How Hardy and Steinbeck treat the theme of ‘outsiders’ in ‘The Withered Arm’ and ‘Of Mice and Men’ Essay

Hardy and Steinbeck both use the theme of outsiders strongly in their stories. The term ‘outsider’ means one who is not a member of a profession, party or circle or one not acquainted with or interested in something that is going on. A person can be an outsider for many different reasons for example loneliness, disability, gender, race, age, size and action. Steinbeck’s short story ‘Of Mice and Men’ was set on a ranch in California during the American Depression in the late 1930’s. The story is about two men Lennie and George. Lennie is mentally disabled so George looks after him. When Lennie and George first meet the boss’s son Curley he immediately feels threatened by Lennie’s size. Lennie and George go and work on the ranch because they want to save up their money so they can buy a ranch of their own. As the story progresses 2 other characters, Candy and Crooks, become interested in their idea and ask if they can help out. Lennie is given a puppy by Slim (another worker on the ranch). One time Lennie is petting it and does not know his own strength and kills it. Curley’s wife comes in and asks what is wrong he tells her what happened and that it only happened because he likes stroking things. She lets him stroke her hair because she thinks it is soft. Lennie gets carried away and won’t let go. Curley’s wife struggles so much that he breaks her neck. Lennie becomes so frightened that he runs away and just leaves the body. Curley sees his wife and says he is going to give Lennie a horrible death. George hears Curley and decides to kill Lennie himself quickly and painlessly. George finds Lennie and starts to talk about their dream ranch, he raises the gun and shoots Lennie in the back when he is not looking. Hardy’s novella ‘The Withered Arm’ was set in England in the 1800’s. It is about a woman named Rhoda who has a son with the owner of the dairy farm at which she works. But now the farmer does not want to know her and is married to a younger prettier woman. Rhoda wanted to know what the new wife looked like so she sent her son to go and see. The son came back and told Rhoda what she was like. Rhoda had a dream, she dreamt that Farmer Lodge’s new wife was sitting on her and she thrust her left arm with her wedding ring on into Rhoda’s face. Rhoda grabbed her arm and threw her to the floor. The next day the farmers new wife visited Rhoda and revealed to Rhoda some marks on her left arm. A few weeks later Gertrude (Farmer Lodge’s wife) came back to see Rhoda and showed her that the marks on her arm were getting worse. Months later Gertrude goes to see a conjuror who makes an egg mixture which shows Rhoda’s face and says that to cure her arm Gertrude must touch the neck of a man who has been hung before he goes cold. Rhoda and her son leave and were never seen leaving. Gertrude found out when the next hanging was taking place and she then travelled to the jail. After the hanging she was shown where the body was. As she touched the body somebody behind her screamed. Gertrude turned around and saw Rhoda and Farmer Lodge standing there. The dead boy was Rhoda’s son. A few days later Gertrude passed away with shock. There are four main outsiders in ‘Of Mice and Men’ and also in ‘The Withered Arm’. The outsiders in ‘Of Mice and Men are Crooks, Candy, Lennie and Curley’s wife and in ‘The Withered Arm’ they are Rhoda, Gertrude, Farmer Lodge and Rhoda’s son. Crooks is an outsider in ‘Of Mice and Men’ because he is black and everybody else on the ranch is white so he is branded as different. A moment in the story where Crooks’ loneliness is shown is when Lennie comes into his room: â€Å"You go on get outa my room. I ain’t wanted in the bunkhouse and you ain’t wanted in my room† This shows that Crooks is not allowed to go in their rooms invading their private space so he does not want them coming in his room doing that, if he is not allowed to do it. An outsider in ‘The Withered Arm’ Rhoda. She is and outsider because she has a son with Farmer Lodge and does not talk to any of the other workers at the dairy farm, so they think she is stuck-up: ‘†¦as the milkmaid spoke she turned her face so that she could glance past her cow’s tail to the other side of the barton, where a thin fading woman of thirty milked somewhat apart from the rest.’ This is a part in the story where Rhoda is at work at the dairy farm and all the other workers are talking about Farmer Lodge’s new wife. Rhoda does not join in the conversation for obvious reasons, but as they talk the workers look over at her. Candy is another outsider in ‘Of Mice and Men’. He is an outsider because he is older than any of the other workers. A part in the story where Candy’s loneliness is visible is when his dog is taken from him and shot by some of the other workers because they are sick of the smell of it: â€Å"Candy did not answer. The silence fell on the room again†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Candy lay still staring at the ceiling† Candy did not want his dog to be killed because it was his friend, but when it is killed he feels lonely as if he has got no one left. Farmer Lodge is also an outsider in ‘The Withered Arm’. He is an outsider because he is older than any of the other workers and he is rich, which everybody else is not. When he marries his new wife Gertrude they see him as being lonely because he has married a younger woman. Curley’s wife is an outsider because in ‘Of Mice and Men’ she has just married Curley and moved to the ranch, which his dad owns. All the other workers think she must be lonely because she is always seen wandering around the ranch, she is never seen with Curley. Similarly Gertrude is an outsider in ‘The Withered Arm’ because she has just married Farmer Lodge and moved to his home. When she comes home with Farmer Lodge everybody is talking about her ‘Who is she?’ and ‘What does she look like?’ so this must make her fell as though people are talking at her behind her back. In ‘Of Mice and Men’ Lennie is an outsider because he has a mental disability and is looked after by George. He is also does not know his own strength and hurts Curley, this incident makes him feel more vulnerable to the other workers: â€Å"Lennie smiled with his bruised mouth. ‘I didn’t want no trouble,’ he said. He walked toward the door†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ In the same way Rhoda’s son is an outsider in ‘The Withered Arm’ because he is dominated by his mother and at the end when he is hung, he is wrongly accused of something because of injustice: â€Å"a young fellow deserved to be let off, this on does; only just turned eighteen, and only present by chance when the rick was fired’ This is the part in the story when Gertrude goes to see if there is any hangings happening the next day and is told about one, which is Rhoda’s son. The man who is telling her says he is innocent. Dreams are featured a lot in both stories. Lennie, George and Candy have a dream in ‘Of Mice and Men’ to own their own ranch: â€Å"We’ll have a big vegetable patch and a rabbit-hutch and chickens.† Lennie and George at first are going to buy the ranch by themselves but then Lennie accidentally tells Candy, so George lets him help them. Curley’s wife also has a dream to become an actress and be respected. In ‘The Withered Arm’ Rhoda has a dream about Gertrude sitting on her with the wedding ring on: â€Å"the young wife, in the pale silk dress and white bonnet†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦the figure thrust forward its left hand mockingly, so as to make the wedding ring it wore glitter in Rhoda’s eyes†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦swung out her right hand seized the confronting spectre by its obtrusive left arm, and whirled it backward to the floor† However in this story the dream comes true because Gertrude visits Rhoda and shows her the marks on her arm. In ‘Of Mice and Men’ the style is mainly conversational, we learn about events through dialogue. Through language we can tell that the boss is aloof to the workers. The language is like a child’s when Lennie is moving; he is described like an animal. This story is known as a novella. It deals with poor and working class people. In ‘The Withered Arm’ the style is also conversational, we learn about Rhoda at the beginning through conversation. It is third person narrative and in the past tense. This story is known as a short story. Through language we can also tell that the boss is aloof to the workers. This story also deals with poor and working class people. The settings are very similar, as they are both set on a farm in remote areas of the countries in which they are set. ‘The Withered Arm is set on a dairy farm in England but ‘Of Mice and Men’ is set on a ranch in California.