The themes of Of Mice and Men
Ambrose Bierce once said “Prejudice is a vagrant opinion without visible means of support.” (This quote goes along with exactly what Steinbeck portrays throughout his well-known novel “Of Mice and Men.” As Steinbeck is writing the story he has many different goals, trying to show just how difficult it was for workers and people during the Great Depression era, and also help the reader better understand and connect with each character (Attell). He uses the many different character personalities to present major themes throughout, two of the major themes being powerlessness and prejudice towards many of the characters. During this time it was extremely difficult for individuals to find and have a set place to
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Racial Prejudice is what’s presented by the others on the ranch towards the only African American man on the ranch. They would call his crucial names, bad mouth him and some would even threated him, giving him the fear of losing his job. Crooks was isolated from all the other workers, he had his own room of to the side, not allowing anyone to be in his room, because he preferred being isolated. At this portion of the story the reader is able to begin making a connection between Lennie and Crooks, even though the discrimination is shown more frequently toward Crooks because his skin is a different color, they both feel unwanted at the ranch, they both want to leave. Crook allows Lennie to come into his room one night just for alittle while all the other men were out, they sat and talked for alittle, until Curleys wife grows nosey and comes to the door to see what they are talking about. Curley’s wife is the only female on the ranch so she is all over the place, in everyone else’s business except for her own. As Crook is enjoying the company that he is having with Lennie at this time and he tells Curleys wife to leave, she then becomes offended and grows mean saying “do you know what I could do to you if you open your trap?”(Steinebck 80) trying to intimidate Crooks. She knows that he is unable to do or say anything out of the way to her, giving the reason why she does …show more content…
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
This book depicts her as property of Curley’s because she is never given a name beside “Curley’s wife” or “Tart”. Curley’s wife was a woman who had aspiring dreams to be in movies and when that dream ended, she settled with marrying Curley. Curley’s wife shows abuse of power because since she is married to a person who is influential on the ranch, that makes her somewhat powerful, she uses her femininity and authority to manipulate others. She is unhappy with her marriage and is lonely so she goes out to the ranch to talk to the other guys, which gets Curley paranoid. When she is being forced to leave Crooks’s room, she retaliates by telling him, “Well, you keep your place then, nigger. I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain’t even funny.” When Candy tried to stand up for Crooks, she made sure they all knew their place, “Tell an’ be damned,” she cried, “Nobody’s listen to you an’ you know it. Nobody’s listen to you.” (79-80) There is a whole food chain in the ranch and Lennie, Candy and Crooks are at the bottom while Curley’s wife is at the top. On the other hand, she talks to Lennie because of his mental incapacity to know what’s wrong and right. He’s easier to allure in so she would have someone to talk to. Although Lennie wasn’t allowed to interact with
Imagine being discriminated against because of your ethnicity; or being the only woman on a ranch, stuck in a loveless marriage, when all you really want is someone to talk to. What about having to kill that friend, and bury all chances of breaking free from the life of the average migrant worker? How would you feel? These scenarios in John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men illustrate the need and desire for companionship in life. There's Crooks, the negro stable buck; Curley's wife, whose marriage to Curley hasn't exactly been lively; and George and Lennie, whose friendship is strong enough to get them to a better life and out of the negetive cycle that the average migrant worker became trapped in during the Great Depression.
She is not allowed to be in the ranch workers’ bunk house and is also not supposed to talk to the ranch hands. She is practically owned by her husband, Curley. None of the workers pay attention to her because they know it will get them into trouble. Curley is very jealous and protective towards his wife. The ranch workers look at her as a ‘tart’ because she flirts with everyone. Curley’s wife is very lonely, she is the only women amongst all the men on the ranch. Steinbeck explains that she is not a person, she is just a symbol. She has no function, except to be a foil – and a danger to Lennie. She dreamed of becoming a famous movie star, but all her dreams crashed when she married Curley. Instead of following her dreams she had to settle for a lonely life on the ranch.
The character of Curley’s Wife is very hard to unravel, as throughout the book, Steinbeck’s representation of women through characters such as George and Candy, is very harsh. This is because the sociological opinion at that time was that they were either, mothers, sisters, or prostitutes, as the audience soon see, George and other ranch workers refer to her as “bitch” “loo loo” and “tramp”. There were also a growing number of prostitutes during the Great Depression period, as they would offload their services to those whom were able to pay and have some decent income during the Depression. Other aspects that may make Curley’s Wife seem like a tart, is Curley’s “Glove Fulla’ Vaseline”. Curley literally keeps a glove full of Vaseline, in order to keep his hand soft, possibly for a sexual act. Curley boasts to Candy that the hand is for his wife, which tells us that she gives him consent to do these acts to her, and also, Curley’s nerve to inform fellow workers about his glove shows that he believes that his own wife is a tart, which is very controversial today, but back then, women were seen as nothing more than possessions, yours to do what you will. George informs Lennie to avoid Curley’s Wife at all costs, and not to talk to her, because of her promiscuous behaviour, he believes t...
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
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
Curley is a “thin young man with brown face, brown eyes, and a head of tightly curled hair.” Since he is pugnacious, he always pick a fight especially with guys who are bigger than him because he wants to prove his masculinity. Another way to prove himself was by marrying a women, Curley’s Wife. His wife was never given a name to begin with. John Steinbeck indicates that Curley’s Wife is in Curley’s Possession. He tries to isolates her from everyone but she sneaks in and tries to grab attention. Curley is very cocky and because of his attitude, he picks a fight with Lennie, oblivious to the danger he put himself in. Once George allows Lennie to fight back, he crushed Curley’s hand breaking every
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
The racial discrimination was one of the aspects of the discrimination in this story. Consequently, Crooks had to battle with various difficulties and conflicts, which prevented him from reaching his full potential. The ranch hands did not let Crooks live, eat, and play with them because his skin colour was different. It led to the conflict between him and Lennie. "Why ain't you wanted?" Lennie asked. "Cause I'm black. They play cards in there, but I can't play because I'm black. They say I stink. Well, I tell you, you all of you stink to me.” (Steinbeck, 68). In this conversation between Lennie and African - American stable buck Crooks, Crooks explains why he could not accepted to play cards together with other ranch hands. The fact that other ranch hands discriminate Crooks because of his skin colour is one of the important examples that prove social belief that race was one factor to determine a person’s value in Depression era. Crooks was isolated. This isolation prevented Crooks ...
Curley's wife, comparable to most other characters in the novel, is a type of character with little discrepancy, moreover being the only woman in novel. Curley’s wife is demonstrated by her position and part. This part is however, being a possession of Curley or a wife. She is heavily insulted and looked upon as inferior: George and Candy call her "jailbait" and "tart", which supports the fact that he has no voice and as a matter of fact, no name – simply being referred to as Curley’s wife. Due to her lack of power, she attempts to gain it by leeching off those with power. This leeching is portrayed as her seducing the other men on the ranch who have large presence like Slim: “Hi Slim” supports a casual and somewhat flirtatious approach to the other men. She seduces other by wearing far too much makeup and dressing like a "whore" with “red fingernails” and red shoes with ostrich feathers.
In the short story we see the notice that she isn’t given a name instead she’s referred as Curley’s wife, she’s mostly disrespected and ignored throughout the novel. When she finds out that Lennie likes to touch soft things like velvet, she entices him into stroking her hair” “. This shows that Curley’s wife is desperate need of attention even if she’s getting it from a man, Lennie himself is a curious and a very large guy, he’s slow. Furthermore, when she spends so much time at the ranch, this also shows that she can hang with the fellas even if she’s a lady because we can tell she’s always dragging attention. That carelessness is her loneliness, and that loneliness comes from low self-esteem, I kind of didn’t feel bad that she died because she dies comforting a man to play with her hair and the things she was going through. From these events, we see that Curley’s wife was living in a time period where women were
John Steinbeck introduces us to Curley’s wife during the middle of Chapter 3. Curley’s wife is a complex and only female character in the novel: ‘Of mice and men’. Her nativity and flirtatiousness leads to her inevitable death at the hand of Lennie.
In the novel Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck uses stereotypes and discrimination to convey a message of how the characters feel. A lot of the stereotypes and clichés are just common beliefs of the times, but a few are situational. To quote a quite distinguished reader, "Characters are ‘trapped’- either by what others think of them, or by their situation." A lot of the character’s feelings about themselves and what others think of them will lead to loneliness.
“ She turned on him in scorn. ‘Listen, Nigger,’ she said. ‘You know what I can do to you if you open your trap”(Steinbeck, 116)? In this quote Curley’s wife, in the novel Of Mice and Men, knew she was superior to the character Crooks because of his race. She took her power as an advantage. Discrimination is being in favor or against someone or a group of people for any reason. Lennie and George are what you may say “bestfriends”. The two traveled together to find work when that isn’t common in the time they were in. Lennie has had his problems in the past with not knowing how to keep his hands to himself. He wouldn’t purposely try to hurt anyone, he just doesn’t think like everyone else. Lennie is the reason for the two moving from Weed. The two move to this new ranch and things took a turn , it was for the best at first but it quickly changed for the worst. Lennie couldn’t keep his hands to himself and accidentally killed
Curley just liked to show her off to the others at the ranch, and have an extra reason to act and be better that everyone else. Curley’s wife, however, didn’t like Curley at all. The only reason she had married him was so she could get out of her home town. She also knew that everyone else thought she was pretty, and so she regularly went around, pretending to look for Curley, when really she was just flirting with whoever was in the general area. This is the main reason that she got herself killed, because she tried flirted with a man who didn’t know his own strength, although it was also Lennie’s fault for trying to make her stop screaming. Curley, though didn’t know how little his wife cared for him, was outraged that Lennie killed his wife, although he probably thought of her more like a jewel that was shattered. Candy described Curley as “He’s like all small guys. Hates big Guys.” Quote from Of Mice and Men. I think that Curley’s wife proved to add an isolation theme to the film.