Of Mice and Men Subject and Theme in Our World: Music

Of Mice and Men is about 2 men that are lonely and isolated from society. They are living in poverty and have no where to go except to go look for jobs. This is the subject for Of Mice and Men; loneliness and alienation. The theme of this story in my opinion is that even the most lonely and isolated people in society have the biggest dreams. In this post, I will post songs that talk about loneliness and isolation. I will also talk about what their lyrics mean and how they relate to the subject and theme of Of Mice and Men.

Let's start with the first song called All by Myself by Eric Carmen.

This song is very short and has lyrics that describe both the subject and theme. This song is about a person who used to have lots of friends when they were young. Now they are older and have nobody to talk to. They are alone. This person has no love and feels very insecure. Everybody is gone far away from this person. This person's dream is to not be lonely and be with all the people he/she was once with when they were young.

All by myself
Don't wanna be, all by myself anymore
All by myself
Don't wanna live, all by myself anymore

This is the main chorus of the song which states that this person is now lonely and they do not want to be lonely. This is their dream.

This second song is called Isolation by a band named Alter Bridge. 

The band in this song is talking about a person that is isolated from everyone else. The first verse of the song seems to define the word isolation.

When all is lost to you inside
When all the darkness takes the light
The ritual it has begun
And now you tear away from everyone
Disconnected so alone yeah
Severed ties from all you know

When the darkness takes over the light, you are now falling apart from everyone else. When you fall apart from everyone you are now disconnected. This is what isolation means. 

The second verse talks about how you are afraid to dream about the life you want. Without dreaming, you can't try achieve that dream because you have no dream. Because of that you are broken and have to face the reality that is in front of you. Here's the verse:

Justify you waste away
You dare to dream but still you're too afraid
And now you're broken and deceived
Lost to live this cruel reality
You're disconnected so alone
Severed ties from all you know

The rest of the song  just talks about how hopefully you will try to make things better to live a life you want to live. The person the band is talking about probably wishes that they aren't isolated and wish to have the life everyone has or wants.

This next song is called Lonely Boy by Andrew Gold

The lyrics in this song aren't too clear by what they mean however this is my interpretation. The song is about two parents that gave birth to a son. They treated him well and they sent him to school. His parents supposedly told their son that he would be an only child. In the summer of 1953 they gave birth to a baby girl. His parents told him that they needed to pay more attention to his sister than to him since she was just born. This made him sad. Eventually he left home and became a lonely guy. His sister grew up, gave birth to a son and did the same things her parents did to their son. The son's dream is that his parents wouldn't have lied to him and payed more attention to him than his sister. His dream is to find a better life away from his horrible parents.

 The next and final song I will talk about is a song called Lonely People by a band named America.

The song is short and simply talks about all the lonely people that think their life is done. The band says that don't think that your life is done until you have thought up of a way to fix it and go and try to fix it. They also talk about single people that think that they will never be able to experience love. The band says that you should go and at least try to attain love before thinking your life is over. The dream of these lonely people is to not be lonely and the single people wish that they would be with someone that loves them back as much as they love them. Here are the lyrics:

This is for all the lonely people
Thinking that life has passed them by
Don't give up
Until you drink from the silver cup
And ride that highway in the sky

This is for all the single people
Thinking that life has left them dry
Don't give up
Until you drink from the silver cup
You never know until you try

Well, I'm on my way
Yes, I'm back to stay
Well, I'm on my way back home

This is for all the lonely people
Thinking that life has passed them by
Don't give up
Until you drink from the silver cup
She'll never take you down or
Never give you up
You'll never know until you try

So as you can see, not only is the subject and theme of Of Mice and Men played in our world and literature, but it is also played in songs just like I have showed you here. These songs are great examples of examples of people that are lonely and isolated in our world.

Thanks for reading,

~ Ramez Fares

Sources: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQo6huzi7Rs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gAt65uGlco

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRlAnwk-mYs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqeZfxJYbps

http://www.lyrics007.com/America%20Lyrics/Lonely%20People%20Lyrics.html

Of Mice and Men Subject and Theme in Our World: People in Prison and Criminals

Today in the world, many people commit crimes everyday. Some are charged but others are sent to jail. According to dictionary.com, the definition of 'prison' is: "a building for the confinement of persons held while awaiting trial, persons sentenced after conviction, etc." The people who are in prisons known as criminals, are lonely and isolated because they are confined in a closed space with full security. Usually, they are not allowed to leave prison until their time is up. The theme of Of Mice and Men is that even the most lonely and isolated people of society have the biggest dreams. I think we can all agree that people in prison are the most isolated people you can find in today's society. These criminals wish they can leave jail. Some people after being sent to jail reflect upon their actions and probably wish they hadn't committed the crime. Others do not care and once they are out of jail they will probably try to commit another crime. People in prison can somewhat be related to the characters in Of Mice and Men. Although the characters in Of Mice and Men aren't in jail, they are in solitary confinement. They can leave whenever they want but you have to remember, this is the Great Depression. If these people were to leave the ranch, they will have no other jobs to go to and they will be stuck in complete poverty. The people on the ranch are like people in prison. They both wish they weren't in the situations they are and they wish they had a normal life like most people.


Now let's talk a bit about prison. Historically, prison isn't like it is today. In old times, prison was just a place used to keep the criminals in a secure place until they were given either corporal or capital punishment.

Prisons need to be carefully designed on the computer
before being built.

Prisons need to be carefully designed to ensure security and to ensure that no criminal escapes. Male and female prisoners are kept separately for obvious reasons. Prisons have the following features: A main entrance, a religious facility, an education facility which includes a library, a gym or exercise yard, a healthcare facility, a segregation unit which is a separate area to keep the more dangerous prisoners, a section for vulnerable prisoners such as sex offenders, a section of safe cells where prisoners are constantly watched for fear they will commit suicide, a visiting area for restricted contact from visitors, a death row (in some countries) where prisoners wait to be executed, and also a recreational area.

Supermax prison 

Security in prison varies from country to country. Most prisons divide security into different classes depending on how bad the criminals are. In the US, there are 9 levels of security. They are: pre-release, minimum, low, close security, medium, high, maximum, administrative, and supermax. In pre-release prisons, the goal is to build character and responsibility in the criminal before they are released. They aren't required to be constantly supervised by they are observed over time. Supermax prisons are made for the "worst of the worst". These prisons are created for people such as terrorists who create a risk for national security. Also, non-terrorists can also be kept here but they are still extremely horrible criminals that are too dangerous to be in a normal prison. People in these prisons are not allowed to communicate with other prisoners. These criminals are monitored 24/7. 


Thanks for reading,


~ Ramez Fares

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jail

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/prison?s=t

http://adiaryofamom.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/1-jail-cell.jpg

http://www.supermaxed.com/images/FlorenceSM-DLR-1.jpg

http://www.justice.tas.gov.au/__data/assets/image/0004/45535/3D_Image_-_Mens_Prison_expanded.jpg

Of Mice and Men Subject and Theme in Our World: Poverty

The story Of Mice and Men is taken during the times of the Great Depression. The Great Depression was a time of economic crisis that led the the loss of millions of jobs and left people homeless and poor in an instant. Because George and Lennie were poor and did not have anywhere to go, they are stuck moving to different ranches to work on. They are lonely and isolated from society. They have no where to go for help and they have no one to be with but with each other. The theme for Of Mice and Men is that even the most lonely and isolated people in society have the biggest dreams. George and Lennie obviously wish that the Great Depression wasn't happening. If it wasn't happening then they would have much better jobs and would have some place decent to live. Then, they could go out and communicate with the world and be a part of society. Instead they are poor, homeless guys working like animals on a ranch in order to make very little money a month.The subject and theme in Of Mice and Men can be easily related to poverty. In this post, I will take a look at today's poverty situations.

Graph comparing the HDI values in African Nations

Let's start with a continent where poverty is a major issue; Africa. Africa is a continent with usually the continent with the most countries facing poverty. Whenever a list is released which measures economic activity, African nations are usually the lowest. In 2009, 22 of 24 nations were categorized as "Low Human Development" on the UN Human Development Index were all located in Sub-Saharan-Africa. In 2006, 34 out of 50 nations on the list of least developed countries are located in Africa. The GDP per capita in most African Nations is much less than $200 US.

One reason of poverty in Africa is the mismanagement of land. South of the Sahara Desert, there is large amounts of fertile land. However, the problem is is that most of the land is often owned by European settlers. According to the 2005 Integrated Regional Information Networks report, 82% of fertile land located in South Africa is owned by descendants of European settlers.

Another reason is that Africans misuse money a lot. The US has sent over $500 billion US to African Nations as direct aid. However, reports have shown that the money had little long term effect. There are some Africans with large amounts of money. Out of stupidity, these people spend their large quantity of money on weapons. This meant that the money was brought toward developed nations (where the weapons are produced) and no money was brought into the local economy. On top of that, the weapons make no use in providing necessities for life. Or, some corrupt governments take that money away and put it toward unnecessary production of, say, nuclear weapons. One example of a country that wasted its money is Ghana. When Ghana became independent, it was the richest country in Africa. The money Ghana had was spent on projects that turned out in the end to be of no use. Here are two examples: A highway was built in Ghana. It was a very superior highway except the only problem was, was that Ghana has very few vehicles so no one barely uses this highway. Another project that went to waste was the creation of storage silos for storing cocoa. Ghana built storage silos to store cocoa because the commodity price was fluctuating. They could take advantage. However, cocoa cannot be stored unprocessed for even a short time, so the storage silos were a waste. Another example of misused money was the building of the Aswan High Dam. This dam was built on the Nile River and was supposed to modernize Egypt and Sudan right away. However, by blocking the natural flow of the Nile River, the dam blocks the flow of a natural fertilizer called nitrate fertilizers as well as other organic material. Because of this problem, now one-third the electricity produced by the dam is used to produce fertilizer which wouldn't be needed if the dam wasn't built in the first place.

Disease is a major concern in African nations. The biggest cause of disease in Africa is the vast amounts of unsafe drinking water. HIV/AIDS is another major concern in Africa. 3000 Africans die each day due to AIDS and 11000 people are infected each day.

Now let's look at poverty in present-day USA. According to the US Department of Health and Human Services, to be considered poor, an average 4 or 5 person family must make about $25000 or less annually. Here is a chart that shows the number of poor people in the US from 1959 to 2009. There is currently about 300 million people in the US.

Why is poverty so high in the US? Here are some factors. Firstly, the income you receive is compared to the education you have. In the US, a household headed with a person with less than a 9th grade education receives about $20000, high school graduates receive $40000, bachelor's degree receives $77000, and a professional degree receives $100000. Statistics show that poverty is caused by job loss. 21.5% of poor people have no jobs and only 2.5% of poor people have jobs. Studies show that income varies by age. The older you are, the higher income you receive. This might be due to additional experience or higher education. Shockingly, statistics show that income varies by ethnic groups. 21% of children in the US live in poverty which contains 46% of black children and 40% of Latino children. The poverty rate for whites is a bit lower than blacks. In the US, Asians on average receive the highest income, however, Asians are reported to complain the most about discrimination than any other race.

So as you can see from all the information I have provided in this post, poverty is a growing concern not only in Africa, but even in the power house we call the US. In fact, the US is at an equally advancing pace of poverty as Africa. The US is in debt right now and sooner or later, the US will have to go bankrupt and the whole world economy will collapse. If you go to http://www.usdebtclock.org/ you can see this is a counter of the total US debt and this counter is just speeding away. You will be amazed at all the stats given on this website. Let's recap. The subject of Of Mice and Men is alienation and loneliness and the theme of Of Mice and Men is that even the most lonely and isolated people of society have the biggest dreams. When you are living in poverty, you are isolated from society because you are poor and cannot live a good life so you have to focus on trying to keep up your family. Nobody will accept you in life because you are worthless and cannot do anything for society. These people in society have dreams of not being poor and living a middle-class life. Same with the people of Of Mice and Men. They are all poor which is why they are working on the ranch. They wish they weren't poor and would rather live a decent middle-class life owning their own house, family, and piece of land.

Thanks for reading,

~ Ramez Fares

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty_in_the_United_States

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b7/US_poverty_rate_timeline.gif

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty_in_Africa

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e0/Africa_by_HDI%2C_UNDP_2004.png

Of Mice and Men Subject and Theme in Our World: Racism

Crooks in Of Mice and Men

In the story Of Mice and Men, Crooks is a black man working on the ranch but is treated unfairly due to the fact that he is black. He is forced to live in a small room inside the crappy farm. He has the worst job on the farm which is to take care of the horses and clean up after their business. No one also likes to talk to Crooks except for Candy and Lennie. Curley's wife abuses Crooks with her harsh words by telling Crooks that she can get rid of him anytime she wants really fast. This clearly shows alienation and loneliness because Crooks is forced to live by himself and he cannot communicate and socialize with others (even though Lennie and Candy do). Crooks' dream is for this racial discrimination against him to stop because we wants to be treated like everyone else and wants to be with other people. Remember, the theme of Of Mice and Men is how the most lonely and isolated people in society have the biggest dreams.

Race and Racism in Of Mice and Men is another subject that author John Steinbeck talks about. However the purpose of this blog is to talk about alienation and loneliness in Of Mice and Men, not Race and Racism. This blog post will be talking about how race and racism in the story and the world is connected to the theme of alienation and loneliness.

Now let's talk about how the subject and theme of Of Mice and Men connects to the world. First of all, here's an example of racial discrimination towards black people in the 1950s. On Thursday, December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks boarded a bus in the city of Montgomery. Back in those days, black people had an assigned section of seats they could sit on which was located near the back of the bus called the "coloured" section. When a white person boarded the bus and there was no more seats and there were black people sitting in the coloured section, the coloured section would be moved back even more toward the bus. This meant that the black people in the first couple rows of the coloured section would have to give up their seats and move further back or remain standing for the rest of their ride. While Rosa Parks was on the bus, the bus stopped in front of the Empire Theater and there were no more seats remaining. The coloured section was moved back and Rosa Parks had to give up her seat. With the guts and bravery she had, she refused to move back. This caused a problem on the bus. The police were called to the bus and Rosa Parks was arrested.

An advertisement advertising black
slaves to be sold.

Black people were also victims of slavery. Slavery of black people can be dated as far back as the 1600s. The black people were bought by white people and were forced to work on cotton and tobacco farms. Even though they were working very hard, they were mistreated. Their living conditions were horrible. Southern US' economy depended on slavery. Most black women slaves cooked, and took care of the children of the white people that owned them. Men were usually trained to be masons or carpenters. A lot of them were farm labourers so they had to plant and harvest crops. However, not all black Americans were considered slaves. The term "Free Blacks" refers to the black people who worked in large cities but had few rights. They could not express their political views or carry guns are just two of the many rights they didn't have that white people had. During the early 1900s, most black people lived in the southern states. During and after World War 1, more and more black people moved to the northern states. They moved to the north hoping they could get jobs and create a better life for them. Unfortunately, these black people were not properly educated and didn't have the proper training and skills to get these jobs. Slums and black "ghettos" were created throughout cities in the northern US. When the Great Depression came, it affected the blacks more than the whites. This was because the black people had a harder time to find jobs for 3 reasons: Firstly, there were no jobs available in general. Secondly, even if there was, the boss would probably prefer a white person. And finally, they didn't even have the education or skills required for most jobs.

After the Great Depression, World War 2 started. Fortunately for black people, WW2 triggered and opened up jobs for the black people. About 1 million black men served the army for America. These black people were even upgraded to higher ranks.

Extreme racism that used to exist in our world can easily be related to the subject and theme in Of Mice and Men. The black people that were poor and treated unfairly and put into slavery were isolated from society, just like Crooks. These black people were forced to do jobs that nobody else wanted to do. These black people would also be taken advantage of and were put into slavery and must do what their boss tells them to do for little to no money. They could not socialize with anyone else because they were stuck in their horrible conditions. They did not receive things that white people had. For example, black people had separate schools and washrooms created for them. These schools were probably not even that good knowing the way black people were treated back then.

Racism can also be connected to the theme in Of Mice and Men. Racism also exists somewhat today, but not the extreme as it was back in the early to mid 1900s. Anyone who was or is currently a victim of racism has one dream. And that dream is for the racism to stop. They think to themselves, who cares if I have a different skin colour? How does that make me so different from everyone else? They want to be treated equally. This theme is present with Crooks as well in Of Mice and Men.

Thanks for reading,

~ Ramez Fares

Sources:

http://www.english-online.at/history/african-americans/history-of-african-americans.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosa_Parks

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtQiutuTaZ4vlkV1WKD-XpQiy1mKwEP6LEswhy_JpGu2EwrbP2ZoykmPYvFGNNS3KJUzdkV3L6S07D8DdKq2PP-Nk68p72reNvKh20AH-nzDBWICymxk5WVJ8Fcevvbjdm4_pohG3DXcMD/s1600/micechar9.jpg

http://blogs.clarionledger.com/jmitchell/files/2010/05/Rosa-Parks-Dickson1dec05.jpg

http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/slavery/slave-ad.jpg

http://www.archives.gov/research/african-americans/ww2-pictures/images/african-americans-wwii-013.jpg

Of Mice and Men Subject and Theme in Our World: Holes by Louis Sachar

In the story Of Mice and Men, George and Lennie are working on a ranch for little money per month during the time of The Great Depression. They are lonely and isolated from society because they cannot afford to have a proper home and they are pretty much not a part of society. The story Of Mice and Men is can easily be connected to the story Holes by Louis Sachar.

Book cover of Holes

Holes is a story that revolves around a young boy named Stanley Yelnats and Hector Zeroni, nicknamed Zero. The plot of the story is that Stanley Yelnats has been wrongly accused of stealing the shoes of a baseball player named Clyde Livingston. As a result of his falsely accused crime, he is sent to a juvenile detention camp called Camp Green Lake. Here they are forced to dig holes for the reason that the Warden (boss) of Camp Green Lake is searching for treasure that a woman named Kate Barlow stole from Stanley's grandmother. Stanley nor the rest of the camp members don't know the reason they are digging the holes. Later in the story, Zero decides to run away into the desert and Stanley decides to look for him. Stanley and Zero are close friends. Eventually, Stanley's attorney comes to help him and Stanley and Zero and are released from the Camp.

This story can be easily related to Of Mice and Men in many ways. Sure, the people in Holes aren't living on a ranch, however they are working very hard labour just like the people in Of Mice and Men. In both stories, the people are lonely and isolated from society. In Of Mice and Men, George and Lennie and the rest of the ranch members have no where to go but live on the ranch because they need a job and are poor. They are isolated from society because they have no place to go because they need to be constantly working on the ranch. In Holes, the people are definitely lonely and isolated from society because they are in a juvenile prison. They are now allowed to go anywhere else. On top of that, the camp is located in the middle of a desert that has suffered  from drought for a very long time. Also, Zero's mom abandoned him and left Zero homeless for a long time before he was sent to the camp. Even though the story doesn't take place at the time of The Great Depression, Zero had to probably live in the same conditions as George and Lennie had to (excluding working on a ranch). For these reasons, this is how the story Holes related to the subject of loneliness and alienation presented by Of Mice and Men.

The theme Of Mice and Men, in my opinion is that even the most loneliness and isolated people from society have the biggest dreams. In Of Mice and Men, George and Lennie's dream is to own that $600 piece of land that they found. Lennie wants to pet soft things (especially rabbits) all day and George wants to own his own land where he can create his own rules and his own way of life without anyone telling him what to do. In Holes, the people of the camp want to leave the camp and go back to their original life. Zero wants to be back with his mother because she abandoned him like I said. However the story doesn't state whether this has been accomplished. Stanley wants to leave the camp because he was sent there for something he didn't do. Eventually his attorney gets Stanley out of the camp and Stanley returns back to his way of life.

The story Holes and Of Mice and Men both show similar characteristics. They both involve lonely and isolated men working on some sort of field for little or no money all day long. The characters in both stories want to leave the conditions that they have to face with. Both stories also show the subject of loneliness and alienation and the theme of Of Mice and Men.

Thanks for reading,

~ Ramez Fares

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holes_(novel)#elya

http://www.louissachar.com/images/HolesCover.jpg

http://sites.cdnis.edu.hk/students/042706/files/2011/12/HolesMovie.jpg

Steinbeck, John. Of Mice and Men. New York: Penguin, 1937. Print.

Of Mice and Men Subject and Theme in Our World: North Korea

If we recap from the story Of Mice and Men, George and Lennie live in the time of The Great Depression. They have no home, no family, and no money. They are lonely and isolated from society and all they have to turn to is each other. They are stuck to work on a ranch in horrible conditions for only $50 a month which is basically nothing.

North Korean flag

An example of a group of people are a the citizens of North Korea. North Korea is run by a man named Kim-Jong Un. North Korea is a communist country which means everything is controlled by the government and everyone is told what to do by the government. No one has control over anything except the government. North Koreans do not have access to the general World Wide Web. They do have their own internet, however it is very limited to North Korean news, and local email. North Korean are not allowed out of the country and no one is allowed into the country without special permission. Even if they are allowed in the country, they are constantly supervised.

North Koreans do not know anything about the world. They cannot interact with the world and are constantly under command like they're in the army or something.

Map of electricity in North Korea compared to
surrounding countries

Here is a satellite night-time image of a view of the Korean Peninsula. In this picture, you can clearly see that South Korea has so much electricity compared to North Korea which has nothing.

The citizens of North Korea can be very much compared to the people in Of Mice and Men. Just like George and Lennie, everybody in North Korea is isolated from the world. They cannot go anywhere outside of North Korea just like how George and Lennie are stuck with working on ranches. The people of North Korea are always told what to do and are very strictly commanded by the government just like how George and Lennie are told what to do on the ranch. Also, in 2004, the average North Korean makes $47 a month very much similar to how George and Lennie make only $50 a month.



The people of North Korea can be easily related to the subject in Of Mice and Men of Alienation and Loneliness due to the reasons and information I have stated above. How are they related to the theme in Of Mice and Men? Simple. In case you forgot or haven't read my other posts, the theme in Of Mice and Men is that even the most loneliness and most isolated people from society have the biggest dreams. In North Korea, most likely, they do not like living the way they do. They are used to it, however they probably would not rather be treated in such a horrible way.

Population Pyramid of North Korea

North Korea is a country that clearly represents the subject and theme in Of Mice and Men. They have almost no electricity, no access to internet, have a corrupt government, and live in a communist society. They are treated like robots and are always told what to do and they probably do not like it. They also earn, on average, about the same wage per month as do the people in Of Mice and Men. They would rather live in a society where they can do whatever they want and have access to good resources.

Thanks for reading,

~ Ramez Fares

Sources:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a3/Korean_peninsula_at_night.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Korea                                                                                                                                                                               

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/51/Flag_of_North_Korea.svg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6b/Pyramide_Cor%C3%A9e_du_Nord.PNG

Steinbeck, John. Of Mice and Men. New York: Penguin, 1937. Print.

Of Mice and Men Subject and Theme in Our World: Advertisements

In the story Of Mice and Men, George and Lennie are lonely and are isolated away from society. They have no family and no home. They have no one to seek help to. The only people they got is each other and are stuck working in crappy conditions such as on a ranch.

There are many examples of lonely people in the world. They might not be in the same situation as George and Lennie (they're homeless and all they can do is work on a ranch), but they are in somewhat in the same situation as them where they have nobody to go to. In this post, specifically, I will talk about advertisements.

Advertisements play a big role in today's society. They persuade people towards their product or towards a message they are trying to portray. Depending on the way they portray the product or message will decide if the advertisement deems to be successful or not.

One example of a company that does advertisements are Kids Help Phone. There are many kids and teenagers in the world that feel like nobody likes them, they have no friends, and/or they are being bullied. They do not like to socialize with society for fear they will be judged and not accepted for who they are. Kids Help Phone is a non-profit organization. Simply, it is a number that anybody can call to receive free one-on-one help about their issues. Here is an example of a commercial.

So as you can see, they've done a great job portraying this message to call them for help. At the beginning of the video, they show a statistic that states that the third leading cause of teenage death is suicide and that every 40 seconds someone in the world commits suicide. They also state that even though no one might understand the pain they are going through, Kids Help Phone is always there to help and listen. It states the message firmly and clearly and I think this advertisement can persuade kids (or anyone) to call them for help.

Here's another example of a commercial that specifically talks about children being bullied. This commercial is made by a Canadian organization called Concerned Children's Advertisers (CCA). Here is a description on what is CCA about taken directly from their website: "Since 1990, Concerned Children's Advertisers has been producing and delivering social messaging campaigns on issues of challenge in children's lives, including:

• Drug abuse prevention;
• Child abuse prevention;
• Child safety;
• Self-esteem;
• Media literacy;
• Bullying prevention; and
• Healthy active living.

Our campaigns include nationally televised Public Service Announcements and curricula for children in kindergarten to grade eight, as well as tips and tools for parents and community workers. When presented with informative messages, we believe that children are capable of making informed and balanced life choices."

In this commercial, they show a scene of a group of girls making fun of this girl who is just casually going to class. She is being bullied. Bullying causes a person to significantly lower their self-esteem. They don't socialize with society because, due to their past events, they think that everyone will just keep hating them for who they are. In reality, these victims of bullying are normal people like you and me. They have done nothing to deserve being bullied. In this commercial, CCA uses the slogan "Words hurt. Don't be a part of it."

Here is one last advertisement and this time, it is an advertisement created by the Government of Canada. This commercial advertises a websites where parents can go to learn more about drugs and how they can talk to their kids about it.

This commercial shows kids saying and knowing the names of some street names for various illegal drugs such as Juicy for Marijuana with Cocaine. They then advertise their website. To make this advertisement seem more appealing, since this is a national government promoting this cause instead of some random non-profit organization, people will think that this is a very serious issue and should support this cause.

In my opinion, John Steinbeck's theme in the story Of Mice and Men is that even the most loneliest and isolated people from society have the biggest dreams. How do all these commercials and examples have to do with the theme? Simple. Any child who is thinking of committing suicide has a reason to commit suicide. However, committing suicide is a permanent and negative solution to a temporary problem. These children want their problems to go away and they want to be able to be happy people and socialize with other people. But they can't due to whatever problem they're facing. Kids who are bullied don't want to be bullied. They haven't done anything wrong but they are still victims of bullying. They want the problem to stop because this causes depression inside them which is not a good thing. Any person taking drugs takes them because they are addicted. There are many reasons why they might be addicted which I won't go into any detail. However, they want to stop their problem but the drug they are taking is so addicting they don't want to. Even if they don't want to stop, if they were to see the consequences this drug does to you, they would probably want to stop. So as you can see, every single person in each one of these commercials is lonely and isolated from society. They are encountering a problem that stops them from being involved with everyone else so they are lonely. Their biggest dream is for their problem to stop because they don't want to be depressed. There you have it. John Steinbeck's dream can be related to advertisements that advertise real world problems.

Thanks for reading,

~ Ramez Fares

Sources: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90rw7_6cUDE

http://cca-kids.ca/english/about_cca/index.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plUcTnwfg0M

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1j6YA03hm4k