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Curley’s Motivate: Fighting until It’s Done
There are a few people in this world that think they’re better than everyone else. Everyone has different ways to improve on themselves. They think they are above and more important than anyone. Some can be mean or nice. In Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, nearly every character struggles with some weakness. Curley is motivated by knowing the Boss is his father. Curley is mean to anyone with a weakness.
Curley’s weakness is that he is trying to prove himself physically because he lacks self-confidence. Here, the author has to convince the audience that Curley is not a good man. He picks fights especially with guys who are bigger than him to prove his masculinity and to make people obey him. His strength comes in the physical form, lightweight fighting. For instance, even Candy said, “He’s alla time picking scraps with big guys.” (26) Curley could be jealous of how tall Lennie is as opposed to his short height. Did Steinbeck purposely say this to make Curley seem weak? Therefore, Curley’s standing up to Lennie shows his desire to have a higher status than him even though he is much smaller.
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Curley feels more powerful because he thinks he has a role of authority in that he is the boss’s son.
He uses this by bossing the workers around and intimidating them. For example, “Curley stared levelly at him. ‘Well, nex’ time you answer when you’re spoke to’” (26). This means that . . . . The way he talks to these workers shows that he thinks he can control them with his authority. The workers feel this way about Curley’s power and if “he tangles with them, they are going get in trouble.” (29) They know it will only cost them their jobs. Lennie doesn’t have the power to keep himself out of trouble because he doesn’t have a lot powerful like Curley has and not smart enough to stay from
him. Curley married an attractive woman as another tactic used to prove himself. In the novel, we never find out her name but by calling her “Curley’s wife,”(32) Steinbeck indicates that she is his possession. He knows that his wife is very important to him to gain respect. When Curley feel that he has more power to beat up Lennie. Would Curley accept the fact that he’s not better than anyone else? “Curley was white and shrunken by now, and his struggling had become weak.”(64) Word counts: 400 .
When someone doesn’t achieve their dreams , they feel insecure which makes them have hatred towards people that are happy. In chapter 3, Curley comes into the bunkhouse to look for his wife and because of this, the men in the bunkhouse start laughing and make fun of him. Lennie also starts laughing at the thought of his dream farm. Curley thought Lennie was laughing at him so he attacked him, “ Come on, ya big bastard. Get up on your feet. No big son-of-a-bitch is gonna laugh at me. I’ll show you who’s yella. Lennie looked helplessly at George, and then he got up and tried to retreat”(62). Curley is insecure about his small size because that ruined his dream of becoming a boxer. When he walks in the room to look for his wife, the men start laughing at him and he feels that they were making fun of his
Lennie relies on others to think for him. He won’t act or react unless he’s told to. When he’s getting punched in the face by Curley, Lennie doesn’t even flinch until George tells him to:
Which then brings me to the next scenario in the book when a little more damage happening. “Let go Lennie” (Steinbeck 63) is what George shouted when Lennie was essentially breaking Curleys hand into little pieces. The quote resembles George having to keep Lennie from crushing Curley's hand even more. Lennie is strong but lennie can't seem to realize or make it click in his head because of Lennie's
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.
Mr. Curley’s has a dream to be an important and to be a powerful factor on the ranch. Mr. Curley is greedy when it comes to possessing power over those who work on the ranch. An example of his arrogance would be when he tells Lennie, “Well, nex’ time you answer when you’re spoke too.” (Steinbeck 26). Mr. Curley talks condescendingly to the men on the ranch especially Lennie. Mr. Curley doesn’t feel like feeling in competition with other men when it comes to having power on the ranch. Curley might feel insecure about his size which is why “He hates big guys. He’s alla time picking scraps with big guys.” (Steinbeck 26), Curley almost feels intimidated by the bigger men working for him by demonstrating his power that he holds over them. He
Curley thinks that Lennie is making fun of him when he laughs so Curley throws punches as lennie tries to explain that he wasn't laughing at him. Eventually after a couple blows Lennie crushes Curley's hand in his own. Curley refuses to listen to Lennie and again immediately goes straight to violence and attacking Lennie. Had he listened he could have avoided a crushed hand, being embarrassed and shamed because he always bragged about being a great boxer.
“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
Of Mice and Men Quarterly Measurement Of Mice and Men is a novel written by John Steinbeck that describes the journey of George, and his mentally disabled friend, Lennie, as they travel and work together on a ranch in California. The story of Of Mice and Men accounts for the experience of George and Lennie as they encounter different people on the ranch who live in solitude, such as Crooks, the negro stable buck, and the wife of the boss’s son, Curley. Crooks the stable buck is always alone because he is black, and during the time period of which the novel takes place, people with colored skin were discriminated and excluded from white social activities. Curley’s wife is alone most of the time because most of the men on the ranch stay away from her because they don’t want to get in trouble with Curley and because Curley doesn't pay attention to her. The loneliness that these characters experience impacts their personalities and actions in such a way that these characters are misunderstood most of the time.
Curley is a small man who is the boss’s son and has a Napoleon complex and he tries to act larger than he is. He’s insecure around men that are more macho and bigger than him and is known to give men bigger than him grief. “He’s alla time picking scraps with big guys. Kind of like he’s mad at ‘em because he ain’t a big guy.
As Mark Twain once stated, “The more I know about people, the better I like my dog.” This sentiment is often echoed by general society; people seem to have lost faith in humanity. However, John Steinbeck illustrates his more optimistic opinion about “the perfectibility of man” by suggesting how man can improve. In his novel, Of Mice and Men, two tenants called George and Lennie go through many hardships all while chasing their dream of possessing their own farm. While they work at a farm, they meet an old swamper called Candy who offers to help them achieve their dream; he does so to ensure that he will have a future after he is fired for being too old. On page 60, Candy discusses the recent death of his dog and asks to join in on George and Lennie’s dream. Through this passage, Steinbeck proves that humans have an animalistic tendency of eliminating those who are weaker than them. This is depicted through the details connecting Candy to his dog as well as Candy’s diction when describing his potential future life. Steinbeck’s negative attitude towards man’s predatory nature implies that society needs to improve and prevent such oppressive behavior from occurring.
Furthermore, Lennie is captivated by her alluring beauty and cannot take his eyes off her, constantly mentioning that "she's purty". George, recognising Lennie's intoxication, cautions him to keep his distance from this temptress. Moreover, Curley's wife understands that her magnetising beauty is the main reason control and her authority, and she fully deploys it to seduce the other ranch hands and make her husband jealous of her, which in turn gives her attention. However, she is completely isolated on the ranch and her husband has made it so that no one will talk to her without having a fistfight with the man.
Strengths and Weaknesses play a huge roll within the story. Steinbeck explores different types of strength and weakness throughout the novel. As the novel begins, Steinbeck shows how Lennie possesses physical strength beyond his control, as when he cannot help killing the mouse. Great physical strength is valuable in George and Lennie's circumstances. Curley, as a symbol of authority on the ranch and a champion boxer, makes this clear immediately by using his brutish strength and violent temper to intimidate those who look down on him. Lennie means no harm at all. The reason why George and Lennie had to leave in the beginning of the novel was because it was believed that Lennie attempted to rape a woman there. Rape was not the case at all, when Lennie expressed his love for the touch of soft things, such as a dress or a mouse, this panicked the woman causing a chain reaction, and causing Lennie panic also. When Lennie accidentally kills the mouse, it foreshadows the future of Lennie and Curley's wife.
In the novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck there are many events in the plot of the story that occur that prove that when man is cruel to man, some peoples lives are negatively affected. One instance in where this is proven true is when the men on the ranch and Curley's wife are cruel and discriminative against Crooks causing him to be the one to mourn. An example of how the men are discriminative towards Crooks is that he is forced to live in a shack away from the bunkhouse and also Crooks says that "They play cards in there, but I can't play because I'm black. They say I stink" and "I ain't wanted in the bunkhouse." An example of when Curley's Wife is critical towards Crooks is when she looks into his room to see what Lennie and Crooks are doing and then she states, shaking her head, that they left the weak ones behind. Also, she threatens to have Crooks hung because a black man should never talk to a white woman the way he just had. As a result of all of these discriminatory acts against him, Crooks feels unwanted and lonely because of his color and placement on the farm. Also those examples are part of the theme of the novel, people need to accept and understand those different from themselves, which also helps to prove the interpretation of the quote. Another example in this novel that proves that when man is cruel to man, the lives of people are negatively affected is when Curley picks on and tries to hurt Lennie. Curley chooses to fight Lennie because he thinks he won't fight back but because George gets angry and tells Lennie to fight back, he does. George being angry is not the only negative effect that Curley's teasing had on man, but also now Lennie is angry and in danger of getting in trouble and Curley himself gets hurt.
As a result, Curley’s wife begins to explain how lonely she is, and she cannot talk to anyone except for Curley. Many people think she’s a tart and someone who isn’t worth anything. “I get lonely.’ She said ‘you can talk to people,and i can’t talk to nobody but Curley. Else he gets mad. How’d you like not to talk to anybody?” (5.87) She get’s lonely because of she talks to anyone else then he will get mad and will punish the men, and the men think she’s a tart. With this example, it shows that even someone with so much power, can get treated with discrimination because she’s a
Steinbeck presents strong feelings and attitudes towards Curley’s wife in many different ways. Curley’s wife is often shown through other people’s opinion of her and as a result she is often judged before she has had the chance to meet other people properly.