In John Steinbeck's letter to his son “Falling in Love” and Of Mice and Men, the idea that love should be valued and cherished is very prominent in both. In Steinbeck’s letter, he is stressing to his son how he is happy he has fallen in love and believes it is the greatest thing that can happen in life. Steinbeck also portrays this in Of Mice and Men by showing how unhappy Curley’s wife is with her life after marrying Curley while not being truly in love with him. In essence, Steinbeck shows this showing the exact opposite of what he thinks should happen. In the letter Steinbeck says that love is “about the greatest thing that can happen to anyone.” Steinbeck is trying to elude to his son how he should be very excited about what has happened as it may be the greatest thing that will ever happen to …show more content…
Steinbeck also goes on to say how there are two kinds of love: the “selfish, mean, grasping, egotistical” and the other pours out “kindness and consideration.” Unfortunately, Curley’s wife has the first kind. She absolutely hates Curley and doesn’t love him at all, it’s “ugly and crippling” and this is exactly what Steinbeck tells his son to avoid. He goes on to say how empowering the good love can be and that's what he wants his son to strive for. Steinbeck also says how expressing love is very important and shouldn’t be hidden, but rather shown. The opposite is expressed in the novel by Curley showing almost no love at all to his wife and basically ignoring that she’s there. Steinbeck expresses through his letter to his son how he should cherish love, while in Of Mice and Men, he shows the opposite of this in
Steinbeck wishes to prepare the reader to meet Curley's wife by giving the reader a biased and influenced look about the way she acts; this early impression of Curley's wife entices the reader to have a negative look on Curley's wife by mentioning her as a "tart," which exemplifies comments that are repeated multiple times when speaking about her. That comment makes the reader believe she will be flirty and promiscuous, as well as prepares the reader to the problems that Curley's wife will bring to the novel. When Curley's wife is presented, Steinbeck describes her as flirtatious.... ... middle of paper ... ...
town they were heading to, he must come back to the pond and hide in
John Steinbeck was born in 1902, in California's Salinas Valley, a region that would eventually serve as the setting for Of Mice and Men, as well as many of his other works. He studied literature and writing at Stanford University. He then moved to New York City and worked as a laborer and journalist for five years, until he completed his first novel in 1929, Cup of Gold. With the publication of Tortilla Flat in 1935, Steinbeck achieved fame and became a popular author. He wrote many novels about the California laboring class. Two of his more famous novels included Of Mice and Men and The Grapes of Wrath. Steinbeck got the title for Of Mice and Men from a line of Robert Burns, a Scottish poet, “The best laid schemes of mice and men often go awry." In Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck includes the theme of loyalty and sacrifice between friends. Steinbeck illustrates the loyalty and sacrifice between friends through the friendship of Lennie and George.
Curley’s wife is also portrayed as a victim because she’s stuck with Curley. Curley’s wife is about 17 maybe 20 and she’s having a sad life dealing with Curley. Steinbeck writes “Well, I ain’t told this to nobody before. Maybe I ought’n to. I don’ like Curley. He ain’t a nice fella.” (89). Steinbeck shows that Curley’s wife doesn’t even like him. This what shows how Curley’s wife is nothing but a victim because she does things that she doesn’t want to do. If she was a free woman and does whatever she wants, then she would be a better person to herself.
We can see how Curley’s wife feels about Curley on page 78 of Of Mice and Men, where John Steinbeck writes, “ “Sure I gotta husband’. You all see him. Swell guy, ain’t he? Spends all his time sayin’ what he’s gonna do to the guys he doesn’t like, and he doesn’t like anybody.
One feels a drag of sympathy on the heart at the conclusion of the book, Of Mice and Men, when Lennie states, “‘We got each other, that's what, that gives a hoot in hell about us.’”(104). Sympathy is in high demand throughout this novel set during one of the darkest times in America. Steinbeck incites more than just sympathy for many of his multidimensional characters, an emotional appeal that captivates audiences from all walks of life. Steinbeck’s classic novel, Of Mice and Men, incorporates various characters that create sympathy in the reader such as Lennie, George, and Crooks.
Throughout the novel, Curley’s wife interacts with the characters in a flirtatious manner that is intended to grab attention, thus making the others distrustful of her. It’s fascinating to note that the way others treat her determines how she treats them back; for example, Lennie is the only man to regard her positively, calling her “purdy” (Steinbeck 32), so she behaves empathically towards him, whereas Candy refers to her as a “bitch” (Steinbeck 84) and she’s rather vile towards him. This point is further supported
After stumbling across Lennie in the barn one day while the other men were playing horse shoes, she explains to him, “Why can’t I talk to you? I never get to talk to nobody. I get awful lonely.” (Steinbeck 86). Especially being a woman during this time period, Curley’s wife is left to talking to no one but her husband. Because she is young, and beautiful, people perceive her something she is not (a slut), which keeps people from interacting with her. She explains, “…I can’t talk to nobody but Curley…” (Steinbeck 87). She is forced to talk only to none other than her husband in whom she does not like. It is considered wrong to talk with other men, even if it has nothing to do with a wanted relationship. Being a wrongly perceived woman leaves Curley’s wife feeling
In the novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck there are many events in the plot of the story that occur that prove that when man is cruel to man, some peoples lives are negatively affected. One instance in where this is proven true is when the men on the ranch and Curley's wife are cruel and discriminative against Crooks causing him to be the one to mourn. An example of how the men are discriminative towards Crooks is that he is forced to live in a shack away from the bunkhouse and also Crooks says that "They play cards in there, but I can't play because I'm black. They say I stink" and "I ain't wanted in the bunkhouse." An example of when Curley's Wife is critical towards Crooks is when she looks into his room to see what Lennie and Crooks are doing and then she states, shaking her head, that they left the weak ones behind. Also, she threatens to have Crooks hung because a black man should never talk to a white woman the way he just had. As a result of all of these discriminatory acts against him, Crooks feels unwanted and lonely because of his color and placement on the farm. Also those examples are part of the theme of the novel, people need to accept and understand those different from themselves, which also helps to prove the interpretation of the quote. Another example in this novel that proves that when man is cruel to man, the lives of people are negatively affected is when Curley picks on and tries to hurt Lennie. Curley chooses to fight Lennie because he thinks he won't fight back but because George gets angry and tells Lennie to fight back, he does. George being angry is not the only negative effect that Curley's teasing had on man, but also now Lennie is angry and in danger of getting in trouble and Curley himself gets hurt.
Being unhappy and feeling alone in life can drive people to do things that will help fill the emptiness they feel. In the novel, Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, each individual character has a motivation for their actions. Throughout the novel, Curley’s wife always craves attention and wants someone to talk to because Curley neglects her. She flirts with the other men and always runs from Curley. Near the end of the novel, Curley’s wife comes into the barn where Lennie is, to talk to him. Lennie is reluctant to speak to her because George has told him not to because she causes trouble between Curley and the men. Despite this, Curley’s wife still persists, and continues to talk to him. She says, “‘...Why can’t I talk to you [Lennie]?
In conclusion I believe that Curley’s Wife is a very significant character in the novella because she represents the stereotypical woman and they way she acted, and was treated leads me to feel great sympathy for her despite her flirtatious demeanour. Steinbeck is very successful in creating sympathy throughout her character change and he presents her in this way to prove that the majority of women went through similar situations. This leads us to sympathise with all people society deem to be ‘inferior’ and we can even apply this lesson to today’s society.
Steinbeck displays, Curley’s wife as more of an object to the men at the ranch. He conveys this idea through the description of her appearance. When Steinbeck introduces the reader and George and Lennie to Curley’s wife he takes a long time to describe her. “She had full rouged lips and wide spaced eyes, heavily made up. Her finger nails were red “. This quotation suggests that Curley’s wife is an object to men in society and that she is as worth as much as she is wearing. Not only does Steinbeck describe her appearance he also describes her actions when on the ranch and talking to the men. He does this to show the awareness that the men have towards her. “She puts her hands behind her back and leaned against the door frame so that her body was thrown forward”. A lot of the men on the ranch try to ignore and do not want to start a conversation with her but through Steinbeck’s description of her actions the reader can see that she craves attention from the men on the
John Steinbeck, the author of the novel Of Mice and Men uses many stylistic devices and description in chapter one to give the reader a deeper understanding of what may occur throughout the novel. Firstly, the name of the city the two protagonists, Lennie and George, are heading to is called “Soledad,” which means loneliness in Spanish; this is symbolism and foreshadowing because it can mean that as they get closer to the city, their relationship as friends may deteriorate and they may end up alone towards the end. Furthermore, this could also mean that there can be major problems in further chapters because of Lennie’s unpredictable behaviour due to his mental disabilities. In relation to Robert Burns’s poem, “To a Mouse,” the author may be
It is amazing how much Biology has in common with the social world when it comes to the relationships among human-beings. Symbiosis is the interaction between two different organisms living in close physical association with each other and they include mutualistic, parasitic, and commensal relationships. In John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men and the movie The Mighty, the key relationships of symbiosis are executed in many of the characters’ interesting adventures throughout both of them. The characters relationships in the book and the movie can be traced back to symbiosis in a way that shows how the mind works when people create relationships. The novel Of Mice and Men and the movie The Mighty show symbiotic relationships that are visible to the eye.
To begin, one character that faced discrimination in Of Mice And Men is Curley’s wife. Curley’s wife, the wife of Curly who is the son of the owner of the farm, is the only woman on the farm. She is constantly called names by the men on the farm because of the way she acts around them and is always mistreated and misjudged by them. Candy, an old man that works on the farm says, “‘Purty...but-...she got the eye. Well, I think Curley’s married...a tart’” (Steinbeck 28). This quote shows that Curley’s wife is a disloyal wife because men in the farm keep calling her a tart and that she gives them the eye. This quote also shows how Curley’s wife is property because they don’t call by her real name but only label her as “Curley’s wife.” It highlights