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Post by sir on Oct 13, 2009 7:53:42 GMT -5
put your rewritten essays here
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Post by sophieg on Oct 13, 2009 8:08:45 GMT -5
The character of Slim has gained a lot of respect from all of the other characters in the novel. His character is said to have "God-like eyes" and a majesty only royalty achieved by royalty". Steinbeck has used Slim as a tool to show the reader that there is a falw in society; but also that there is some justice in thw system. The character of Curley is of a higher position than the character of Slim even though Slim is fantastic at his job; Curley still shows Slim the respect that the has earned and deserves. The use of these two characters is a way of Steinbeck showing how todays society is in a system of aristocracy (reality) but he and wishes that society was in a system of meritocracy (dream). Steinbeck makes the reader aware of this message by constantly referring to the character of Slim as a "powerful" man whose "opinions are law". Steinbeck manages to get the reader in the mind set of the characters because at the end of the novel on page 106 instead of the reader thinking badly of George they empathise with him. George is forced into shooting Lennie to save him from being killed in a violent way by Curley. In the penultamate paragraph Slim says "You hadda George". By saying this Steinbeck has forced the reader into empathising with George as throughout the novel Slim has been built up to be a powerful wise character with a huge amount of respect.
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Post by KIeran Stowell on Oct 13, 2009 8:08:52 GMT -5
Steinbeck shows the theme of respect in the novel by using the character Slim. "A powerful, big stomached man came into the bunk... God like eyes" Slim is the only character in the novel to be described as powerful or important even though he is only a jerkline skinner. This makes the reader aware that slim is a highly respected and hard working character. Steinbeck uses Slim as a way to judge society for being an aristocracy.
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lucyh
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Post by lucyh on Oct 13, 2009 8:09:25 GMT -5
One way in which John Steinbeck shows the theme of respect is with the character Slim. Slim is very well respected by the other ranch workers, even though he is their equal in terms of position in society. Steinbeck shows that Slim is respected by all his ranch workers because Carlson "a powerful, big-stomached man" let Slim "precede him". This shows that Slim has a lot of authority over the other men because Carlson could easily beat Carlson in a physical fight, but he respects Slim and therefore gives him respect. Steinbeck has used the character of Carlson to show a reader the extent of respect Slim is given by the other ranch workers.
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lucyc
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Post by lucyc on Oct 13, 2009 8:09:18 GMT -5
John Steinbeck shows the theme respect through different characters throughout the novel "Of Mice and Men". He shows respect through the character of Slim. "a quiet so profound that all talk stopped when he spoke. His authority was so great that his word was taken on any subject". Steinbeck has shown Slim to be the one worker on the ranch who is looked up to and repected for his knowledge and unrecognised power. Steinbeck shows this when he says
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mary
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Post by mary on Oct 13, 2009 8:10:33 GMT -5
The character of Slim is protrayed to the reader as being the most respected. This is shown by Steinbeck as giving Slim 'godlike eyes'. The reader understands Slim is very high in the ranches highrarchy, he is also described 'with a Majesty only acchieved by royalty. This further backs up that Slim is very wel respected and is the key character that represents royalty.
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zachd
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Post by zachd on Oct 13, 2009 11:13:15 GMT -5
John Steinbeck shows the theme of respect in the novel through the character Slim. Slim is shown as a highly respected character “with a majesty only achieved by royalty.” This tells the readers that Slim is respected a lot. Also Steinbeck criticises society as Slim is the most hard working. He should be the owner of the ranch as he has earned it. This shows Steinbeck’s idea that we should use a meritocracy.
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zahra
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Post by zahra on Oct 13, 2009 12:09:36 GMT -5
Respect is a key theme throughout this novel and Steinbeck makes us aware of this theme in several characters. Two characters that clearly show respect towards each other are Slim and Curley, yet the sense of respect being vastly different. Although Curley has got it all and owns the ranch, it is obvious he is respectful towards Slim. Slim is the only character in the novel that can tell him what to do. "The dirty little rat"..."Ill get 'um myself", this shows that Slim is the only person who can get away with being rude to Curley. Curley hasn't got the likeable factor like Slim has, which is a big downfall to Curley which does not favour him. Slim makes up an excuse for Lennie, "I think you got you han' caught in a machine."..."I won't tell" this shows us that Curley listens to and obeys Slim whatever he tells him. Steinbeck has purposely made this the case to show that in the real world, people who care about others, other than themselves receive respect from people for being kind and considerate. Just like Slim, he cares and thinks about other people which is why other people care and respect him. Crooks shows a sense of respect to the ranch workers as do some of them. Crooks is respectful in the way in which he is concerned that they will get into trouble for being in his room, “maybe you better go along to your own house now." Crooks could have been sharp with them when asking them to leave but instead he said to them in a polite manner. Candy shows Crooks respect as he considers Crooks's feelings unlike some other ranch men, "course if you want me to?” This shows he thinks of what Crooks wants before himself. Also, Lennie and Candy make us readers aware that they respect Crooks as they do not hesitate to allow him to join in on their dream. "why I'd come an' lend a hand" this links to the fact that Crooks respects the two of them, well enough to want to help them out on their dream. Steinbeck has purposely used respect and related it to a black man and his rights because during the 1930’s black men had no rights and no respect so Steinbeck wanted to show to his readers how hard life was for people like Crooks. "He continued to look down at the dog. Candy watched him uneasily." This shows us that Candy obviously cares and shows a great amount of respect for this innocent "old dog" but he doesn't want to lose him, even if it is for the best. However, the other ranch men show a contrast of respect towards this dog. "Put the old devil out of his misery." We can notice that Carlson respects this dog as he doesn't want to see him suffer. Steinbeck shows us as readers that respect is a very large topic in life which can be presented in various ways. He also tries to tell us that if you don't respect everyone else you will not gain back that respect. This is one of the main themes of the poem and Steinbeck tries to get across that Try to understand men, if you understand each other you will be kind to each other. Knowing a man well never leads to hate and nearly always leads to love.
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lucyc
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Post by lucyc on Oct 13, 2009 14:17:31 GMT -5
"His authority was so great ". By doing this he has made Slim more of a father figure on the ranch, someone who has earned the respect of the other men although he is jsut a worker like them. In contrast to this Steinbeck shows the lack of authority Curley has over the other ranch workers. Although Curley is higher ranked than Slim on the ranch, he doesn't get the respect from the other workers like Slim does. He has shown Slim to have more power over Curley when Curley begins a fight with Lennie and Curley gets his hand crushed Slim tells him "i think you got your han' caught in a machine. If you dont tell nobody what happened, we aint going to." By including the contrast between these two characters steinbeck shows how the ranch is like an aristocracy and that Slim and Curley should be in the others position, because Slim is ranked low on the ranch but he gets the respect that Curley should have because he is ranked higher on the ranch.
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Post by hannah on Oct 13, 2009 14:19:38 GMT -5
Steinbeck’s use of the theme “respect” is with Slim. Slim is the one worker that everyone respects. Slim is kind to everyone. He “moved back slightly so that the light was not on [George’s] face” to show that he considers others. People subconsciously respect him because of the little things that he does. “It was Slim’s calm invitation to confidence” makes the reader aware that respect is gained through actions like Slim’s. Everyone respects him as if he should be the boss.
No one respects Curley and they wish that he was not in charge. They call him a “dirty little rat”. But at the same time, they are scared of him. “Don’t tell Curley I said none of this” is used repeatedly by Steinbeck to emphasise the fear that Curley has, making the reader see that even though respect isn't given, they pretend to respect him when he's around because they know he could make them leave and they would be jobless and homeless. Slim gets more respect than Curley. If this was a meritocracy, Steinbeck tells us that Slim would be the leader and not Curley.
Curley feels like he doesn't need to respect anyone, because he is in charge. He makes rules like "he's gotta talk when he's sopken to" and expects everyone to follow. Steinbeck does this to show his own views of his outrage over aristocracy in his society because people become leaders just by their family rather than whether they deserve it or not. The setting of the ranch is in the Great Depression, so the workers respect anyone with money, because all they can do is "take [their] fifty bucks an' stay all night in a cat house". Their dream before was to have a ranch of their own, and they respect the boss because he has lived his dream.
Another use of the them respect is with the characters George and Lennie. Lennie respects George when he says "I ain't gonna say a word" and "I won't get into trouble, George". He wants to please George and does whatever George tells him because George is taking care of him.
No respect is given to Crooks because he is black. His room shows the lack of respect because he is alone. There are big differences between the other workers' room and his room. For example, in the workers' room, there were nails on the wall which held "a few neckties" for going out, but in Crooks' room his nails hung "broke harnesses in process of being mended". This indicates to the reader that Crooks doesn't even have enough respect to go out with his fellow workers, he just has to stay in and keep working.
Nature plays an important part of showing respect in "Of Mice and Men". At the beginning when the scene is being set, there is a "stilted heron" and a water snake co-existing peacefully, much like the ranch workers. They have respect for each other and their environment. But at the end, the "water snake [glides] smoothly up the pool" still respecting everyone else like Lennie, but the heron "lanced down and plucked it by the head", like George killing Lennie. The nature plot is happening with the same pattern as the plot of the book and from start to end, the respect is lost for both nature and the characters.
Steinbeck makes the reader aware that people who are different and alone are not given respect. E.g Curley's wife because she is the only woman in the novel, Crooks because he is the only black man in the novel, and Lennie becuase he is the only one in the novel with a mental disability.
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ryant
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Post by ryant on Oct 14, 2009 10:24:24 GMT -5
In "of Mice and Men" Steinbeck makes respect an important theme in the book for example. Slim is described as a living legend "he moved with a majesty only achieved by royalty and master craftsmen". Slim is also used to show the idea of an aristocracy because slim works hard and is a natural leader on the ranch."His authority was so great that his word was taken on any subject," from this quotation you can tell he is highly respected by everyone on the farm.
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Post by Kieran Stowell on Oct 15, 2009 13:42:10 GMT -5
Steinbeck shows the theme of respect in the novel by using the character Slim. "A powerful, big stomached man came into the bunk... God like eyes" Slim is the only character in the novel to be described as powerful or important even though he is only a jerkline skinner. This makes the reader aware that slim is a highly respected and hard working character. Steinbeck uses Slim as a way to judge society for being an aristocracy (which is a system where power is passed to blood relatives rather than those who have deserved it) Slim does not only have the respect of the characters in the novel but he also has the respect of the reader. At the end of the book George saves Lennie from a violent death by shooting him in the back of the head, which seems like a horrible thing to do until Slim says: "You hadda George" and by already knowing that throughout the novel is very respected, the reader realises that Slim is right. Steinbeck does this to involve the reader and to show what type of character Slim is.
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lucyc
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Post by lucyc on Oct 18, 2009 11:08:46 GMT -5
Steinbeck shows the control Slim has over Curley when he shows curley starting a fight with lennie and he gets his hand crushed. When this happens Slim is there to make sure no body gets blamed. "i think you got your han' caught in a machine. if you don't tell nobody what happened, we ain't going to." This shows that although Curley has the other men to respect him because of fear, he respects Slim because he knows he has earned it. This also shows that he has trust in Slim and so he looks up to him like a father figure.
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Post by sophiev on Oct 18, 2009 14:08:07 GMT -5
I would rearrange the structure of my essay starting with a paragrph of slim. The character of slim is described as a father figure. It is said that he has "Godlike eyes" This shows the reader that steinbeck has used him as a a father figure to automatically demand respect. A father is automatically respected within a family.
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Post by sophieg on Oct 19, 2009 6:06:58 GMT -5
Zahras is very good and the quotations are embedded well. To imrove it she could use more paragraphs to make it clear which character she is talking about. Good Work Z
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