Of Mice And Men, Power Of One--Comparison
Essay by 24 • May 4, 2011 • 688 Words (3 Pages) • 1,476 Views
Of Mice and Men, Power of One--Comparison
Society includes many forms of distinctions among all types of people. When different people from different societies mingle, some groups in society form prejudices against them and isolate them from their social surroundings. These so-called precautions people in society tolerate because they fear and misunderstand the others. Society might segregate the others based on many aspects such as race or ethnicity, gender, or age. These distinctions and prejudices can be applied to the book Of Mice and Men and the film Power of One. In both the book and the film, people and things are discriminated against because of their race or ethnicity, gender, and age.
In the book Of Mice and Men, Crooks is a black man who has been shut out of the circle of other men at the ranch. Only because Crooks can read and has deep insight, the other uneducated men shun him from their social circle to make him feel inferior to them. The men on the ranch are already the lowest in society. By making Crooks feel inferior to them, 'white' people make themselves rise in status. What this reveals is that people will turn on others more subordinate than them to feel good about themselves. Likewise, in Power of One, PK is bullied by the older Africana kids at the boarding school only because he's English. The German Africana boys are afraid and angry about the English taking over their holdings so they take out their anger and fear on the only person they find appropriate. These discriminations prove that the only reason people shut out others from communicating with them is that because they fear one or more aspects of the other person. And in order to keep that fear from conquering them, people turn on the ones who least expect it.
Lots of discriminations are formed between the characters of Power of One and Of Mice and Men age-wise. Both Candy at the ranch and PK at the boarding school are mistreated because of their age. Candy because he is too old and therefore unable to carry out the burdensome tasks the ranch requires of all the men, and PK because he is the youngest at the school and too innocent and naпve to really understand why he's being picked on by the older boys. Two other similar characters are Aunt Clara and the Nannie. Both women look out for their boys and later influence the boys'
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