Essay Response Question 1:
George Eliot's essay on leisure is describes leisure critically on the newer inventions of his time. Eliot's idea on leisure of the later 1800s became useless, in which men argued there position instead of accepting what was and going with the flow of life. His tone suggests that he is against the leisurely activities that the men he sees around him partaking in. Eliot's views are shown through a critical and satirical tone. His techniques are to show his views then describes the opposition to his views, reviewing them as flawed.
Eliot's ideas on old leisure had seemed protective of the way man used to be when being caught with their own leisure time. His satirical tone, describing newer men being supported by "strong backs" in which they developed through hours drinking. Eliot would disagree to say that new leisure developed men who actually thought that there was use in older leisure, was actually useful. As he continues his essay, his thoughts on how lazy the men are is supported largely by the fact that they simply refuse to exercise because of their own availability in the work place due to the steam machine.
Techniques used are comparisons between two ideas that are used as opposition, and Eliot pokes at the ideas of leisure developed in the later 1800s. His use of words describe later men as ones who experiment with other's ideas simply to criticize and play there own hypotheses on them.
Eliot develops all of these ideas in his essay by using satirical language, a critical tone, and comparison of two ideas in the purpose of criticizing one of them. His essay is composed of paragraphs that are split to describe the patience of the old men, and the ignorance of the newer men. Eliot simply thinks that the views of older leisure should be valued over the new.
Essay Response Question 2:
John Steinbeck wrote his ideas of the changing world in the book The Grapes of Wrath. Throughout the story the Joad family is faced with trials as they move to the west and to California during the Dust Bowl. Steinbeck's influence for the change during this time period showed how he felt about the governments false promises and faulty services that it gave to the migrant workers of the US. His ideas build up through the story where you are introduced to the characters, who greatly enjoy their life, and then get it stripped away for purposes unknown to the family. Steinbeck continues this idea of isolationism and constant confusion as the family continues to face harder and harder trials, and ultimately how this portrayed his view of the problems during the Dust Bowl.
Steinbeck uses the Joad family as his own guinea pigs for describing the flaws in the US government, and how it should change giving people false ideas. The family in the story sees pictures of beautiful California, where the Joads will be able to live and work for a living. It turns out that those who produced the pictures saying that work was needed also had been given the land so that they could provide a yearly produce. Workers weren't needed, profit was to be made from California, and through the government. Steinbeck shows this by having authorities take down the Joad household, and then saying that "life now-a-days" does no longer follow the rules of benevolence and hard work. The distraught Joads were symbols of the families that had lost their homes and had been lost for work.
The author uses techniques of symbolism, foreshadowing, and irony. Steinbeck's use of symbolism of the married Joad's miscarriage shows that the hope was there, but non existent in reality. This is a symbol for the Joad's travel to California, which shows that many people looked for jobs, but very few were satisfied with their outcome. Foreshadowing was used throughout the story as people said that you will find no work, and the families still refused to accept, but the end still finished with ruin, and continued to go on, in which the family must have the will to in order to survive.
John Steinbeck focuses on the aspects of his time by using writing techniques that reflect his thoughts directly to the pages of his book. Cultural changes were imminent, there is no changing that, but Steinbeck pointed out the hard times in order for the government to see that people were in deep need of support for work and money so that the farm industry might get jump-started again. After analyzing Steinbeck's view of his culture and the events of his time with the use of his literary techniques, there is continuity in his writing that supports the pro-migration and unhelpful government, which, according to Steinbeck, led the country into confusion.
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