Speech: Gilbert Grape of Mice and Men Adversity Essay Example

this has on the reader, is supposed to give understanding of the social and economic repercussion on the protector. 'Of mice and men' attemps to position the reader in ways so that they gain a full understanding of the concept of adversity, from the straight out nature of adversity, too the flow on effects of caring for a person who is in a state of affliction. The other text we studied on my class was the movie 'What's eating Gilbert grape' directed by Lasse Hallstrom.

This text too is set in a rural American town with limited social and economic prospect, however it is set in a more recent context of the 1980s. The movie is about a dysfunctional family living through many different sources of adversity, a morbidly obese mother, no father, a son with a similar development disability to lennie and worst of all is their location, being such a small town, it has no facilities to support the family. In this text, two of the characters suffer conditions which are, on a social level, very disabling due to the lack of understanding by the society of their context.

The mother Bonnie is perceived as a sort of sideshow belonging in the circus. When she is spotted outside the police station after retrieving Arnie from yet another mishap, everyone around stares at her and one man goes so far as to take a photo. This explores the nature of the social condition under which bonnie suffers. The technique of slow motion is utilised to reveal Bonnie's inner turmoil as well as reflecting the towns narrow minded attitude. This event affirms the idea of

the social adversities faced by the grape family.

Like the novel, the family in this movie is a strongly portrays the strain, a person who requires extensive care, puts on those around them. Comparing the movie and the novel, you gain an understanding for the true hardships that a person can suffer, and the flow on effect of having to deal with this affliction. These two texts provide insight into the changing nature of society's attitudes towards those more vulnerable by comparing their ideas over their changing contexts.