Examples Of Jealousy In Of Mice And Men

In the heart touching novel of Steinbeck Of Mice And Men portrays many themes one major theme was human jealousy. Within the book Steinbeck portrays many forms of human emotions. He shows many forms of jealousy throughout the book ranging from character to character. The setting is a small isolated farm filled with many characters. Characters like Curley, Curley's wife, and crooks are jealous of others because they have something that they cannot obtain or have.

One example, during chapter two Candy talks to George telling him, "Well . . . tell you what. Curley’s like a lot of little guys. He hates big guys. He’s alla time picking scraps with big guys. Kind of like he’s mad at ‘em because he ain’t a big guy. You seen little guys like that, ain’t you? Always

scrappy?" page 26. This shows how Curley is jealous of Lenny just because of his physique. Later on when everyone is all in a room enjoying themselves Curley rushes in looking for his wife and is insulted, while in the corner Lennie is smiling for his own reasons. But Curley is delusional and hates Lennie and big guys like him. So when this happens he snaps attacking Lennie not only because of his pride but because of his jealousy.

Another example is Curley's wife, throughout the story she is constantly wandering the barn in search
of companionship.

In chapter four when she is talking to Lennie she pours out her heart asking, "Why can't I talk to you? Never get to talk to nobody. I get awful lonely." page 85. In this short exclamation of indignance she shows her views on how everybody around her gets to talk to others while she is excluded living in a house while everyone else has company and enjoys their time together. Her behavior exhibits her feeling constantly within the novel showing how she is jealous of others because they do not have to deal with loneliness.

In addition Crooks is the only black worker on the ranch and because of that he is segregated from everyone else. Over time Crooks grows resentful of the unfortunate treatment and when Lennie wanders into his stable he finds it difficult to cope with. As they talk he grows more and more jealous of Lennie's companionship with George. He grows angry because of his misfortune eventually asking Lennie what would he do if George never came back for him. All of Crooks actions in this scene is because of his longing for companionship just like Lennie and

George.

Human emotion plays a critical role throughout the story. Influencing each characters emotions and actions. Curley suffers from jealousy because he was not born big and muscular, but instead someone like Lennie was. Curley's wife suffers from loneliness as Curley prohibits her contact with any other guys as he is jealous whenever he sees another guys talking to her because he thinks that she may cheat on him. Then Crooks is separated for another totally reason, while everyone else is white he is the only black on the ranch and back then racial discrimination was at its peak causing him to be separated from everyone else