Three completely different books including Of Mice and Men, Lord of the Flies, and the Odyssey deal with two contrasting traits; the power of strength or smarts. In Of Mice and Men, Lennie and Curley represent strength while George and Crooks represent intelligence. In Lord of the Flies, Jack and his crew represent power and athleticism, while Piggy represents wisdom. In the Odyssey, Odysseus and Tiresias represent the brains while characters like Odysseus’s crew represent brawn. But what is the effect of having one trait over the other? As it turns out, people naturally see intelligence as a weak characteristic rather than an advantage. This is because the author associates intuitive characters with outsiders, since people struggle to relate
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The author does this to ‘even’ things out between them and the other average characters. One example of this taking place is Crooks from of Mice and Men. He is a cripple due to his back, but also because of his skin color. Crooks can outsmart anyone on that ranch, but his skin color and disability hold him back from doing that. This point is emphasized when Steinbeck describes, “In one hand he held a bottle of liniment, and with the other he rubbed his spine. Now and then he poured a few drops of the liniment into his pink-palmed hand and reached up under his shirt to rub again. He flexed his muscles against his back and shivered” (Steinbeck 67). CONTINUE TO ANALYZE Piggy experiences a similar problem since he is weakened by his asthma, obesity and blindness. Golding first describes him by saying, “He was shorter than the fair boy and very fat. He came forward, searching out safe lodgments for his feet, and then looked up through thick spectacles” (Golding 2). Piggy is restricted from participating in many of the things the boys do on the island. Therefore, no one would ever believe Piggy to be a strong character who helps out the most. However, this is just because he is physically unable to do many tasks. Although he is mentally capable of helping out, nobody listens to what he has to say. Tiresias, a blind prophet struggles with a disability as well, which is his blindness. …show more content…
People become empowered when they realize they have an advantage over someone else. This is true for the characters in of Mice and Men, Lord of the Flies, and The Odyssey, since others tend to mock the weak but intelligent. In of Mice and Men, people talk negtively about Crooks. If Crooks was a white man who had more respect, the characters would not dare to insult him. However, Crooks is talked to disrespectfully whenever he opens his mouth; “‘You got no right comin’ in a colored man’s room… now you jus’ get out, an’ get out quick...’ She turned on him in scorn. ‘Lisen, n*****’ she said. ‘You know what I can do to you if you open your trap?’” (Steinbeck 80). Obviously, Crooks is an easy target since he is looked down upon at the ranch. Even though Curley's wife is a weak character herself, she still has the authority over Crooks, given that he is black. This provokes her ridicule him since he is inferior to her. In Lord of the Flies, Jack detests both Ralph and Piggy with a burning passion. However, he chooses to scorn and torture Piggy over Ralph. Why is that? The simple answer is because Jack has no respect for Piggy. Ralph is a natural born, strong leader, just like Jack, but Piggy is different because he is less capable. When Jack raises his voice, Piggy’s inferiority is emphasized when, “Piggy asked no names. He was intimidated by this uniformed superiority and the offhand authority
The author does this to ‘even’ things out between them and the other average characters. One example of this taking place is Crooks from of Mice and Men. He is a cripple due to his back, but also because of his skin color. Crooks can outsmart anyone on that ranch, but his skin color and disability hold him back from doing that. This point is emphasized when Steinbeck describes, “In one hand he held a bottle of liniment, and with the other he rubbed his spine. Now and then he poured a few drops of the liniment into his pink-palmed hand and reached up under his shirt to rub again. He flexed his muscles against his back and shivered” (Steinbeck 67). CONTINUE TO ANALYZE Piggy experiences a similar problem since he is weakened by his asthma, obesity and blindness. Golding first describes him by saying, “He was shorter than the fair boy and very fat. He came forward, searching out safe lodgments for his feet, and then looked up through thick spectacles” (Golding 2). Piggy is restricted from participating in many of the things the boys do on the island. Therefore, no one would ever believe Piggy to be a strong character who helps out the most. However, this is just because he is physically unable to do many tasks. Although he is mentally capable of helping out, nobody listens to what he has to say. Tiresias, a blind prophet struggles with a disability as well, which is his blindness. …show more content…
People become empowered when they realize they have an advantage over someone else. This is true for the characters in of Mice and Men, Lord of the Flies, and The Odyssey, since others tend to mock the weak but intelligent. In of Mice and Men, people talk negtively about Crooks. If Crooks was a white man who had more respect, the characters would not dare to insult him. However, Crooks is talked to disrespectfully whenever he opens his mouth; “‘You got no right comin’ in a colored man’s room… now you jus’ get out, an’ get out quick...’ She turned on him in scorn. ‘Lisen, n*****’ she said. ‘You know what I can do to you if you open your trap?’” (Steinbeck 80). Obviously, Crooks is an easy target since he is looked down upon at the ranch. Even though Curley's wife is a weak character herself, she still has the authority over Crooks, given that he is black. This provokes her ridicule him since he is inferior to her. In Lord of the Flies, Jack detests both Ralph and Piggy with a burning passion. However, he chooses to scorn and torture Piggy over Ralph. Why is that? The simple answer is because Jack has no respect for Piggy. Ralph is a natural born, strong leader, just like Jack, but Piggy is different because he is less capable. When Jack raises his voice, Piggy’s inferiority is emphasized when, “Piggy asked no names. He was intimidated by this uniformed superiority and the offhand authority