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How steinbeck presented concepts of mice and men
Of mice and men literary analysis
Analysis of Steinbeck's of mice and men
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In the book Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, after Lennie’s death, there are many people to blame, but Curley and Curley’s Wife are to blame more than anyone else and there are strong reasons as to why. Curley's wife is reprehensible for Lennie's death. For example, if Curley's wife had not bothered Lennie after being told several times that Lennie was not supposed to talk to her and also, if she had not gone ballistic about her hair, she would not have died and neither would have Lennie. For example, when Lennie is alone in the barn with the pups, Curley's wife comes in and Lennie clearly states that he is not allowed to talk to her for the reason that George told him not to and Curley's wife says, “‘Why can't I talk to you? I never get to talk to nobody. I get awful lonely.’ Lennie said, ‘Well I ain't supposed to talk to you or nothing’” (86). This shows how Curley’s wife knew that George was going to get mad, but she talked to Lennie anyway, not caring what would …show more content…
This is because Curley only is hunting Lennie down to kill to keep his macho up and not all because of Lennie really killing his wife. For example, right before Slim, George, and Curley head out to find Lennie, Slim suggests that Curley stays with his dead wife but Curley refuses by saying, “‘I’m goin’,’ he said ‘I’m gonna shoot the guts out of that bastard myself…’” (98), and it uncovers how much he did not care about his wife's death, or her life in general. and saw the death as an opportunity to kill Lennie. Another up to snuff example of that was Curley saying, “‘I’m gonna get him. I’m going for my shotgun. I’ll kill the son-of-a-bitch myself. I’ll shoot him in the guts’” (96). This presents how Curley did not even bother to report Lennie to the cops to get the time that he deserved but his first thought was to get his shotgun and shoot him in the guts. Not just only was it Curley and his wife's fault for Lennie’s death but so was one more
In John Steinbeck’s book Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck portrays Curley’s wife as a flirtatious, mischievous, and over all isolated woman. Steinbeck doesn’t give this character a name, yet she is one of the most important characters in the story. Curley’s wife first comes off as flirtatious to the main characters, George and Lenny, when they first hear about her from the character Candy . Candy is talking about how she gives men “the eye”. He also displays his feelings about her by saying, “Well, I think Curley’s married… a tart”(28). This is setting George and Lenny up to expect she is a flirt.. Steinbeck describes Curley’s wife in her first introduction as a scantily dressed woman.. Steinbeck writes, “Both men [George and Lenny] glanced up, for the rectangle of sunshine in the doorway was cut off. A girl was standing there looking in. She had full, roughed lips and wide-spaced eyes, heavily made up. Her fingernails were red. Her hair hung in little rolled cluster, like sausages. She wore a cotton house dress and red mules, on the insteps of which were little bouquets of red ostrich feathers”(31). The color red is sometimes considered for portraying a sign of danger or sex. This passage supports Curley’s wife as being flirtatious and also how she’s dangerous and can cause trouble displaying herself while she is married. Also, when George and Lenny are talking to Curley’s wife she tries to flirtatiously talk to them too. After their first conversation she re-adjusts herself. Steinbeck displays her with “She put her hands behind her back and leaned against the door frame so that her body was thrown forward”(31). Steinbeck is explaining to the reader in detail that Curley’s wife is trying to show herself to Lenny and George to get thei...
“Nobody’d listen to us” (81) exclaims Crooks when talking about being ignored. In Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck illustrates the characters Curley’s wife, Crooks, and Candy experiencing loneliness and isolation while living on the ranch. These characters attempt to socialize, succeeding and failing. Loneliness and isolation of the characters results in yelling, bullying, and even a broken neck.
Lennie dreams of living on a wide open ranch with George where he tends to the fluffy little rabbits he loves so much. Nevertheless, Lennie sadly never reaches his ultimate goal as his flaw finally becomes his fatal flaw. Lennie kills Curley 's wife by shaking her so hard that her neck breaks. He does not kill her on purpose but Lennie does not know his own strength. He is only shaking her like that because he wants her to stop yelling.
Life for ranchers in the 1930’s was very lonely. They have no family, and they do not belong anywhere. They come to the ranch, earn their pay, go into town, waste their money, and start all over again at another ranch. They have nothing to look forward to. But George and Lennie are different; it is not like that for them because they have each other. It was George and Lennie’s dream to own a piece of land and a farm. That dream is long gone. In the story, Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, Curley caused the death of his wife and Lennie’s death; Curley also shattered George and Lennie’s dream.
“In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage.” - John Steinbeck. Curley throughout the story, whenever he came in, there was always a negative vibe going on. Events he’s in, usually goes downhill for him or some other major character, he’s always bringing out bad events in the story, from when he wants to kill people, from when he wants to hurt people, Curley is someone who brings bad events to him, and the characters around him. Curley’s actions throughout the story has proved him to be a belligerent, unemotional, and cocky character.
Curley's wife is seen as a cheap possession, a toy that belongs to Curley. A possession that he gets to control. His lack of love, respect and attention results to her death in the end. By all the men she’s seen as a tramp, they think that she’s out cause trouble. But the truth is she’s desperately lonely. She just wants someone to talk to. She’s missed out on a wonderful life that could have been hers, and that hurts her.
Furthermore, Lennie is captivated by her alluring beauty and cannot take his eyes off her, constantly mentioning that "she's purty". George, recognising Lennie's intoxication, cautions him to keep his distance from this temptress. Moreover, Curley's wife understands that her magnetising beauty is the main reason control and her authority, and she fully deploys it to seduce the other ranch hands and make her husband jealous of her, which in turn gives her attention. However, she is completely isolated on the ranch and her husband has made it so that no one will talk to her without having a fistfight with the man.
First, Curley is an antagonist that complicates George and Lennie’s dream. Curley is the boss’s son, a skillful boxer who hates big guys. That is the reason why he wants to fight with Lennie. Because of the hostility Curley takes out on Lennie, it
Curley’s wife, is the only one in the story that is given no actual name, she is just known as “Curley’s wife.” She is the only female on the ranch. The book speaks of how she is fare and beautiful, but is a bit of a tease. Throughout the whole novel she is always looking for Curley, all the men on the ranch view her as Curley’s property. Candy describes her to George and Lennie as a tart (Miller).This term “a tart” is just a way of saying that she is unfaithful to her marriage, and has a sexual way about her. She is always seeking for attention from all the other men. Towards the end of the story she sees Lennie in the barn sitting on the ground leaning over what was his puppy, so she goes in and sits next to him; she leans over and begins telling him about how her life would have been if she wasn’t on the ranch. She spoke highly of herself, telling how she would have been in movies and wore nice clothes (Steinbeck 89). Lennie had been mesmerized by her from the start; she began teasing him by describing how soft her hair was, only because she knew that he loved soft things, she takes Lennie’s hand and says “Here, feel right here.”(Steinbeck 90) At this point Lennie got carried away and wouldn’t let go of her hair, she began to scream telling him to let go. Lennie panics, He tries to tell her not to scream but all she does is gets louder; he had no clue what to do at this point, he ends up holding her down and killing her by snapping her neck. George told Lennie at the very beginning of the story that if anything happens and he gets in trouble to go and hide near the bushes at the pond until he arrives. Lennie in fear runs away from the scene to that exact
Although she has a husband, she did not like him. She flirts with every worker at the barn, she told them that she was lonely because she wanted some company and Curley was not at home most of the time. In this novel Curley’s wife seems to make trouble for the other guys at the barn because she’s always flirting with them and that make Curley very jealous. When he gets all jealous he gets mad at the other farmers. One day when Curley’s wife stopped by in Crooks’ bunk she found Lennie and she started to flirting with him and Crooks wanted her to leave them alone. Curley’s wife was not afraid of Crooks because he was black and she told him all she had to do was yell rap and he would be dead. Later on in the book Lennie was all alone with his died pup when Curley’s wife thought it was a perfect time to come talk to him since all the other man were playing house shoe. She persuaded Lennie into talk to her, Lennie didn’t want to because George told him not to take her.“George says I ain’t to have nothing to do with you—talk to you or nothing” (Steinbeck 43). This shows the power of having someone who supports
In this essay I am going to examine whether Curley's wife is a tart or
Comment on how the character of Curley’s wife is portrayed in Sinise’s. 1992 television film version of "The Thriller" How is this characterization different? to that of the original novel by Steinbeck? Introduction The “Of mice and men” by Steinbeck was written in the 1930’s during the period. great depression Era which came about as a result of the Wall Street crash.
Curley makes sure his wife doesn’t talk to anyone. She is a victim of herself because she married a man that she hardly even knew. She married him though, to have a companion. She killed herself and Lennie because of her need for companionship. She craves companionship because she is an attractive woman with a need for interaction.
Life is full of choices: where to go to school, where to live, who to marry, and what jobs to apply for, and most of the time each of us control what happens with these choices. What if those choices brought someone to the point of being trapped and feeling helpless? In the novella Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck the wife of Curley is in just that spot. She made the choice to marry a tyrant of a man and is now forced to live with the consequences of her decisions. Curley’s Wife is misunderstood due to the workers’ assumptions, Curley’s relationship with her, and her unclear background.
In Of Mice & Men, the character Curley’s Wife is depicted as flirtatious, promiscuous, and insensitive. However, her husband Curley sees her as only a possession. Most of the workers at the ranch see her as a tart, whereas Slim, the peaceful and god-like figure out of all the men, see her as lonely. This answer will tell us to which extent, is Curley’s wife a victim, whether towards her flirtatious behaviour, or to everyone’s representation of her.