He pulled his cap down over his eyes and moved away, but before leaving the park he turned for one last look. He was as heavily weary as though he had gone without sleep for several nights, but it was a dream-like weariness, a grey comfortable weariness. The park lawn was cut to pieces by the feet of the crowd.
A tired quiet settled on the people some members of the mob began to sneak away into the darkness. A crowd of people still stood under the elm trees, vaguely lighted by a blue street light two blocks away. A good read that I would recommend for everybody to take a look at.1 The Vigilante by John Steinbeck 5 50 THE great surge of emotion, the milling and shouting of the people fell gradually to silence in the town park. Their last conversation, where he tells her that he is not going to beat her more, for this, leaves you wondering is he going to start beating her on regular basis?Īll in all I really liked this story which clearly shows how much injustice women live with in the world and not just in the past but also at our time. And when he offers to help her out of the shirt, she declines showing no weakness. There he had been beating her with a nine-foot loaded bull whip and then she offers him a breakfast like she knew that she deserved it. Jelka´s reaction to his beating is also a bit strange. The author somehow makes you feel that Jim was in fact a good man, it is like he had no other choice but to beat her. While reading the story, for some reason, you starting feeling sympathy for Jim although he is kind of the bad guy in the story.
Perhaps it was because he was only a foreigner his death was not taken seriously and although there would be a technical charge filed against Jim, the sheriff assures Jim that it willīe dismissed, there for saying that what he did can be justified. There is also a lot of racism in this story as you can clearly see by the way the sheriff reacts to the murder. He told Jelka’s father he would never beat her or hurt her and he also tells the sheriff that but then he beats her up so bad that she can not eat. She is a bit mysterious but then again he is to. But then there is an other side of her that was brave enough to cheat on Jim, in his own house. She does not speak unless she is spoken to, she does nothing but serving him and obeying everything he says. You can also see that Jelka has been oppressed all her life by the way that she acts, especially towards Jim. He clearly beats his wife and his father beated his wife. There he suggest that Jim should beat Jelka, doesn’t matter if she being bad or good. In the story it is suggested that Jugo-Slavek girls are used to being beaten as you can see by the conversation that Jim had with Jelka´s father when they got married. In the story there is lot of racism and oppression, especially against women. One night Jim comes early home because of rumors of thieves and finds Jelka in bed with her cousin. Jim goes in to town every Saturday night to hang out at the pub and chat with some girls and does not come home until the day after, so you get the feeling that he is cheating on Jelka. Although Jim is mesmerized with Jelkas´ beauty, her perfect skin, black straight hair and dark eyes, they have absolutely nothing in common and live totally separate lives. He has been married to his wife, Jelka a Jugo-slavek girl, for some time and is clearly unhappy in his marriage. Jim is a farmer, kind of a cowboy, living in Cañon del Castillo valley in California. In this report I am going to discuss the oppression and the racism that is going on in the story and also the relationship between Jelka and Jim. The story takes place in California in the early days of settlement. The Murder is a part of a collection of short stories called The Long Valley.
His novels are well known but The Grapes of Wrath, which was published in 1939, is considered his best work. He went to Stanford University but never graduated. Steinbeck was born in Salinas, California, 1902. The short story I am going to work with is called The Murder and it is written by author John Steinbeck.
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