Theme of Injustice in ‘Of Mice and Men’ and ‘Slumdog Millionaire’

Topics:	Of Mice and Men
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‘Of Mice and Men’ is a story written by John Steinbeck. Set during the Great Depression, two men, George, a fairly intelligent man, and Lenny, a big man with the mind of a child, arrive at a ranch near Soledad. Lennie is a lot to deal with, he loves touching soft small things but his strength causes him to accidentally kill small animals. Though the men must go their own ways when Lennie pays for the bad things he’s done. ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ is a film about this young man, Jamal, answers questions on the Indian version of 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire'. As he answers each of the questions it shows flashbacks of how he got there. After their mother dies, Jamal and his brother, Salim, fight to survive on their own on the streets. Salim finds the life of being a criminal fine but Jamal gets by with small jobs until getting a spot on the game show. Both the novel and the film show injustice in multiple ways like the poverty they live in and that getting in the way of their dreams.

Everyone needs a companion or someone to be there with them through tough times in their life, someone who will stick by them through everything. In both ‘Of Mice and Men’ and ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ examples of this are shown. ‘Of Mice and Men’ shows this in George and Lennie’s friendship. George is always there for Lennie even when he had done some terrible things. They went with each other from town to town, working together always. For example, “With us it ain't like that. We got a future. We got somebody to talk to that gives a damn about us. We don't have to sit in no bar room blowin' in our jack jus' because we got no place else to go”. Jamal and Salim in ‘Slumdog Millionaire’, however, have a different kind of relationship as brothers. Together they watched their mum die and had to go off and look after themselves. Living in the slums isn’t easy, but when you got a friend with you it’s that little bit easier.

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Poverty is an international problem/situation which includes not having enough material possessions or income for a person's needs Steinbeck uses his personal experience to form the story of ‘Of Mice and Men’. Living in poverty caused George and Lennie to become uneducated and unskilled meaning it was hard to find a job they could do. Having this set in the Great Depression also means it’d be hard to make much money. In ‘Slumdog Millionaire’, Jamal and Salim grew up in the slums of India, a place where a large amount of people in poverty live. When you’re born in the slums you usually die there, it’s a hard place to get out of. An example of this is early on in the film when you see the boys getting chased by police men through the slums. Injustice is shown by how all these characters are disadvantaged in money and resources.

Hopes and dreams are one of the most important things in one’s life. Dreams can motivate people like nothing else can. Steinbeck shows this in George and Lennie dream to own their own farm. They have always been motivated to work hard to reach this dream. They’ve gone from ranch to ranch just to somehow get what they’ve wanted all this time. Salim and Jamal’s dream is just simply for a better life. Even as kids they worked, begged and did everything they could just to get out of the slums. It’s extremely hard to just get a job to get money as they are disadvantaged by not getting the education and skills you need to become successful. An example of Jamal's dream is how Jamal goes on the game show to win money to finally leave the slums. The power of injustice is demonstrated by George, Lennie, Salim and Jamal not getting an education and good skills needed like majority of people do.

All in all, the power of injustice is linked with companionship by giving the characters someone to either look after or help look after them. Poverty shows injustice in showing you how tough these characters lives were which also connects to hopes and dreams living in poverty gave these characters more to look forward to or achieve, something to live for. In short, these characters having companionship and dreams made living in poverty a bit easier which links to injustice by because of injustice they now use this to cope with how bad things are for them.

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Theme of Injustice in ‘Of Mice and Men’ and ‘Slumdog Millionaire’. (2023, March 01). Edubirdie. Retrieved May 15, 2024, from https://edubirdie.com/examples/theme-of-injustice-in-of-mice-and-men-and-slumdog-millionaire/

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Theme of Injustice in ‘Of Mice and Men’ and ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ [Internet]. Edubirdie. 2023 Mar 01 [cited 2024 May 15]. Available from: https://edubirdie.com/examples/theme-of-injustice-in-of-mice-and-men-and-slumdog-millionaire/

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