blow their stake, and the first thing youknow ther re poundin their tail on some other ranch. They ain t got nothing tolook ahead to. Lennie was delighted. That s it-that s it. Now tell how it is with us. George went on. With us it ain t like that. We got a future Steinbeck,1937: 14 In their last trouble with the red-dress girl when they work in the first farm, Georgehelps Lennie get away from there. However, After Curley s wife s accidental death,George starts to be disgusted with Lennie, considering that Lennie could only bringtroubles and drag their dreams down. Thinking that Lennie will be tortured by others,George finally decided to shoot Lennie. So Lennie also fails to seek love from George. On the other side, Lennie fails to seek love from animals. He loves animals but inthe wrong way. He loved little animals, such as mice, puppies and rabbits and wantsto raise them. However, he is unaware of his strong strength and often kills littleanimals without consciousness. Then it makes him regretful. He just shows love tothese little animals but hurt them instead. He can not get any love back from them. Asa result, Lennie could only stay away from these soft animals. Chapter Three Great Depression - the Leading Criminal of Lennie s Tragedy in Of Mice and Men American industrialization happen