Of Mice and Men

644 Words2 Pages

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck is a riveting book which includes many intriguing scenes but one in particular is compelling. This is the scene where the readers witness the death of Curley’s wife. In the beginning of this scene, Lennie is sitting by himself in the barn mourning over the death of his puppy. He is trying to talk himself out of feeling guilty for killing his dog. Similar to all his pet mice, Lennie didn’t realize his own strength and killed it by accident. As he is talking to himself in the desolated barn, Curley’s wife sneaks in behind him. She kneels down next to him and attempts to start a normal conversation with him. As she is talking, she asks about the dead puppy and Lennie tells her his story. As Curley’s wife continues talking, she tells him about her dead acting career until Lennie begins talking about liking to pet soft things. Lennie’s hand ends up on her hair and when she jerks away afraid, his hand closed on her hair and hung on. As she began to yell, he covered up her mouth to muffle the noise. Once again Lennie, not knowing his own strength, managed to break Curley’s wife’s neck and eventually killed her. As Candy and George are coming into the barn, Lennie goes and hides knowing he did a bad deed. The scene ends with all the men leaving the barn to hunt down Lennie. This is a significant scene because of the culpability of multiple characters along with the significance of the scene in comparison to the rest of the novel. More than one character is responsible for a part in Curley’s wife’s death though it is ironic that the boy who committed the deed, Lennie, is the least responsible for her death. A main person responsible for Curley’s wife’s death was Curley’s wife herself. She puts Lennie in... ... middle of paper ... ...han a grown man. George begins to see that Lennie is really dangerous and cannot stay in this world without harming more people. With this in mind, George realizes that their fantasy dream is now over as Lennie was the heart and soul of the entire operation. George realizing this opens the door for the rest of the novel. This event also brings out a new side of Curly. This new Curly has a thirst for vengeance and is ready to get revenge on Lenny. Ironically, after her death, Curley’s wife’s life now has a meaning although Curley never mourns over his wife’s death. This plan for revenge also opens new doors for the novel to continue onwards. Lennie was this beacon of hope for the rest of the men living on that ranch and after this event, that small piece of hope is lost. The significance of this scene is important as it keeps the novel going towards the final scene.

Of Mice and Men QQTT
717 Words | 2 Pages
George and Lennie were lifelong friends and had varying personalities even from the start. Lennie thought about how his Aunt Clara said he should have been more like George. At the time when the story took place, the two men were travelling together, and had been for some time, working and then moving on to search for the next job they could find. They were like many other men in search for work, except it was rare for men to travel together. George felt a need to take care of Lennie because he was somewhat slow. George was an average man of the time. He was a good size, nice, but firm, and he had aspirations to be more than just a nomadic laborer. Lennie, on the other hand, had always been a little different. He was big, goofy, clumsy, but sweet. They were also both good workers. George was concerned with working and getting his money before they got into trouble and had to leave camp. Lennie was the one who normally started the trouble. He was a hard worker and lived to appease George, but he got distracted easily which angered George. George told about how they would own a house and a farm together and work for themselves. Lennie loved to hear the story and think about the possibilities, even though nobody knew if any of it was a possibility. George and Lennie's differences in part led to George's inclination to kill Lennie. Despite their dissimilarity, the two men needed each other probably more than they realized.
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Of Mice And Men
369 Words | 1 Pages
Should George have shot his friend Lennie? George probably did the right thing by shooting Lennie. How can we condemn George for sparing his friend Lennie the pain and fear of being killed by someone else? He did something society sees as wrong, but he did it for a good reason. Lennie didn’t deserve to die, but there was no other alternative. Curley wanted to kill Lennie, and since George cared for Lennie, he figured the best thing would be for him to put Lennie out of his misery.
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Of Mice and Men: The Next Chapter
582 Words | 2 Pages
As Slim and George arrived at the bar, neither of them said a word. Slim looked at George but George avoided his attempt at making eye contact. They walked in and sat at a round wooden table that looked to be a decade old. George sat down at one end and Slim sat down on the other directly across.
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Theme Of Dreams In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men
1148 Words | 3 Pages
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
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Of Mice And Men
904 Words | 2 Pages
Disappointment is someone being sad or mad about something they have done or failed to do. Disappointment can be caused by other people’s actions. In the book “Of Mice And Men” by John Steinbeck, the characters of Crooks, Candy, and Curly’s wife all suffer from disappointment of life. Crooks suffer from disappointment from how nobody wants to play or talk to him just because he is black. Also Curly’s Wife suffers because women don’t have that much of rights so she gets treated badly. Candy gets also treated badly because he is old and only has one hand to use so he can’t do that much work. All of the people in the book get treated badly because the book “Of Mice and Men” is made during the time period that the great depression was so there wasn’t that much of rights towards women and black people.
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Of Mice And Men - Curley's Wife
1157 Words | 3 Pages
...mass of emotions between the men, the conflict of killing Lennie. And Curley finally showed some caring emotion “I know who done it.” “That big son-of-a-bitch done it” Is when he begins to show the love for his wife. Curley talks about going to kill Lennie, which shows that his wife may have been a big part of his life a nothing is going to replace her.
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Themes In Charlotte Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men
2014 Words | 5 Pages
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
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Of Mice And Men
612 Words | 2 Pages
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.
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The Nature Of Life In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men
911 Words | 2 Pages
He touches the hair of Curley 's wife, but she gets scared. In the result, Lennie accidentally kills her and runs away.
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Of Mice & Men
697 Words | 2 Pages
Warren French writes, “The world just hasn’t been made right, so that dreams are the only things that can keep men going.” Agree or disagree with this statement.
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John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men
729 Words | 2 Pages
...hing,” (100). He covered her body with hay and then disappeared from the barn with a puppy in his hand. Lennie never intended to kill or even hurt Curley’s wife but because of his strength and mental incompetence of realizing his actions, the death of Curley’s death was inevitable.
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Of Mice And Men: Comparing The Movie And The Book
418 Words | 1 Pages
The movie of Of Mice and Men had many differences while still giving the same message that the book was portrayed to have. One of the major differences was that Candy never came into the room when Lennie and Crooks were talking to each other. This was major because Crooks never found out that the plan was true about the little house. In the book after he heard Candy talk about it he wanted to get in on the deal. Also the movie it never showed Lennie have his illusions of his Aunt Carla and the rabbits when he was waiting by the pond.
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Of Mice And Men: Mini-critique
637 Words | 2 Pages
Lennie to take care of. The next day George convinces the farm boss to hire
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John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men
678 Words | 2 Pages
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.
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Of Mice And Men Theme Analysis
1649 Words | 4 Pages
Curley’s wife, she’s the one in the story that has no actual name, she is just known as “Curley’s wife.” She is the only female on the ranch, the book tells 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. 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 gets carried away and wouldn’t let go of her hair, she began to scream telling him to let go. Lennie panics and ends up holding her down and ends up 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
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Of Mice and Men

Of Mice and Men QQTT

Of Mice And Men

Of Mice and Men: The Next Chapter

Theme Of Dreams In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

Of Mice And Men

Of Mice And Men - Curley's Wife

Themes In Charlotte Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

Of Mice And Men

The Nature Of Life In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

Of Mice & Men

John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men

Of Mice And Men: Comparing The Movie And The Book

Of Mice And Men: Mini-critique

John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men

Of Mice And Men Theme Analysis

More about Of Mice and Men

Of Mice and Men QQTT

Of Mice And Men

Of Mice and Men: The Next Chapter

Theme Of Dreams In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

Of Mice And Men

Of Mice And Men - Curley's Wife

Themes In Charlotte Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

Of Mice And Men

The Nature Of Life In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

Of Mice & Men

John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men

Of Mice And Men: Comparing The Movie And The Book

Of Mice And Men: Mini-critique

John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men

Of Mice And Men Theme Analysis