The novel Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck is a gripping tale of two men and their lives during the Great Depression. George Milton and Lennie Small are two migrant workers who travel together finding work. They take on a new job “bucking barley” at a ranch in central California for the ranch owner and his son. While working at the ranch they encounter Curley the ranch owner’s son and his wife, a flirtatious woman. The story reaches a climax when Lennie unintentionally kills Curley’s wife and runs back to the Salinas River just as George instructed. Knowing that Lennie has killed Curley’s wife and will be shot by Curley, George rushes to the river to get to Lennie first. The two men talk for a short while, then George silently brings the gun to Lennie’s head and shoots him. Steinbeck’s use of foreshadowing effective in this novel.
In the John Steinbeck novel of Mice and Men, everyone is lonely and will try or do anything to stop being lonely. Curlys wife is the loneliest character she is willing to talk to anyone even Lennie. Crooks is also a lonely character he is willing to take any chance if he can make a friend, even if he knows he can't do help out. And Candy is lonely character the reason being that he had a best friend who later dies, Candy is feeling less of use he is willing to do anything to feel useful. Every character takes the opportunity to not be lonely even if they know that they're going to get hurt. Everyone is equal boy are girl, black are white, handicap are not so we should be treated as so.
In the book, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, the character Lennis is a big, tall man who is described as a "big baby" because he has a mental condition that makes him act childish. The character referred to as Curley 's wife, is a petite and pretty lady. She is known to be a troublemaker and does not act the way a "normal" wife would. Although the two characters are very different, they share the feeling of being left out and alone.
The story is centered around two migrant farmers; Lennie, who has a mental disability, and George, who watches over and protects Lennie from getting into any trouble. One of the mens’ fellow workers, Curley, has a wife who is constantly ignored and discriminated against because of her gender. While attempting to reassure Lennie after the loss of his pup, Lennie repeatedly states that he must follow George’s orders and avoid talking to her. Frustrated, Curley’s wife begins to rant about her true feelings after stating “‘I get lonely’” (Steinbeck 87). She goes on to explain that she does not appreciate the way the men on the ranch treat her with disrespect. The fact that she can stand up for herself, even though she’s all alone, reveals just how strong and confident of a person Curley’s wife truly is. If she had continued bottling up all of her emotions, she would have never had the chance to express her true emotions. This why why “‘I get lonely’” is the most important phrase used in chapters five and six of the novella Of Mice and
In John Steinbeck’s phenomenal novel Of Mice and Men, Curley’s wife causes problems all over the ranch by interrupting situations everywhere because she resides in a loveless relationship. Curley’s wife produced the Curley-Slim conflict by always dodging him and never being around to see him which lead Curley to quick accusations. Then she goes snooping in the barn to find poor Lennie after he just killed his pup which leads to her death and downfall of some rancher’s American Dream ranch. Curley’s wife also finds herself in Crook’s room just looking to stir trouble when she starts tossing out insults embarrassing them and hurting their spirits. No matter what situation is transponding she always finds a way to create problems for everyone
Accordingly,within the ranch is the town Soledad, which means alone and gives the meaning behind the characters sense of loneliness that was also influenced by the inability of achieving their dreams. Steinbeck’s quotes, “You can talk to people, but I can’t talk to nobody but Curley. Else he gets mad” (87), that represents the concept that Curley’s wife was traped on the ranch knowing no one else but Curley himself. Before marrying Curley, Curley’s wife had hopes and dreams for being a successful actor. Both of the dreams were influenced and left undiscovered by her mother’s actions. Her inability of achieving her dreams influenced her sense of loneliness as she was then truly alone with nothing left to hold onto and to have going for her. This led to her marriage with Curley and she reminisces how life could’ve been like for her as an actor. Curley’s wife quotes, “Coulda been in the movies, an’ had nice clothes-all them nice clothes like they wear. An’ I coulda sat in them big hotels, an’ had pitchers took of me.”(89) that represents her wishful hoping for the dreams she was unable to achieve. This is parrell with the idea of women being exempt from the American Dream. Curley’s wife’s lack of interaction takes a toll on the overall image of her character. Steinbeck quotes , “Why can’t I talk to you? I never get to talk to nobody. I get awful lonely.” that presents the isolation she faces on a day to day
Throughout literature, women who are characterized as shameless temptresses are often the way they are because of a desperation to break away from society’s oppression of low-class, uneducated females. This is never more true than for Curley’s wife in the fictional novella Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. Through considerate yet concise descriptions of her fantasy of Hollywood stardom, putting down of others, and attention-seeking ways, Curley’s wife is revealed to be a downtrodden female who suffers from her own internal, emotional conflict.
The group of men walked through the hot sun of the terrain of Midwestern U.S. in their classic 1920s Levi’s jeans. The time was the Great Depression where John Steinbeck places his novella Of Mice and Men. John Steinbeck's novella is about the journey of two friends, George and Lennie, working on a farm who face obstacles of dreams, friendship, loneliness, and anger. George subsists more of a caretaker to Lennie with traits of intellect, witty, and trustworthy. However, Lennie is the opposite, being moronic, strong, and has a tendency to not know his full strength. Other characters which are important to mention consist of Slim, Curley, Carlson, Candy, Crooks, and Curley’s wife all which have an important role in the novella. Out of all these
Whether killing is ever justified or not, is a question that people face more than most would think. People such as police officers and soldiers meet that decision in their daily lives and in their situation killing is justified because it is necessary in saving their life or a civilian’s life. In the novella Of Mice and Men, written by John Steinbeck, George Milton was faced with a similar decision. When Lennie Small killed Curley’s wife, George decided to take the law into his own hands, and shoot his best friend instead of turning him over to the proper authorities for a fair, lawful, and just punishment. George should be punished for the death of Lennie because Lennie did not understand what he had done, he did not put George in any immediate
John Steinbeck’s novel, Of Mice and Men, takes place in California on a ranch in the Salinas Valley during the Great Depression. During this time, the United States of America was in a period of economic decline and people were living in poverty. From these hardships, weaknesses arise in different characters in the novel. In his novel, Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck utilizes the deaths of Candy’s dog, Curley’s wife, and Lennie to reveal that weaker people are eradicated because they cannot defend themselves against others.
Curley constantly thinks his wife is cheating on him, which is another blow to his self-esteem. When Curley is looking for his wife, he notices Slim is missing. He exclaims, “Where the hell's Slim?” (Steinbeck 53). George instructs him to the barn house and Curley takes off in a flash. When Curley's gone George asks, “Thinks Slim's with his wife, don't he?” (Steinbeck 54) Whit responds with, “Looks like it...” (Steinbeck 54). Clearly Curley strongly believes his wife is disloyal to him. Some can argue that Curley takes off in a hurry just to start a fight with Slim. Truthfully, Curley is probably just worried that the one person sheltering his insecurities, will exploit them by cheating. When Slim and Curley re-enter the bunkhouse the guys jump on him. Carlson laughs at Curley and says, “You God damn punk...You tried to throw a scare into Slim, an' you couldn't make it stick....You come for me, an' I'll kick your God damn head off” (Steinbeck 62). This jab at Curley's self-esteem in front of everyone in the bunkhouse, causes him to go after Lennie. Curley walks over to Lennie and asks him why he's smiling. Curley takes this opportunity to show the guys he was just made a fool in front of, that he's not to be laughed at. Curley is only starting a fight with Lennie to prove himself in front of the ranchers. He is not respected by them, and is being harassed by their jeers. To stop the jeers and maybe earn some respect, Curley decides to show that he won't stand for verbal abuse. That's when Curley attacks Lennie. Lennie,being frightened, doesn't defend himself until George eggs him on. Lennie crushes Curley's hand in his fist. “Looks to me like ever' bone in his han' is bust” (Steinbeck 64). Slim states in horror. Curley's crushed hand is like Curley's crushed self-esteem. Curley was made fun of, and then got his hand broken by a much larger guy. These verbal and physical
Loneliness is the feeling of isolation and no hope or dreams in your life. People can feel lonely by feeling discriminated. John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men is a parable about what it must mean to be human. George and Lennie are in hiding from Weed for charged rape and harassment. While working in the barn house, dreams are mentioned but nobody achieves because of their race/gender/ different mindset. Discrimination challenges characters such as Curley’s wife, Crooks, and Lennie.
Of Mice and Men, written by John Steinbeck, is an intriguing and captivating piece that captures America’s history. Throughout the text, Steinbeck demonstrates how multiple prejudices can affect contrasting characters in the 1930’s. Lennie Small and George Milton, a pair of bindlestiffs, witness the discrimination throughout the course of the novel. George cares for Lennie, who is mentally challenged, and once Lennie’s onerous actions increase, George makes the formidable decision to abruptly end his life. The characters in the story are faced with internal and external conflicts. These are shown for the duration of the text, supporting the theme: prejudice and discrimination can cause isolation. Steinbeck develops this theme through the literary
Within the 1937 Depression-Era novel, Of Mice and Men, scribed by John Steinbeck, he implements complex, multi-dimensional characters in which they mutually possess an American Dream, yet they are distinctive in their most aesthetic, indigenous form. Characters including Curley’s Wife, Crooks, and George Milton have always theorized their life in Utopian lifestyles, in the setting of America, but is oppressed by external and internal means that is explored throughout the literature. Notably, George, the co-protagonist, has such ambition to live in a domesticated household in contradiction to the vagrancy he experience, while carrying the weight of having a fraternal-paternal relationship with Lennie, a man approximately his age with an evident disability. His
Steinbeck uses specific vocabulary to objectify Curley’s wife; alienating her from The American Dream. In the scene, Curley’s