"Of Mice and Men" is a novel by John Steinbeck, written in the 1930s, a period known as the Great Depression. The novel, which takes place in Salinas, California, is about two workers, George and Lennie. The two men travel together and work on different ranches, with a dream of one day having their own farm. Steinbeck explores the themes of loneliness friendship, and hopes and dreams through the various characters and events. This extract takes place after George and Lennie arrives to a new ranch to work. John Steinbeck uses foreshadowing to prepare the reader for future events. This is done by the use of repetition, symbols, and metaphors. In this extract, the author foreshadows the events to come through the introduction of Curley's wife and through the reaction of George and Lennie. This extract is significant to the rest of the novel as it introduces the main antagonist, Curley's wife, and also influences what the reader thinks and feels about Curley's wife, as well as the danger the character poses. Steinbeck prepares the reader for the events to come through the introduction of Curley's wife to George and Lennie. The author introduces Curley's wife and describes a "rectangle of sunshine in the doorway" that was "cut off". "Sunshine" is commonly represented as hopes and dreams. Therefore between George and Lennie and their dreams, Curley's wife is blocking them. This metaphorically shows that she will block the dreams of George and Lennie. Also, when the author gives the description of Curley's wife, Steinbeck describes her who's "fingernails were red" and who wears "red mules" and "little bouquets of red ostrich feathers". The color "red", which is repeated in her description, usually signifies the color of blood, therefo... ... middle of paper ... ...er introduction is the main reason why the foreshadowing is necessary for the reader. Therefore, this extract sets the tone for the rest of the book, a constant suspense on what will happen to Lennie and Curley's wife. In this extract, Steinbeck prepares the reader for future events through the use of foreshadowing. This is done through the introduction and the description of Curley's wife, and the reaction of George and Lennie. Through the various use of repetition, symbols, and metaphors, the author hints the reader about what will happen to the different characters of the novel. The author continues to use foreshadowing in the rest of the novel as a hint to the reader. However, this extract is the most significant event to the rest of the novel because of the introduction of Curley's wife, who is the main reason why the foreshadowing is necessary for the reader.
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck is a novel about loneliness and the American Dream. This book takes place during the Great Depression. It was very difficult for people to survive during this time period. A lot of people hardly survived let alone had the necessities they needed to keep relationships healthy. Of Mice of Men has a common theme of disappointment. All the characters struggle with their unaccomplished dreams. The migrant workers, stable buck, swamper, and the other men on the ranch had an unsettled disappointment of where they were at in their lives. George and Lennie, two newcomers to the ranch, aren’t like the other guys. They have each other and they are the not loneliest people in the world. Lennie has a dream though he wants to own a farm with plenty of crops and animals one day. The only problem is his blind curiosity of people and things around him. George wasn’t justified for killing Lennie because Lennie was innocent and never got the chance to find out what he did wrong.
Curley’s wife represents her broken dreams of becoming an actress. Lennie and George represent a dream in progress, it is uncertain if their plans will work out as intended or plummet before takeoff, even Crooks and Candy see the appeal in Lennie and George’s fantasy and join them. The dream in progress gives hope to Lennie and George and continued to even after losing previous jobs. Curley’s wife is constantly restricted, she married Curley so that she would no longer be alone but now is in the same state as before, just on a ranch of men. She tries to talk to the other men but she is then seen as "jail bait" and avoided, making her even lonelier. Her dream of being an actress has failed because she chose a quick way out and married Curley. She is now living in her failure and has no longer a dream to aim for. Perhaps the most important part of the story is the the part in which Lennie has accidentally killed the puppy given to him by Slim, and is grieving over him in the barn, “This ain’t no bad thing like I got to go hide in the brush. Oh! no. This ain’t. I’ll tell George I foun’ it dead.” He unburied the puppy and inspected it, and he stroked it from ears to tail. He went on sorrowfully, “But he’ll know. George always knows. He’ll say, ‘You done it. Don’t try to put nothing over on me.’ An’ he’ll say, ‘Now jus’ for that you don’t get to tend no rabbits!” (Steinbeck, 85) He feels powerless to his own strength, he believes that he will never achieve his dream because of his mistake. George and the other men are out once again and the only person who comes to his emotional aid is none other than Curley’s wife. “Don’t you worry about talkin’ to me. Listen to the guys yell out there. They got four dollars bet in that tenement. None of them ain’t gonna leave till it’s over.” “If George sees me talkin’ to you he’ll give me hell,” Lennie said cautiously.” (Steinbeck, 85) He
Of Mice and Men is novel that was written by John Steinbeck that describes the journey of George, and his mentally disabled friend, Lennie, as they travel and work together on a ranch in California. The story of Of Mice and Men accounts for the experience of George and Lennie as they encounter different people on the ranch who live in solitude, such as Crooks the negro stable buck, and the wife of the boss’s son, Curley. Crooks the stable buck is always alone because he is black, and during the time period of which the novel takes place, people with colored skin were discriminated and excluded from white social activities. Curley’s wife is alone most of the time because most of the men on ranch stay away
Steinbeck also presents another view of Curley’s wife. In his omniscient description [form: overall writing technique] of her, he writes that she ‘bridles a little’ at Lennie’s attention; she is metaphorically shying away from the fixated attention. Steinbeck also unobtrusively mentions that she is a ‘girl’; both these observations suggest her innocence and vulnerability.
Overall, John Steinbeck uses the character of George to represent the harshness of 1930s society and how rare companionship was, even though his companionship with Lennie ended
In the Steinbeck novel ‘Of Mice and Men’, he introduces us to the character of Curley’s wife. She could be interpreted as a mis-fitting character in the novel, as no one relaters to her. This essay will go on to examine the character of Curley’s wife and how characters perceive her and how this influences the readers interpretation of her.
In the novel Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck brings out the themes of Lonliness and companionship, and strengths and weaknesses through the actions, and quotations of the characters. Irony and foreshadowing play a large roll on how the story ends. Lennie and his habit of killing things not on purpose, but he is a victim of his own strength. George trying to pretend that his feelings for Lennie mean nothing. The entire novel is repetitive in themes and expressed views.
The daily struggle of the working class, fear of loneliness and the reality of putting all your energy into plans that fail are the different themes relating to John Steinbeck's novel, "Of Mice and Men". The characters depicted by the author are individuals who are constantly facing one obstacle after another. The book illustrates different conflicts such as man versus society, man versus man, man versus himself and idealism versus reality. The book's backdrop is set in the Salinas, California during the depression. The two main characters include two men, George and Lennie. Supportive characters include a few ranch hands, Candy, Crooks, Curly, Slim and Carlson.
Both the 1994 film Forrest Gump and the 1937 novel Of Mice and Men, written by John Steinbeck, feature non-typical characters. While these two stories have their obvious differences, there are similarities between the protagonists of each publication that cannot be ignored.
This time it’s directed at curley's wife. When George and Lennie arrive at the ranch, one of the first characters they meet is curley's wife. After meeting her, George says to lennie, “well, you keep away from her, ‘cause she's a rat trap if i've ever seen one. You let curley take the rap. He let himself in for it,” (32). Even after George and Lennie meet her for the first time, George is already calling her a “rat trap”. They had such a brief encounter that the two men are already talking about her is ridiculous. If that’s how they treat one women they barely know, imagine how awful she is treated by the rest of the men. Eventually, curley's wife took a turn for the worse. When she went to go talk to lennie, a simple conversation caused her death. After the death of curley’s wife, sexism is still shown when candy whispers, “you god damn tramp… you done it, di’n’t you? I s’pose you’re glad. Ever’body knows you mess things up.” (95). Her death wasn’t even her fault, so when candy says that she's probably dead, it’s showing how much she was blamed for everything and how disliked she was. The men didn't try to hurt her, they ended up killing her. After all, she would have lived if it wasn't for how negatively she was treated. Steinbeck is able to show how women were treated, and how everything was their fault, thu the way curley's wife was treated throughout the
Of Mice and Men is a novel written by John Steinbeck. It is set in California during the great depression. The story follows two ranch hands who travel together and are very poor. Throughout the novel we witness many different philosophical references. Many different types of characters from this novel are reused in today’s society. Steinbeck also writes eloquently about the many different emotions, aspirations, and dreams of man.
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
Of Mice and Men written by John Steinbeck illustrates many morals in the novel. This novel supports many themes. The characters make up most of messages in the novel. Some examples are the predatory nature of human existence, the bonds between men, the impossibility of the american dream, and the destructive imbalance of social power structures in american society. The themes of predatory nature and the bonds between two men are important to the novella ”Of Mice and Men” because of when Curley got into a fight with Lennie, when George would be mean to Lennie, and when Crooks was also being mean to Lennie.
Curley’s wife is a complex, main character in John Steinbeck’s novella, “Of Mice and Men”. She is introduced as an insignificant secondary character, but evidently posses the importance of causing the end of the novella. Despite the weight of her role, her value is hindered because of the culture towards women in the 1930s. Steinbeck uses imagery, foreshadowing, and metaphors to show loneliness analyzed through a Feminist Lens.