Of Mice and Men and The Pearl were two interesting novellas I was able to read. Both written by the famous author John Steinbeck. In both books Steinbeck described a lot of social Injustice, hardships, and how his characters kept their dignity throughout both books. In the book, The Pearl, it takes place in Baja, California, Kino, one of the main characters, had a trustful wife, named Juana, and a loving baby boy named Coyotito. Kino had a job as a poor pearl fisher, everyday he would go out in his old canoe fishing for pearls.
Every pearl fisher in the little village Kino lives in has eard the famous myth about the pearl of the world, which is a pearl the size of gulls egg, and every fishers dream is to get it. One day Coyotito was stung by a scorpion and like any parent would do, Juana and Kino rushed the little baby to the doctor who lives in the rich part of town. The doctor refuses to help them out because they have nothing to pay the doctor except some little 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 and 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 Its 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 that didnt know any better about how much the pearl was really worth. But Kino kept his dignity and his head high and went home to bury the pearl.
Then the pearl started to give Kino trouble, eople tried to steal the pearl and hurt Kino and his family until he and 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, and their pearl that filled Kinos head with dreams and possibility was thrown into the deep blue sea. None of Kinos dreams came true. In a more realistic story, Of Mice and Men, which takes place in Salinas, California, Stienbeck wrote this story set durring 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 and it 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 is telling Lennie to dont say none because if he people find out Lennie had a disability they would not get a job of any sort. 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 Lennie what and what not to do What are you gonna say tomorrow when the boss asks you questions? I aint 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 didnt like big tall people, and poor Lennie would never fight back.
One day Lennie was in the barn playing with his new puppy as a two-year-old would do and Curlys wife stopped in to check things out. Lennie like to pet things, soft things so when the wife told Lennie to feel her hair he wouldnt let go which made her scream with fright so Lennie, also scared started to shake her harder and harder until there was a sickening crack and she went limp in Lennies arms, for he had shaken her to her death. Just as George walked in and told Lennie to run to the hide out spot. Once George got there, he shot Lennie. Which in my opinion
George did it for Lennies and his own good. Though Lennie didnt have much of a chance and followed his morals, which was to shake the girl to death, Lennie didnt know what else to do. Social injustice takes place every where in the world, even today, for example there are still some jobs that women have and dont get paid as much as men do for the same job, and in China and India there is still child labor going on, and thats just a minority. In both books John Steinbeck made a lot of points and gave some examples about social injustice, I think he made people learn about diversity as well.
