The Archetypes In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

The author Dean Koontz once said, “...the most identifying trait of humanity is our ability to be inhumane to one another.” Although there are many hopeful aspects in people, the inhumanity of people is inevitable. In the novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, Lennie Small and George Milton discover the hardships and the hope in life as migrant workers during the Depression era. Though their hope for a better life dwindles throughout their journey, Lennie and George’s dream of owning their own farm help to distract them from their harsh reality of despondency. Steinbeck reveals the bitter nature of mankind due to weakness and vulnerability through his use of symbolism, characterization, and imagery.

In Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, George makes a decision in which he decides what is better for everyone. This decision has him kill his childhood friend. George’s actions were justified because he considered everyone his decision might affect. In Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, George’s actions were justified because he saved Lennie from torture, not ever experiencing happiness, and he did what benefitted society and Lennie.

“ Even the best laid plans of mice and men often go astray.“. In the book of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, George, one of the main characters, has to kill his best friend- Lennie Small. He does this for a few different reasons. Killing his best friend was justified though, for one George and Lennie were always on the move because Lennie always messed up, two, in the end when Lennie messed up again, Curly was going to make him suffer for killing his wife and breaking his hand. Third, George had to kill Lennie because lennie would have done it again.

In Of Mice and Men, the ranch and bunkhouse have a hostile atmosphere. “I don’t want no trouble,” Lennie said. “Don’t let him sock me, George.” This is an example of how Curley has created a hostile environment at the ranch because within the short amount of time that they have been at the ranch Lennie is already afraid of Curley. Curley is very unfriendly and always wants to fight someone which makes Lennie want to leave. Another example of why the ranch has a hostile atmosphere is because Carlson wants Slim to shoot Candy’s dog. Carlson hates Candy’s dog because it smells bad, has no teeth, can’t eat, and is almost completely blind. Carlson has a hand in making the atmosphere hostile because he is unsympathetic and heartless for wanting to

In the book of mice and men there are two characters named George and Lennie. George and Lennie were robust friends and had known each other from a young age. They worked and traveled together. Lennie was not completely sane and couldn 't help it. In the book of “mice and men” Lennie murders a lady. Her husband was very mad his name was Curley. So since Curley was disturbed about his wife he wanted to execute Lennie. The next moment Curley had a gang ready to find Lennie, but only George knew where he was at. In conclusion George goes to Lennie and him before anyone else can hurt him.

“You hadda, George. I swear you hadda” (Steinbeck 107). Slim, one of the main characters in Steinbeck’s, Of Mice and Men, says this to George as they walk away from Lennie’s body. Slim helps George realize that he did the right thing by killing Lennie himself instead of letting someone else do it before he did. If George had not killed Lennie himself, Lennie would be facing torture from Curley, being thrown and tied up in a mental institution, and facing the fact of a recurring cycle of doing bad things.

Archetypes are a manifestation of how our minds envision the roles of characters, these characters come in the form of the hero, villain, temptress, damsel, monster, and mentor. In the book Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, we follow the story of two men who struggle to pull through to survive horrible times, on their journey they come across other characters that fulfill the roles of the archetypes. The archetype in discussion is the villain archetype which is the evildoer of a story usually a person who commits a crime against society or against a couple of people. One character in particular that fills the archetype of the villain is Curley, he has an aura of evil that resonates from his attitude and his actions, which triggers people

The definition of a sympathetic character is one whom the writer expects the reader to identify with and care about, though not necessarily admire. In the novel, Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, Curley’s wife, a main character in the book is blatantly portrayed as an unsympathetic character. This is because they only see her through the men's eyes, who only see her as a tiresome object, owned by her husband. Steinbeck’s portrayal of Curley’s wife is unfair and misogynistic because he only displays her as unintelligent and promiscuous, never has a character have a turning point where they realize she’s more than an object, and he never reveals her true name.

Surly is defined as being “bad-tempered and unfriendly.” 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 was rude to Lennie upon meeting him, was controlling over his wife, he attacked Lennie, didn't mourn his wife's death, and arranged for Lennie's murder. While you can sum up that Curley is a total jerk and deserves punishment, you can also analyze the text further. Upon further analysis, you can find 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.”

Firstly, Curley was going to shoot lennie in his stomach. During the story Lennie had been already a target of Curley, he got into one fight with Curley. As Lennie was talking to Curley 's wife she let let him pet her hair. Curley 's wife started to freak out, she ended up killing her. “... and then she was still, for Lennie had broken her neck”(Steinbeck 91). Lennie is a tall person, which means Curley already doesn 't like him. Killing his wife gave him a legitimate to kill Lennie, this also shows Lennie doesn 't know his strength making him very dangerous. Curley doesn 't care about his wife he just wants to butcher Lennie. Candy brought everyone to the barn, to show them Curley’s lifeless wife. Curley stood silent for a second then came to

In John Steinbeck’s novel, Of Mice and Men, Curley being portrayed as the“bad guy” and Slim as the “good guy”. As Curley and Slim interact with other characters in the novel, their good and evil traits impact not only the other characters but the reader as well. Slim makes Curley’s wife feel exceptionally well while Curley makes her feel awful. George and Slim become friends while George and Curley become enemies. Slim understands Lennie where as Curley fails to. Throughout the story Slim affects people positively and Curley affects them negatively.

People today with mental disabilities are often criticized for not being “up to par” with everyone else in the world. This is true especially in the 1920’s, in which the novel Of Mice and Men takes place. Take Lennie Small for example, a large and hefty man, who has a mental disability. He, as a character, is blamed for the heinous act of murdering the antagonist’s wife, whose name is never revealed. It is true that Lennie does fracture her neck, but he does so without knowing. For this reason, along with many others, Lennie is not to blame in any case involving his acts of violence in this novel, because of various, indisputable reasons. These include the red dress incident in Weed, crushing Curley’s hand, and the aforementioned murder of Curley’s wife, all of which prove Lennie’s innocence.

In the book of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck we are arguing whether or not that George killing Lennie was a good idea. I think that George made the right choice when choosing to kill Lennie because Curley would have hurt Lennie worse, Lennie was happy when he died and he would not have been if Curley killed him, and Lennie would have done more bad things if he wasn’t stopped. Curley would have hurt Lennie worse because he was still mad about his hand so Lennie would have been sad and he would have suffered. Curley said “I’ll kill him, I’ll shoot him in the guts.”(Steinbeck 48) This quote tells us that Curley would kill Lennie and shoot him in the guts. It tells us that Curley wants him to suffer. George killing Lennie was the right choice

Sometimes, the difference between good and bad isn't always black and white. Sometimes, you have to make a decision that isn't bad but, isn't necessarily good. that's exactly what George did when he shot Lennie. After Lennie killer Curley's wife, George realized Lennie would never stop causing trouble. Curley also made it very clear he was going to make killing Lennie as painful as possible. When George shot Lennie in the back of the head, he granted Lennie a kind and quick death.

In Of Mice and Men, written by John Steinbeck, some people think that George killing Lennie was the right thing to do. Others think that George should’ve tried to save him and run away. George made the correct decision to shoot Lennie because Lennie was a danger to society. Lennie had killed many animals, and then accidentally killed Curley’s wife. All the animals got killed because Lennie didn’t know his own strength.“Lennie never done it in meanness. All the time he done bad things, but he never done one of ‘em mean” (Steinbeck). This shows that Lennie does not mean to hurt people. This quote shows that he’s a nice guy, but he doesn’t realize his strength, his mental strength doesn’t compare to his physical strength. Even though Lennie didn’t mean any harm, he was going to have a painful death if Curley killed him. Lennie would have been lynched anyway. Curley was going to