In Steinbeck's book Of Mice and Men, he uses minor characters to represent what type of people they are in American society, which all of them are discriminated in some sort of way. Steinbeck uses many motifs from minor characters in the book often, to foreshadow the ideas of darkness and lightness. When Steinbeck writes down these motifs, it helps us know more about characters or their actions they do. In the first few chapters in the book, Curley’s wife is introduced as darkness, but as time progresses on, Steinbeck shows the lightness in this so called “villain”. On page 31, Steinback starts off with Curley's wife entering a scene in the story. The quote says “Both men glanced up, for the rectangle of light was cut of. A girl was standing there looking in. She wore a cotton house dress and red mules, in the …show more content…
insteps of which little bouquets of red ostrich feathers… I’m lookin for Curley, her voice having a nasal, brittle quality”. This hints us an idea that she is darkness because she took away the only source of light, the sun. It also might foreshadow Curley’s wife actions to be terrible because she is a negative influence in Of Mice and Men, taking away the hopes of other people. Steinback might have used a female as a villain, because most females back then were gold diggers manipulating other men and stealing their money, so a villain like this would be perfect taking other people's dreams. The next representation of darkness would be Crooks. Due to his skin color, Crooks isn't given the respect and treatment like the other men in the ranch. For example, when Steinbeck is describing Crooks room, a quote says “In the stable buck’s room a small electric globe threw a meagre yellow light.” It doesn't show respect because the author already stated his name, but the author wrote “stable buck's room” instead of “Crooks room”. The word meagre explains that he also doesn't have much in life, portraying isolation or loneliness from other people. Even though light is used in the quote, it is trying to say that darkness is slowly building up in his room. I believed that Steinbeck used Crook as this characterization of loneliness because color people were thought to be below white people in social class. This fits due to the ignorance towards Crooks and the way the workers in the ranch treat him. By these motifs, this might foreshadow Crooks also spreading his loneliness to the other workers. However, Steinbeck has another motif in mind with the use of light.
Steinbeck shows lightness right after Curley’s wife died. A quote from the book was “The sun streaks were high on the wall by now, and the light was growing soft in the barn.” When the quote says “growing soft”, it means that Curley’s wife is leaving her prison in earth, because light is gradually returning back to normal. She is being freed from the clutches of Curley and the loneliness within the ranch. By using “light” in the quote, Steinbeck is trying to say that even though Curley’s wife was a negative influence, there was also good inside of her all along. Steinbeck shows lightness with Crooks by his appearance. Since he is a “negro”, people leave him alone. Crooks in return gets happiness and luxuries from his own room, because he doesn't have to share any of his stuff. A quote in page 67 “And scattered about the floor were a number of personal possessions; for, being alone, Crooks could leave his things about, and being a stable back……… he had accumulated more possessions than he could carry on his back” proves that by being by the “negro” it had its advantages or
lightness.
John Steinbeck, an American novelist, is well-known for his familiar themes of depression and loneliness. He uses these themes throughout a majority of his novels. These themes come from his childhood and growing up during the stock market crash. A reader can see his depiction of his childhood era. In Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck shows the prominent themes of loneliness, the need for relationships, and the loss of dreams in the 1930s through the novels’ character.
One week after Lennie's death, George sits in the dark corner of a bar. The room is all but empty and dead silent. All the windows are shut, through the small openings come beams of dull light that barely illuminate the room. George stares at his glass with an expressionless face, but a heavy sadness in his eyes. The bartender comes towards him and asks if he would like something else to drink.
...nd a tease throughout the novella which shows that the men only view her as a sexual being. The workers assume that everything she does is to cause trouble and she is held responsible for her own murder as well as the situation forcing George to kill Lennie. It is apparent that Steinbeck uses Curley’s wife as a medium to bring to light the excessive sexism women faced during the Great Depression.
Steinbeck wishes to prepare the reader to meet Curley's wife by giving the reader a biased and influenced look about the way she acts; this early impression of Curley's wife entices the reader to have a negative look on Curley's wife by mentioning her as a "tart," which exemplifies comments that are repeated multiple times when speaking about her. That comment makes the reader believe she will be flirty and promiscuous, as well as prepares the reader to the problems that Curley's wife will bring to the novel. When Curley's wife is presented, Steinbeck describes her as flirtatious.... ... middle of paper ... ...
and has no family and the only old man on the ranch. We are told him
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
During the presidential reign of Hebert Hoover in the early 1930's, America was hit with a severe economic slowdown which was notoriously known as The Great Depression. During this time of crisis, an estimated sixteen million people were left unemployed and many others were left homeless. Even though it was expected that many industries in the United States would be significantly affected as a result of the crash, it was Agriculture that was destroyed. Many landowners were desperate to employ workers on their farm, whilst workers were anxious themselves to find a job to support their family. In this story, two displaced Anglo migrant ranch workers, George Milton and Lennie Small, travel around America in search for a job. We soon realise their goal to pursue the American Dream, a dream that has equal chance of becoming a reality or a mere fantasy. Steinbeck?s novel shows a concern for these two friends as tension is raised over whether they will reach the Promised Land they cherish so much. Much of this concern can be attributed to the contrasting characters that both George and Lennie possess ?Although George is seen as an intelligent caring individual, his companion Lennie, although physically strong, is a psychologically limited man who has a good chance of inadvertently spoiling their hopes and ambitions, primarily due to his mental incapacity.
Subsequently, Steinbeck's first mention of Curley's wife displays her as a vindictive and seductive temptress. Steinbeck, using biblical references, relates her to Eve in the in the Garden of Eden – she brings evil into men’s lives b...
From her first appearance in the story, Curley’s wife is described as a different kind of threat, one who is all artifice and manipulation from her red lips and fingernails to her red mules, “on the insteps of which were little bouquets of red ostrich feathers” (Steinbeck 31). The imagery Steinbeck uses, paints her as a woman who is quite bold, but fragile with a passionate essence.
Sometimes names can have greater meaning that just a name; they can be symbols, or something used for or regarded as representing something else. In Of MIce and MEn, JOhn Steinbeck, the author, gives her characers names that help symbolize who that character is. Of mice of men is a story a story about a man named lennie, who has a mental disabillity. Lennie travels with another man named george from place to place and work.The job in which they are currently at allows them to meet man poeople, including crooks, an african american woker, and mrs.Curley a flirtagous woman who is married to the bosses son. Lennie, Crooks and Mrs. Curley were all given names that symbolize who they are as a character.
Curley’s wife is a difficult character to understand. Steinbeck hasn’t named her; this could be for a number of reasons. He may have wanted her to be seen as lonely therefore not naming her shows no one gets close enough to her to call her by her first name. He may have done it to show the other characters only see her as the wife of Curley rather than an individual. He may also have done it to show the male attitudes towards females. Curley’s wife also helps to provoke mixed emotions in the reader. We often feel sorry for her such as when she talks of her loneliness, but on other occasions the reader can find her cold hearted. This is seen when she is racist towards the other characters.
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...
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.
Firstly, John Steinbeck the writer of ‘Mice and Men’ in the 1930s women in America were treated and seen as prostitutes. Curley’s wife is seen and is called a ‘tart’ by Candy and the other ranch workers say the similar thing such as ‘what a tramp’ and ‘she’s got the eye’ by George and whit they say this because she always wears a bright cotton dress and the mules with ostrich feathers; which states that she wants attention; this portrays loneliness . John Steinbeck does not tell the writer Curley’s wife’s name and yet John Steinbeck has so much sympathy for her; the reason john Steinbeck does not give a name for Curley’s wife is that John Steinbeck wants to create tension and change the atmosphere between the reader so the write could question and think about Curley’s wife if she is someone who wants to be with Curley and in the ranch or if she wishes to be with someone else or somewhere else. Later on the reader starts questioning if Curley lets to talk to someone in the ranch or if she is lonely; loneliness is also portrayed in ‘an Inspector calls’ by J.B priestly when Mrs Sybil Birling say’s (to Sheila) ‘when you’re married, you’ll realise that men with important work to do sometimes have to spend all their time and energy on thei...
In conclusion, ‘Of Mice and Men’ did show many different themes. However, I believe that the main theme shown in the story, is oppression. Oppression, or feeling trapped, is shown throughout the book, in all different characters; such as George, Curley’s wife and