There are often many awful people in books. In the book, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, there are two main characters, George and Lennie. Lennie is described as being immature and childish for his age, and George is sort of like Lennie’s babysitter. They are migrant workers, so they have to keep moving around for jobs. At their new job, Lennie accidentally kills the ranch owner's son’s wife, which leads to the owner’s son getting mad and wanting to kill Lennie. While Lennie is hiding George finds him and makes Lennie happy, and then when Lennie turns around, George shoots him in the back. This may cause people to say that George is the main antagonist. However, Curley is the main antagonist in this book. One point that portrays Curley as an antagonist is his very arrogant …show more content…
Curley stared levelly at him. ‘Well next time you answer when you’re spoken to.’. George watched him out, and then he turned back to the swamper. ‘Say, what the hell’s he got on his shoulder? Lennie didn’t do anything for him’”(Steinbeck 26). This shows that Curley is insecure due to the fact that Lennie is bigger than him, so Curley is being rude and aggressive towards Lennie for no apparent reason. This makes him an antagonist because he is very rude towards others with no apparent reasoning. This leads him to being notorious for his rude personality, which is disliked within his ranch. Some may say that George is the real antagonist because he kills Lennie. However, the text states,“Curley came suddenly to life. ‘I know who did it,’ he cried. That big son-of-a-bitch did it. I know he did it. Why-ever’body else was out there playing in’ horseshoes.’. ‘I’m killing the big son-of-a-bitch myself. I’ll shoot ‘im in the guts”’(Steinbeck 96). This shows that Curley wants to brutally kill Lennie even though Lennie killed his wife by accident. Even though Lennie did the wrong thing, he didn’t deserve all of this anger centered around
Would you be able to kill your lifelong companion? George Milton had to make that choice in John Steinbeck’s novella, Of Mice and Men. After a whole bunch of misadventures with his mentally handicapped giant, Lennie Small. Lennie accidently murdered a woman out of innocence. While the ranch men search for Lennie, George made the decision to give Lennie a merciful death. I believe that George should have killed Lennie because he would have been put in an institution, Curley would have been cruel to him, and George had to give him a merciful death.
George felt though an extremely difficult choice, killing Lennie himself was the right decision. Curley was gonna get his revenge and George did not want that because he did not want Lennie to die painfully. “‘I’ll kill the big son-of-a-bitch myself. I’ll shoot him in the guts.’”(Steinbeck 96). When Lennie killed Curley’s wife, Curley wanted to give him the most painful death. Curley wanted to shoot Lennie in the stomach which wouldn’t kill you at first, Instead you would bleed out slowly and painfully. George didn’t want Lennie to suffer so he knew he had to get to Lennie before Curley did and kill Lennie the fastest and least painful death he could which he did. Lennie would be arrested and thrown in jail for
Through the ages, archetypes have constantly shown up in all forms of literature. One specific classic, the quest, is most notably known from many literature novels. The character Lennie in the novel Of Mice and Men demonstrates the archetype of the quest by facing trying challenges, and the goal of a peaceful life.
George?s act of shooting Lennie can be looked upon as gracious. If Lennie had not left the world and his problems, a large amount of torture would fiercely come his way. The bloodthirsty mob, including the violent, disruptive Curley, has the mindset to demolish this ignoramus who killed Curley?s wife. Because of Lennie?s mental impairment and immaturity, he would not be able to handle such animosity. In saying that Lennie is not to blame for the death of Curley?s Wife, Lennie should not have to face the merciless people at the farm. George knows that Lennie is unable to survive in the world.
“Then Curley’s rage exploded.Come on ya big bastard . Get up on your feet. No big son-of-a-bitch is gonna laugh at me I’ll show ya who’s yella”.(62)Lennie was smiling and thinking about the ranch that George talked to him about and how they would make a living out of the farm. Also, he was thinking about how there would be bunnies that he could pet and feed.He was daydreaming in the worst moment. Curley thought that Lennie was smiling and laughing at him for having a “Glove fulla Vaseline”. This part of the dialogue also tells us that Curley gets frustrated or mad easily. THey say his rage exploded, he made a tiny situation into a major attention drawer. “Curley’s like a lot of little guys. He hates big guys.He’s alla time picking scraps with big guys.”(26) The author describes Curley as a hatred person.He gets the wrong intention.Curley according to the passage liked to pick on others and knowing that Lennie was a sensitive fella he took advantage of that. He had fun doing this but Lennie did not get any positive output of this only negative outcomes. Curley wanted to start a fight just because he thought Lennie was laughing at him when he
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.
Undoubtedly, the men’s first impression of Curley’s Wife was negative. The minute the only female character was introduced, hateful and derogatory language harshly rolls off of the men’s tongues. “Don’t even take a look at that bitch. I don’t care what she says and what she does.” George says when Lennie claims how ‘purdy’ she is (Steinbeck 32). Although Lennie tries to reassure George that he ‘meant no harm’ looking at her, George responds saying
than strict justice.”In the novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, George decides to shoot Lennie instead of having Curley mercilessly torture and kill him. George makes the right choice by deciding to kill Lennie, if he didn’t, Curley would torture him and ultimately kill him because of his anger and hatred.
“Curley slashed at Lennie with his left, and then smashed down his nose with a right. Lennie gave a cry of terror. Blood welled from his nose” (pg 63). In Of Mice and Men, Curley is at once an unpleasant, nasty character and fighter. Right away in the book his “glance was pugnacious and calculating” (pg 25), judging George and Lennie and making them feel very uncomfortable to the point where they want to leave. Through the character of Curley, Steinbeck, the author, shows readers evilness and the want to be a tough guy. Back then and now, people who get everything they want are cruel and evil when, like a little spoiled kid, they do not get what they want. That wannabe guy will also always try to prove himself to others and will want to show how tough he really is.
While George is away, Lennie does something very bad, he kills Curley’s wife along with his dog; both on accident. This event causes Lennie to run away and Curley to go after him in anger to kill him. “‘All right, you guys," he said. "The nigger's got a shotgun. You take it, Carlson. When you see 'um, don't give 'im no chance. Shoot for his guts. That'll double 'im over’”(48). In the quote, it shows that Curley has no compassion or empathy. He does not show empathy towards neither his wife or Lennie and his actions. Instead, he says he is going to kill him in a painful, long way. This whole quote says so much about Curley’s character, it shows he has a poor character and bad morals; unlike George. Curley’s characterization reveals a lot about his character and how he is ruthless and doesn’t care for others not even his deceased wife. George later kills Lennie out of compassion because he is better off killed peacefully than by what is to come, Curley and his painful death. “Lennie begged, "Le's do it now. Le's get that place now." "Sure, right now. I gotta. We gotta." And George raised the gun and steadied it, and he brought the muzzle of it close to the back of Lennie's head. The hand shook violently, but his face set and his hand steadied. He pulled the trigger. The crash of the shot rolled up the hills and rolled down again. Lennie jarred, and then settled slowly forward to the sand, and he
excited one. He now has hope of doing something and it came from the "dream
Near the middle of the novel curley got into a fight with Lennie which lead to many actions. These actions are what lead up to the themes. “Lennie looked helplessly at George, and then he got up and tried to retreat.” (pg 31) Curley came into the house very mad so he thought it would be ok to pick on someone. But what he did
...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.
When Richard was young he would always be the person to help out. But as he became older and more feeble, his capabilities were not as they were before. This was difficult for Richard to cope with because other people would reject his help, but this did not stop him from accomplishing his dreams. The novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck contains the character Candy, an old ranch worker who lost one of his hands in a farm accident. Like Richard, Candy is old and disabled and faces problems with people discriminating against him. In Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck uses dialogue to characterize Candy as a neglected, misunderstood idealist.
According to the American Association John Steinbeck's novel, Of Mice and Men, is one of the top 10 most challenged books in school during the 1990's. The novel focuses on two migrant workers, George and Lennie, who work, dream, and endure the difficulties of being human. As the novel ends the hopes, dreams, and happiness of George and Lennie are crushed beyond the condition in defeat. This novel paints a horrific portrait of the human experience through profanity, inappropriate language, racism, sexism, adult content and murder. John Steinbeck's novel, Of Mice and Men, should be a banned book.