Applying Marxist Literary Criticism to Of Mice and Men Essay Example

Applying Marxist Literary Criticism to Of Mice and Men Essay Example Applying Marxist Literary Criticism to Of Mice and Men Paper Applying Marxist Literary Criticism to Of Mice and Men Paper Steinbeck’s ‘Of Mice and Men’ is a microcosm of reality for the working classes during the great economic depression in the U. S. A. Through the use of generic characters which represent the different echelons that existed at the bottom of society during a period of economic instability – Steinbeck’s novel resists dominant ideologies at the time of publication as the bleak portrayal of the lives of itinerant workers could be interpreted as a statement against capitalism. Karl Marx saw political devices such as ‘The American Dream’ as oppressing the proletariat by giving them false hope. This idea of a false consciousness is evident throughout the novel as Steinbeck uses the recurring theme of dreams in ‘Of Mice and Men’ to illustrate the unsatisfying nature of the lives that the ranch members lived. The fact that all the characters have idealistic dreams of a better life highlights their dissatisfaction with their current predicament. Although the use of dreams such as George’s utopia of an easy and simple existence on a farm could be interpreted as positive because they give the characters hope, the reality which Steinbeck makes clear at the end of the novel is that these dreams are unrealistic and the majority of people in society do not fulfil their ambitions. ‘Someday – we’re gonna get the jack together and we’re gonna have a little house and a couple of acres an’ a cow and some pigs’ is repeated many times in the novel to highlight how dreams are used to prevent the proletariat from rising against their oppressors as they are manipulated by the promise of a life that is in reality unobtainable for the vast majority. Thus, resisting the dominant ideology that ‘everybody has an opportunity to be successful’. As the two central characters in the novel, George and Lennie epitomise the average itinerant worker in the sense that they are unskilled workers attempting to survive in a harsh economic climate. Itinerant workers are generally considered as being at the base of an economy, so by illustrating their plight Steinbeck is in fact devaluing the superstructure as the novel highlights the tough living conditions they are subjected to in order increment the wealth of the bourgeoisie. Steinbeck uses George’s perspective to further illustrate his perceived mistreatment of lower economic groups in society. ‘Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They don’t belong no place†¦ They ain’t got nothing to look ahead to’ is the overpowering message at the end of the novel as all of the characters are subjected to hardship, tragedy and loneliness yet none are presented as facing a better outlook. This theme of loneliness and isolation also supports the Marxist theory of ‘The forces of production’. Whilst most of the characters in the novel are working at an unforgiving labour intensive job they are still at the bottom of the economic hierarchy. Steinbeck constantly reiterates the loneliness of the characters’ lives in order to highlight that although they are a major force of production there is an absence of enjoyment in the lives of the itinerant workers as they are not properly rewarded for their contributions to the economy. Coupled with the temporary nature of their employment, the workers are shown to be dislocated from reality and other people, living lonely existences and spending what little they earn on perverse pleasures such as gambling and prostitutes. This desire for false gratification could be a symbol for the lack of substance in the workers lives, or in other words Steinbeck’s perceived alienation of ranch workers. Karl Marx believed that workers in capitalist states such as the U. S. A where ‘Of Mice and Men’ is set are psychologically estranged from their work as they do not see the fruits of their work, instead they merely repeat one step of a cycle and are paid a fixed wage which is not relative to the profit the product they create gains. This theory is adopted by Steinbeck as the itinerant nature of the ranch workers job is shown to cause a separation from nature, leaving the workers disillusioned. The workers are given one task to fulfil, for example hauling the crop, and then they repeat this step over and over again until they move to another ranch – never seeing the result of their hard work. This industrialisation of the workers is depicted as having a detrimental effect on the workers psychology by Steinbeck and being the causation for their unhappiness. George and Lennie’s dream to ‘live of the fatta the land’ also forces itself into the fervent desires of Candy and Crooks which supports Marx’s belief that humans yearn for a relationship with nature. In this light, George is shown to resist bourgeoisie values which would stipulate that the industrialisation of workers is necessary for a healthy society which would be based on the assumption that profit is the most important motive – not the mental well-being of the workers. Curley’s wife could be seen as a symbol for those crushed by dominant ideologies and bourgeoisie values. Curley’s wife is portrayed as a vain and attention seeking character in life yet after her tragic death she is also a source of sympathy as Steinbeck shows her in a different light. ‘She was pretty and simple, and her face was sweet and young’ contrasts with the flirtatious, provocative and callous woman who endangered Lennie and cruelly threatened to have Crook’s hanged. Steinbeck is implying that the flaws in her character were created and compounded by the system she was born into. The fact that she is not named in the novel is an overt statement of how undervalued she is in society and this contrasts with the dominant ideology at time which is that everybody has equal opportunities to become ‘successful’. Instead of attempting to make the best of life within her means, she dreamed of the ‘high life’ advertised by purveyors of bourgeoisie values in order to preserve a capitalistic state. This meant she accepted the harsh reality of her predicament in the belief she would soon escape it.

Media Impact essays

Media Impact essays The Spin Doctors: Examining the Media The amount of media exposure we have been subjected to since birth is astounding. The media affects our daily life even when we arent aware of it. As a teenager, I utilize many types of media. Moreover, I do not realize that there are at least six major companies that own almost everything we see, hear and read. The media is driven by profit and power, not the pursuit of factual news. The idea of these conglomerates to make one big corporation is bizarre. I believe they look at people and only care about money. All they want is to compete with each other with the most power. The companies concentrate on what people like but they really do not care. The audience is drawn to personal celebrity life, trendy outfits and bizarre ceremonies. I argue that these companies cannot come together because soon it will be one company who owns everything and there will not be any competition to outshine the media. I will assert the scope and nature of the mass media I use, the consumption of ce rtain mediated texts vs. others, the ownership of my man media outlets and how it has affected and influenced my life. At 18, I am attentive of at least 7-8 hours a day of media contact. On vacation, media contact is limited because individuals have better things to do; sightsee, swim in the ocean and of course shop. Shopping plays a big part of media keeping one modernized with stylish fashion during everyones vacation. I use media to relax, to waste time, to know what is happening around the world, window-shopping for clothes and for pleasure. I like to listen to a movie I have seen a million times while I work. One of many movies I listen to is Waynes World. While typing this paper, I am listening to music and doing my laundry. A few radio stations I listen to are 106.7 KBPI, KISS 95.7, KOSI 101.1. The E! Entertainment channel is one of my all time favorites. I enjoy watching the news and true ...

Summary paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Summary paper - Essay Example The article further explains the way of life in the Akan society beginning with the process of creating a village, which then grows into a town. An Akan village has a head while a town in Akan has a stool of power and a chief as the center of the power. The article entitled The Akan people by Adu-Amankwah provides basic information about the Akan people. The article explains that the live in central Ghana and speak the Akan language which is a collection of various dialects. The dialects they speak influence their identity since the people are often categorized in such groups. Among the existing groups based on the variety of dialects, include Wassa, Asante, Fante, Bono, Akyem, Kwahu and Akuapem. The author of the article cites several historians as he provides a detailed of the Akan people. He explains that the lived in independent kingdoms founded by refugees from Kumbu, a kingdom that consisted of twenty-seven states and was destroyed by Songhay in 1470. The economic activities of the Akan people include hunting, farming and fishing. The article, Akan kinship terms, provides a detailed analysis of kinship in the Akan society. In doing this, the article explains that the Akan people believe in extended family system. The system is material in nature. With such an exciting yet informative introduction, the article proceeds to provide translations of some basic kinship names to English despite admitting that most of such names have no direct equivalent in English. Such terms include papa for father but the term Agya may refer to father too. Maame is for mother while Eno /Awo is an equivalent for affection though not directly transplanted as such. Nua is for sibling, kunu refers to a husband and yere for wife. A child is a significant individual in a society and the Akan refer to a child as ba. Greetings on the other hand is an article that discuses the type of greetings in the Akan society. The article begins by acknowledging that greeting is a personal

Week 4 response papers Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Week 4 response papers - Essay Example The disadvantage with such an approach is that businesses relax their CSR actions when they are not economically rewarding. This means that organisations no longer derive their motivation for CSR mainly from their negative environmental effects and need to protect the environment, but the need to have a good image and make profit. The avoidance of CSR may not be detrimental to the organisation but its effect cannot be ignored in a society where customers are becoming more cautious about environmental issues. Over the recent years, CSR has afforded organisations some social power and ignoring this because of economic or other reasons is bound lead to a gradual reduction of social power. Davis’s statement therefore holds some truth. As mentioned, businesses know the effects of their actions on the environment. In this case, they have an obligation to focus on environmental change whether voters and politicians are not pushing agendas that focus on environmental change. In opposition to Hussein’s (1999) statement that adopting such a position can be harmful to the organisation, CSR has turned into one of the biggest source of competitive advantage for businesses. Multinationals have also tapped into it as a risk management model. In addition, many governments respond positively to such actions by recognising and rewarding organisations which undertake good CSR activities in efforts to protect the environment. This has increased awareness of such organisations, their products and consequently, they have experienced a positive return on their sales (Bhattacharya et al, 2011). Customer/voter purchases are now influenced by CSR to the benefit of organisations that have good CSR reputations. Since the 1950s, many organisations have formulated their own CSR policies. However, if the decision to become responsible was totally left at their disposal, many would choose not to because CSR activities

Burberry clothing Research Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Burberry clothing - Research Proposal Example One of the companies that is fast establishing itself as a force in the market is Burberry Clothing Co. which is one of the most iconic British fashion firm. The company has been in existence for more than 5 decades, making its name as one of the most proffered clothing and general fashion company. With the advent of technology, the company has managed to create online shops from where it sells its products and reaches a number of its clients located in different parts of the world. This paper presents a marketing plan that can be used by the company in reaching its new target markets and expanding its market share. Burberry Clothing, in its new approach to the targeted markets is supposed to ensure that it makes a proper description and analysis of its markets as it rolls out its products. For instance, the company often makes clothes that fit the different people that it serves; it has clothes for men, women, children and even the old people. This is a important attribute considering that clothes and fashion are products that can be consumed by all groups of people in the market. Perhaps what the company needs to realise is the different composition of these targeted populations in terms of their demographic factors. In terms of their geography, the company will have to put in place excellent mechanisms that will enable it bridge the aspects of place utility (Greenwood 76). In this regard, the company needs to establish distribution centers in strategic places that it will find effective to enable it reach its products to those markets as soon as they are needed. The company needs to have an understanding of its clients’ needs and demands so that it can meet them effectively, for instance, some people have different purchasing behaviors that are identified from their purchase preferences. Having this understanding will enable the company to reach and consolidate its markets in the best way that will give

History of Leukemia Treatment

History of Leukemia Treatment Four months later, a young German professor at the University of Wurzburg named Rudolf Virchow published a similar case. The patients blood was overgrown with white blood cells, forming dense and pulpy pools in her spleen. At autopsy, Virchow found layers of white blood floating above the red. He called the disease weisses Blut white blood. In 1847, he changed the name to leukemia from leukos, the Greek word for white. Virchow was a pathologist in training. He believed that all living things were made of cells, which were the basic units of life. And that cells could grow in only two ways: either by increasing the number of cells, or by increasing its size. He called these two modes hyperplasia and hypertrophy. Looking at cancerous growths through his microscope, Virchow concluded that cancer was hyperplasia in its extreme form. By the time Virchow died in 1902, a new theory of cancer had slowly come together out of these observations. Cancer an aberrant, uncontrolled cell division creating tumors that would attack and destroy organs and normal tissues. These tumors could also spread (metastasize) to other parts of the body such as lungs and brains. Leukemia is a malignant overgrown of white cells in the blood. It comes in several forms. It could be chronic and indolent. Or it could be acute and violent. The second version comes in further subtypes, based on the type of white blood cells involved. Cancers of the myeloid cells are called Acute myeloid leukemias (AML); cancer of immature lymphoid cells are called Acute lymphoblastic leukemias; and cancers of the more mature lymphoid cells are called lymphomas. ALL is the most common leukemia found in children. Sidney Faber, the third of fourteen children, was born in Buffalo, New York, in 1903. His father, Simon Farber, had immigrated to America from Poland in the late 19th century and worked in an insurance agency. Having completed his advanced training in pathology in the late 1920s, Farber became the first full-time pathologist at the Childrens Hospital in Boston. His specialty was pediatric pathology, the study of childrens diseases. Yet Farber was driven by the hunger to treat patients. Sitting in his basement laboratory one day in the summer of 1947, he was inspired to focus his attention to the oldest and most hopeless variants of leukemia childhood leukemia. The disease had been analyzed, classified, and subdivided meticulously, but with no therapeutic or practical advances. The package from New York was waiting in the laboratory that December morning. As he pulled out the glass vials of chemicals from the package, he was throwing open a new way of thinking about cancer. An insatiable monster Sydney Farbers package of chemicals arrived at a pivotal moment in the history of medicine. In the late 1940s, new miracle drugs appeared at an astonishing rate. But cancer had refused to fall into step in the victories of postwar medicine. It remained a black box. To cure a cancer, doctors had only two options: cutting it out with surgery, or incinerating it with radiation. Proposals to launch a national response against cancer had ebbed and flowed in America since the early 1900s. By 1937, cancer had magnified in the public eye. In June, a joint Senate-House conference was held to draft legislation to address the issue. On August 5, President Roosevelt signed the National Cancer Institute Act, creating a new entity called the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to coordinate cancer education and research. But World War II had shifted the nations priority from cancer research to the war. The promised funds from Congress never materialized, and the NCI languished in neglect. The social outcry about cancer also drifted into silence. If a cure for leukemia was to be found, Farber reasoned, it would be found within hematology the study of normal blood. In 1928, a young English physician named Lucy Wills discovered that folic acid, a vitamin-like substance found in fruits and vegetables, could restore the normal genesis of blood in nutrient-deprived patients. Farber wondered whether folic acid could restore the normalcy of blood in children with leukemia. As he injected synthetic folic acid into a cohort of leukemia children, Farber found that folic acid actually accelerated the growth of leukemia rather than stopping it. He stopped the experiment in a hurry. Farber was intrigued by the response of the leukemia cells to folic acid. intrigued. What if he could find a drug to cut off the supply of folic acid to the cells an antifolate? Farbers supply of folic acid had come from the laboratory of an old friend a chemist called Yellapragada Subbarao or Yella. Yella was a physician turned cellular physiologist. Having finished his medical training in India, Yella could not practice medicine in America because he had no license. He started as a night porter at a hospital, switched to a day job as a biochemist, and joined Lederle Lab in 1940. Enzymes and receptors in cells work by recognizing molecules using their chemical structure. With a slight alteration of the recipe, Yello could create variants of folic acid, and some of the variants could behave like antagonists to folic acid. He sent the first package of antifolates to Farbers lab in the late summer of 1947. On August 16, 1947, in the town of Dorchester in New England, Robert Sandler, a two-year-old boy was brought to Childrens Hospital in Boston. He had been ill with a wax and wane fever for over two weeks, and the condition had worsened. His spleen wasÂÂ   enlarged, and his blood sample had thousands of immature lymphoid leukemic blasts. His twin brother, Elliot, was in perfect health. Farber had received the first package of antifolates from Yella a few weeks before Sandlers arrival. On September 6, 1947, Farber injected Sandler with pteroylaspartic acid or PAA, the first of Yellas antifolates. PAA had little effect. On December 28, Farber received a new version of antifolate aminopterin. Farber injected the boy with it. The response was remarkable. The white cell count stopped its astronomical ascend, hovered at a plateau, and then dropped. And the leukemic blasts gradually flickered out in the blood and then disappeared. By New Years Eve, the count had dropped to one-sixth of its peak value, bottoming out at a near normal level. The cancer hadnt vanished, but it had temporarily abated. Sandlers remission was unprecedented in the history of leukemia. Farber started treating the slow train of children with childhood leukemia arriving at his clinic. An incredible pattern emerged: antifolates could destroy leukemia cells and make them disappear for a while. But the cancer would relapse after a few months of remission, refusing to respond to even the most potent of Yellas drugs. Robert Sandler died in 1948. In June 1948, Farber published his study in the New England Journal of Medicine. The paper was received with skepticism, disbelief and outrage. The obliteration of an aggressive cancer using a chemical drug was unprecedented in the history of cancer. Dyeing and Dying A systemic disease demands a systemic cure. Could a drug kill existing cancer cells without hurting normal cell tissues? The chemical world is full of poisons. The challenge is to find a selective poison that will eradicate cancer cells without killing the patient. In 1856, an 18-year-old student in London named William Perkin stumbled into an inexpensive chemical dye that could be made from scratch. Perkin called it aniline mauve. His discovery was a godsend for the textile industry because aniline mauve is easier to produce and store than vegetable dyes. Perkin also discovered that its parent compound could act as a building block for other dyes to produce derivatives with a vast spectrum of vivid colors. In the mid-1860s, Perkin flooded the textile factories of Europe with a suite of new synthetic dyes in various color. The German chemist rushed to synthesize their own dyes to muscle their way into the textile industry in Europe. They synthesized not only dyes and solvents, but an entire universe of new molecules such as phenols, bromides, alcohols, and amides, chemicals never encountered in nature. In 1878, a 24-year-old medical student named Paul Ehrlich did an experiment usingÂÂ   chemical dyes to stain animal tissues. He discovered the dyes seemed to be able to differentiate among chemicals hidden inside the cells, staining some and sparing others. In 1882, working with Robert Koch, Ehrlich discovered another new chemical stain that could pick up one class of germs from a mixture of microbes. In the late 1880s, Ehrlich found that certain toxins when injected in animals could produce antitoxins,ÂÂ   which could be used to neutralize the toxin with extraordinary specificity. If biology was a mix-and-match game of chemicals, Ehrlich thought, what if some chemical could differentiate bacterial cells from animal cells so that it could kill the bacteria cells without hurting the animal? So he began with a hunt for anti-microbial chemicals. After testing hundreds of chemicals, he found a dye derivative that can act as an antibiotic drug for mice and rabbits infected with Trypanosoma gondii (a parasite). He called the chemical Trypan Red, after the color of the dye. And in 1910, his laboratory discovered arsphenamine (Salvarsan), the first effective medicinal treatment for syphilis. His success on Trypan Red and Salvarsan proved that chemicals could be found to cure diseases with specificity. He called these chemicals magic bullets for their capacity to kill with specificity. Between 1904 and 1908, he attempted to find an anticancer drug using his vast arsenal of chemicals. None of them worked. What was poison to cancer cells, he found, was also poison to normal cells because cancer cells and normal cells were so similar that made it almost impossible to differentiate. Ehrlich died in 1915 at age 61. In 1917, two years after his death, Germany used a chemical weapon at the battle of Ypres in Belgium, in the form of chlorine gas. The gas killed two thousand soldiers that night. In 1919, pathologist found the survivors bone marrows were all depleted, with the blood-forming cells all dried up.

Holocaust :: essays research papers

Tarek El Zein Holocaust Jesus or Hitler? Anti-Semitism was widespread in Europe at the time Hitler came to power. Much of this anti-Semitism was rooted, first, in religious beliefs that arose more than 1500 years before Hitler came to power, and second, on political beliefs, often cynically exploited for political gain. Though it was not accepted by everyone, this existing anti-Semitism was common and provided a receptive audience for Hitler's anti-Semitic claims. Hitler did not just exploit the existing anti-Semitism in Germany; he changed it and built on it until it became an all-consuming obsession both for himself and for the rest of the National Socialist leadership. The most significant difference between traditional anti-Semitism and the philosophy of the Nazis was that the basis for the anti-Semitism was distorted and changed. Previous anti-Semitism had been based upon religious convictions - primarily on the questionable fact that Jews were responsible for the execution of Jesus - and political attacks to exclude Jews from the rest of society. Although he exploited this religious anti-Semitism, Hitler and the other Nazi leaders, who were opposed to traditional religions, found another basis for their hatred of the Jews. They relied on the theories of "eugenics" and "social Darwinism" which were then common in Europe and transformed them into "race science." They also used the political expression of anti-Semitism coupled with the myth of the Aryans. This myth had developed in Europe the last part of the 19th century. According to Hitler's philosophy the Germanic peoples called "Aryans," were superior to all other races and had the right to rule over them. Hitler and the other Nazis claimed that other races, such as the Slavs and the Poles, were inferior species fit only to serve Aryan man. The Jews were even lower than the Slavs. Hitler believed that "Aryans" were the builders of civilization while Jews were parasites fit only for extermination. This racism had a polit ical agenda as well. Hitler blamed the Jews for the loss of World War I, which he called "the stab in the back" and made the focus of his political campaigns. The combination of religious anti-Semitism and political anti-Semitism with patriotism led many German people to accept Hitler's message. One of the stumbling blocks to even wider acceptance of the Nazis' racism was the assimilation of Jews into German life. Unlike the Jews of Eastern Europe, German Jews considered themselves no different from other Germans, but in religion.