Essay On Broken Dreams In Of Mice And Men

Broken Dreams

Anyone can be lonely, even if they are surrounded by people. They can be lost in their loneliness, without someone to talk to. The characters in the novella, Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, are a perfect representation of this. The novella starts with the main characters, George and Lennie, finding their way to a ranch after being chased out of their previous job. It is immediately clear that George, while smaller in size is the sharper one, and that Lennie has the mind of a child and an obsession with petting things, soft things. As Lennie and George get settled in, they meet the people on the ranch, one of whom is Curley’s wife, the wife of the boss’s son. All of the characters are lonely, but it is immediately clear that she is the

“‘They left all the weak ones here,’” she says upon her entry to the barn, where Candy, an old man with a stump for an arm, Lennie, a big man with a heart to match, but a brain the opposite of his figure; and Crooks, the African American stable buck, who happens to be crippled, are talking. Comparatively, these three are the weaker ones on the ranch, and Curley’s wife takes advantage of it, knowing that they either will not do anything about it, can not do anything about it, or does not know how to do anything about it. She knows that they won’t like it and will, predictably, react to the derogatory statement. But when one of the “weak ones” starts to gain confidence and defend themselves, she turn on them in scorn, “‘Listen nigger,” [Curley’s wife] said. ‘You know what I can do to you if you open your trap?’ Crooks stared hopelessly at her, and then he sat down on his bunk and drew into himself,” scared of what she might do to him. Curley’s wife treats Crooks the same way her husband treats her, and because she doesn’t want to suffer alone, she treats him this