John Steinbeck's novels The Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men provide readers with a glimpse into the era of the Great Depression UNITED STATES. In The Grapes of Wrath, the Joad family of Oklahoma, along with thousands of other farming families, travel across America to pursue a dream that lies in California. Their dream is to get a job and prosper again on their own land. However, they found only disappointments in California, with all the work already accomplished and poverty as severe as in Oklahoma. In Of Mice and Men, the two main characters, George and Lennie, form a powerful friendship as they emigrate to California for work. Out of love and compassion, George devotes himself to protecting Lennie from their hard-hearted society, as Lennie suffers from a mental disability and often finds himself in trouble. Although the novels are organized in different stylistic forms, Steinbeck uses the themes of pursuing the American dream, developing compassion for others, the importance of unification, and the massive difficulties and suffering of life in The Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay In both novels, the theme of the American dream is present. In the heart of the Great Depression, Steinbeck's characters have hope and confidence that they will achieve the wealth and opportunity of California, but they will never be able to achieve what they envisioned. They dream of one day making their own profit, but the reality is that the long journey to achieve their dream is most often not rewarded. In Of Mice and Men, when Crooks, the African-American stable male, was left in the quarters with Lennie, Lennie told him about his fantasy of moving to California and building a farm with George. Crooks sees that in reality, “each of them has a little piece of land in their head. And none of them will ever succeed. ...No one ever reaches heaven and no one gets land. It’s just in their heads” (Mouse 81). As in Of Mice and Men, the dreams of the farmers in The Grapes of Wrath were distant and unlikely to come true, however, the farmers never gave up on their dream of reaching the West. As their hope of achieving their goal diminished, so did the dream of living a perfect farming life in California. Another common theme in both of Steinbeck's novels is the power and importance of unity. In The Grapes of Wrath, the government and banks have stripped families of their land, food, and other assets and pushed them into a deep state of poverty. Farmers soon realized that they were powerless when working individually to fight the system that was holding them back. Although they still found it difficult to work together, people found their tasks less distressing when their discomfort was shared, and so they banded together and traveled west. Unification was very important to maintain the strength of the family. Every time a family member abandoned the group, the entire family faced conflicts among themselves. Although they continued their journey after a limb was removed or had to be left behind, the family struggled to get back on track. If they hadn't had each other to inspire and motivate each other - especially Mom, who always kept the family moving - then they would all have suffered far more than they did.essentially suffered. Ma kept the group together through his dominant role as head of the family. She was always the member who brought the family together after a loss when others lost hope. As in The Grapes of Wrath, the characters in Of Mice and Men, particularly George and Lennie, choose to come together to overcome the cruelty of society. Lennie, who suffered from a mild form of retardation, recognized the importance of having George in his life when he said: "I made you look after me, and you made me take care of you , and this is why” (Mouse 15). Lennie shows that no matter what challenges life throws at them, he and George will always support each other because they need each other. In both works, Steinbeck depicts the theme of compassion in human nature, as characters frequently make sacrifices for one another. Among the many relationships in The Grapes of Wrath, whether family ties, friendships or simple acquaintances, compassion binds the characters together. Often, compassion manifests itself through sacrifice, which makes relationships even stronger. Compassion and mutual love means that an individual must look beyond the differences between others and find the things they have in common to unite. They must also put everyone's needs before their own and consider the common benefit rather than pure personal benefit. For example, when Ma gives up some of her family's stew for the children at the camp, she becomes very altruistic toward those who seemed desperate in need of care. She explained to an upset woman: “Suppose you were making a stew and a bunch of little guys were standing around the moon, what would you do? We didn’t have enough, but you can’t keep it when they look at you like that” (Grapes 333). Out of compassion for the starving children, Ma's maternal instinct told her to help them, even if it meant she had to sacrifice her own limited food reserves. Similarly, in Of Mice and Men, George sympathizes with Lennie by choosing to help Lennie rather than leave him vulnerable to the wickedness of society. When George shoots Lennie in the head before the lynch mob comes to torment him, he shows compassion for Lennie's well-being in the future. If George had let the crowd take him away, Lennie would have gotten lost alone in society without George, and he would have found himself in an even more difficult situation. By shooting him, George quickly ends his best friend's pain. However, he sacrifices the life of a loved one, a dilemma he must deal with emotionally. This sacrifice made by George shows great compassion for Lennie's feelings and great bravery for having the ability to do something so traumatic. In both novels, Steinbeck conveys the theme of suffering and experiencing serious difficulties. In The Grapes of Wrath, the Joad family, along with several thousand other poor farming families, suffered the most from government manipulation and exploitation. As the government and banks became more greedy and authoritarian towards farmers, they found themselves pushed further into extreme poverty. Farmers resorted to whatever they could to survive the hunger, pain and anguish. Farmers began to observe that “in people's eyes, there is failure; and in the eyes of the hungry, anger grows. In the souls of people, the grapes of wrath are filled and...become heavy for the vintage” (Grapes 449). Steinbeck expresses that as people are repeatedly abused by the power of the bank, theywill eventually grow tired of this mistreatment and will want a change. Their tolerance diminishes as the grapes get heavier, metaphorically. The heavy grapes symbolize the burden that officials impose on farmers through their greed. Soon the grapes will be ready to pick for the vintage; soon, farmers will be ready for a revolution. In Of Mice and Men, Lennie is repeatedly tormented by his disability. Due to his desire to pet soft objects, he enjoys carrying animals like mice and puppies, whether dead or alive. He constantly finds himself in trouble because he does not know his own strength and he kills several animals unintentionally. Lennie even killed Curley's wife, who allowed him to smell her soft hair. Ultimately, these difficulties led to Lennie's downfall, when the mob pursued him for killing Curley's wife. In The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck's style and format are exceptionally distinct. He uses the interchapter format throughout the book, alternating between an observation of society as a whole and a detailed description of the Joad family's quest westward. The interleaf style of this book is effective in explaining the context of the Joad family history. As the family travels across America, they encounter the misfortunes of the Great Depression. The large chapters of the novel provide context and an assessment of the rest of the farmers and the government through symbolism and metaphors. However, this style may be unappealing to some readers, as it greatly extends the length of the story and turns reading into a seemingly arduous task to complete. Steinbeck also uses Oklahoma dialect in the characters' dialogue to emphasize the setting and time period. Tom met an Oklahoma man in California, who warned him, “Okie, that means you were from Oklahoma. Now that means you're a dirty son of a bitch. Okie means you're scum. It doesn’t mean anything in itself, it’s the way they say it” (Grapes 264-265). This man shows Tom that "Okie" is just a word, but the way Californians pronounce it gives an offensive connotation behind the word. The man also speaks in a Southern dialect to emphasize the offensiveness of the term "Okie" because he is also an "Okie". In Of Mice and Men, the stylistic format used is different from the other book in many ways. This novel is a story told chronologically about George and Lennie, two friends who depend on each other to survive the brutality of the Great Depression. The novel is a relatively short story compared to The Grapes of Wrath as it only focuses on the experiences of George and Lennie over a short period of time. The dialogue in this book is effective in telling the story because it creates a more personal perspective for the reader. By telling the story from the characters' point of view, the connection between the author's message and the story is more precise. The author accurately shows the characters' feelings, thoughts, and interactions through their dialogue instead of often being ambiguous through narrations. When George tells Lennie, "Don't let him get you - but - if that son of a bitch pisses you off - let him have it for me" (Mouse 33), this directly shows the proud but vengeful attitude of George. . George watches over Lennie and guides him through the conflict with Curley. This is directly demonstrated through his dialogue, whereas the alternative would have been more ambiguous, indirect and longer. Keep in mind: this is just a sample. Get a personalized article from our expert writers now. Get a.