Archetypes In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men illustrates the downfall of two lonely men. who have only each other to depend upon. Many of George and Lennie’s struggles come from things they cannot control, such as Lennie’s mental illness and the fact that both men are stuck in the dead-end pursuit of rural labor in 1930’s America. However, the greatest tragedy in this story comes from the simple fact that Lennie is left alone with Curley’s wife because Curley’s wife is the true villain in Of Mice and Men; she alone causes the trouble that leads to Lennie’s death. In his novella, Steinbeck examines the different ways that men and women express their power, and while the men in his tale rely upon the power of physical strength to assert their place in society,

Have you ever wondered how you are different compared to different people? This is because everyone is there own persona. This book “Of Mice and Men” was written in 1937 by John Steinbeck. It describes the life of two migrant workers who go through an adventure that has them destined to a good future but Lennie’s actions put that into question after a series of event and one towards the malicious wife of Curley who herself is a very tragic but lonely soul. Curley’s wife and Lennie are different in the way they are treated by the workers and their relationship with Curley but similar in the way that they both have a dream.

John Steinbeck’s novella, Of Mice and Men, takes place during the Great Depression in the 1930’s, in the Salinas Valley, California. It establishes the prospect of the American Dream, discrimination,loneliness, and disenfranchisement through its characters. George and Lennie provided the value of the American Dream, to which the leading female role, Curley’s wife, represents how women are exempt from the American Dream, and appeared as less than equal to men. She developed a form of loneliness throughout the course of the novel. The novella seeks to demonstrate the way of which life was like for the characters of all different statuses and backgrounds. Through Curley’s wife’s character, we are able to see how life was like for a women during that time period and how sexism impacted and influenced their lives. Curley’s wife developed a form of loneliness through the way in which her life was shaped. In order to demonstrate Curley’s wife as a powerless, lonely, and sexualized object, Steinbeck builds social injustice through the role of women being expect from the American Dream solely based on their sex and the identifications from society that followed.

Every story has a hero, a person that readers get to like. Besides that person, almost every story has someone that complicates the protagonist’s life. A character that the audience hates. An antagonist is mostly depicted as negative and bad. They are important, because they make the story interesting, they influence the protagonist’s actions by making their current world increasingly undesirable and presenting obstacles to the story. Curley, a character from the novel “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck, represents such a character. He is a controlling, aggressive and selfish man who is an essential component to the tragic outcome of the story.

The majority of characters from Of Mice and Men at one point during the story, dreamt of a better life. For Crooks, it was in the barn when he imagined himself hoeing on George and Lennie's farm. For Curley’s wife, it was to become a hollywood movie star. George, Lennie and Candy all fantasized a farm. What makes these dreams American is that they wished for unconditional happiness and freedom. Throughout the story, the characters realized the impossibility of their dreams.

Lennie’s dream is why Curley’s wife dies, because of his strange obsession with petting soft objects, he accidentally kills her.

In Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, the character Curley is the main antagonist For example, after Curley leaves the cabin for the first time, George warns Lennie, “You keep away from Curley, Lennie” (30). This shows that George is afraid that Curley might cause problems for Lennie. He doesn’t want Lennie to have anything to do with Curley. In addition, when Curley is enraged and sees Lennie’s smile, Curley angrily yells at Lennie, “I’ll show you who’s yella” (62). Curley is a very pugnacious individual who wants to fight people bigger than him. Due to this quality, Curley especially hates Lennie because of his large size and wants to fight him after any sign of provocation, causing multiple problems for Lennie and George. Curley is the main

In John Steinbeck’s novel Of Mice and Men Steinbeck describes the lonely life of migrant workers going from farm to farm. These workers go from farm to farm surviving with nothing except themselves and their dreams of a better life/ While the protagonists of the novel are close friends, most of these migrant workers are quite lonely and are without a friend to lean on when times get hard. Steinbeck explores this isolation as one of the major themes in Of Mice and Men through two stereotypes that were arguably the most discriminated against during this time: the black male, symbolized by the stable buck, Crooks, and the depression-era female, symbolized by the attention-seeking woman, Curley’s wife.

Hopelessness and futility can lead a life into nowhere, because without hope you won 't have a dream or a goal to accomplish. Hopelessness is often shown in places where people have no hope to continue life or anything. In John Steinbeck 's novel, Of Mice and Men, it shows hopelessness in character 's dialogue, and character’s actions.

In the Novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, he uses literary devices to create well-developed Characters like George. Diction shows intensity of his personality as well as his physical attributes. George, develops as a round character through Steinbeck's use of modifiers. George is a dynamic character and shows with the use of indirect characterization along with diction to display how George evolves throughout the story.

It is common knowledge that all stereotypes, both positive and negative, are detrimental to everyone’s self-esteem and confidence, but biases that are ingrained in society are hard to resolve. Often times, people gravitate toward those similar to them because of their bias, which only allows the cycle of ignorance to continue. This cycle of ignorance introduces negativity into the world and people are more likely to judge others and themselves too harshly. In John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, he discusses how people’s feelings of superiority over others only allow stereotypes to remain. Steinbeck’s story follows two migrant workers, George and Lennie, as they try to make a living during the Great Depression. They are odd, in the eyes of the other workers, because they travel together. They meet Curley’s wife, the daughter-in-law of the owner of the ranch, who happens to be the sole woman on the farm. The workers’ colored views of women portray Curley’s wife as a negative character before her true self is revealed later in the book, as she nears her death. Through the worker’s assumptions and diction, Steinbeck demonstrates how negative stereotypes drive negative behaviors and beliefs.

Running away from a crime is never acceptable; Lennie ran away after committing the crime of killing Curley’s wife. A book called “Of Mice and Men,” written by John Steinbeck is about a long adventure with Lennie and George trying to fulfill their American dream. Their American dream was to own a farm, but it did not turn out the way they expected. George ends up shooting Lennie for the crime he had committed. George did make the right decision for killing Lennie because he is always ruining their chance to fulfill their American dream, causing trouble, and being harmful to the society.

Surly is defined as being “bad-tempered and unfriendly” (Google definition). This is the perfect definition for the curly-haired antagonist of Of Mice and Men. Most will say there is no justification behind Curley's hostility. He is rude to Lennie upon meeting him, is controlling over his wife, he attacks Lennie, does not mourn his wife's death, and arranges for Lennie's murder. There is speculation that Curley is an ill tempered guy and deserves punishment, yet upon further analysis there is some humanity or reasoning behind Curley's actions. Remember, this text is extremely biblical, and as Romans 3:23 states, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Curley has sinned, yes, but he is also a human being with insecurities.

“I now see nothing to give ground to hope—nothing of man” (Unknown). This thought regarding the Great Depression translates directly to the classic novel, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, and its characters. In this book, various archetypes go through life on a ranch during the Great Depression. One of these characters was African American stable buck Crooks. He struggles with life in the 1930’s time period. Steinbeck uses the historical setting of the Great Depression to help characterize Crooks as hopeless.

‘Of Mice And Men’ a novella written by John Steinbeck delves into the idea of how characters are used to explore certain techniques and ideas throughout the novella. Through the main character Lennie, we see an insight to how Steinbeck has portrayed his character highlighting his Innocence. Furthermore we explore the idea of femininity through Curley’s spouse, who also happens to be the only female character made known in the novella. Additionally we are exposed to prejudice through the character Crook. His character being particularly important because he is representing the coloured race in this time of The Great Depression.