Is it possible to achieve the “American dream?” In the novel “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck the main characters Lennie and George to migrant workers dream of owning their own farm and not having to obey to anyone's orders except their own. They flee from Weed because of an incident with Lennie touching a girl's dress and accusing him of rape. They get a job at a ranch outside Weed buckin barley and meet an “old dog” named Candy. Candy and George get to talking and George tells Candy about their “Dream” and Candy says he can help them get the ranch if he gets to come with them. They decide to leave at the end of the mouth but Lennie kills Curley's wife by snapping her neck and George decides to kill Lennie so he doesn't die a slow and …show more content…
painful death from Curley. In this novel George and Lennie show the theme that it is impossible to achieve the american dream because Lennie disability, Society, and Lennie holding george back. One of the main reasons George and Lennie cannot achieve there dream is because of Lennie's disability. Throughout the whole novel he struggles to remember what george says and what he says to do. "I forgot, George." "Yea, you forgot. You always forget, an' I got to talk you out of it”(Steinbeck 12). This quote is talking about when George to Lennie not to say anything when the boss came in the room. George was very made and said that they could get in trouble easier and that the boss has an eye on them. Another quote that shows Lennie's mental disability is “Lennie looked startled and then in embarrassment hid his face against his knees,”I forgot again”(Steinbeck 3). This quote also shows Lennis lack of remembering stuff and talks about how he forgot where they were going and what they were doing. Another big reason that the american dream is impossible is that fact that in life you have face obstacles that might be hard to overcome.
In this novel one of the obstacle is Curley's wife. She creates a big problem for all of the guys at the stable buck and evently is what get Lennie killed. A quote that shows this is “Bet she’d clear out for twenty buck”(Steinbeck 16). This quote shows that Curley's wife is a “Tart” and before this quote Lennie said “She's purty," said Lennie defensively”(Steinbeck 16) which shows that Lennie likes her. Another quote is “She gonna make a mess. They’s gonna be a bad mass about her. She’s jail bait all set on the trigger”(Steinbeck 25). This quote said by george says that she going to cause trouble and the outcome will be …show more content…
bad. Lastly the reason why Lennie and George cannot achieve that american dream is because of Lennie. At the start of the novel Lennie is holding George back from the incident in weed. Lennie is dead weight for George throughout the whole novel and just keeps bringing him down. A quote that shows this is “When I think of the swell time i could have without you, I go nuts”(Steinbeck 6). Also George is throw into a guilt trip because he promised Lennie's aunt that he would take care of Lennie when she passed away. The theme of this novel is that the american dream is unachievable and George and Lennie show this theme because Lennie's disability, society, and Lennie holding George back.
Lennie's disability is a really big factor because he doesn't know what is right, and what is wrong and cant rember it. This also affects George because he is in a guilt trip with Lennie's aunt who promised he would take care of Lennie when she passed. Lastly Society plays a big role in this by different obstacles that you face and some of them might be hard to overcome. One big factor was Curley's wife who tried to hustle all of the guys at stable buck, but they knew she was trouble except Lennie. Her actions would cause what would led to her death and Lennie's
death.
She flirts with the other characters on the ranch but they pay her no attention either. This essay will go on to look at the character of Curley's wife and how characters perceive her. When first introduced to Curley's wife in the novel she comes into the bunkhouse, when both Lennie and George are in there. She is apparently looking for Curly but she already knows that new men have arrived.
In conclusion I believe that Curley’s Wife is a very significant character in the novella because she represents the stereotypical woman and they way she acted, and was treated leads me to feel great sympathy for her despite her flirtatious demeanour. Steinbeck is very successful in creating sympathy throughout her character change and he presents her in this way to prove that the majority of women went through similar situations. This leads us to sympathise with all people society deem to be ‘inferior’ and we can even apply this lesson to today’s society.
In John Steinbeck’s book Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck portrays Curley’s wife as a flirtatious, mischievous, and over all isolated woman. Steinbeck doesn’t give this character a name, yet she is one of the most important characters in the story. Curley’s wife first comes off as flirtatious to the main characters, George and Lenny, when they first hear about her from the character Candy . Candy is talking about how she gives men “the eye”. He also displays his feelings about her by saying, “Well, I think Curley’s married… a tart”(28). This is setting George and Lenny up to expect she is a flirt.. Steinbeck describes Curley’s wife in her first introduction as a scantily dressed woman.. Steinbeck writes, “Both men [George and Lenny] glanced up, for the rectangle of sunshine in the doorway was cut off. A girl was standing there looking in. She had full, roughed lips and wide-spaced eyes, heavily made up. Her fingernails were red. Her hair hung in little rolled cluster, like sausages. She wore a cotton house dress and red mules, on the insteps of which were little bouquets of red ostrich feathers”(31). The color red is sometimes considered for portraying a sign of danger or sex. This passage supports Curley’s wife as being flirtatious and also how she’s dangerous and can cause trouble displaying herself while she is married. Also, when George and Lenny are talking to Curley’s wife she tries to flirtatiously talk to them too. After their first conversation she re-adjusts herself. Steinbeck displays her with “She put her hands behind her back and leaned against the door frame so that her body was thrown forward”(31). Steinbeck is explaining to the reader in detail that Curley’s wife is trying to show herself to Lenny and George to get thei...
“Nobody’d listen to us” (81) exclaims Crooks when talking about being ignored. In Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck illustrates the characters Curley’s wife, Crooks, and Candy experiencing loneliness and isolation while living on the ranch. These characters attempt to socialize, succeeding and failing. Loneliness and isolation of the characters results in yelling, bullying, and even a broken neck.
The moment that Curley's wife was introduced, an ill feeling overcomes the atmosphere indicating that Lennie will be getting into a mess with her. George states in the very beginning that he is always getting into mishaps, "You do bad things and I got to get you out," (p.11). The situation in Weed involved a girl and Curley's wife just happened to be the only girl on the ranch. Connecting ends with ends, there is a sense of insecurity between these two people. Later on, there was an intimation that she was going to be killed by Lennie because he killed the mouse and the puppy, leading to bigger deaths such as Curley's wife.
Life is full of choices: where to go to school, where to live, who to marry, and what jobs to apply for, and most of the time each of us control what happens with these choices. What if those choices brought someone to the point of being trapped and feeling helpless? In the novella Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck the wife of Curley is in just that spot. She made the choice to marry a tyrant of a man and is now forced to live with the consequences of her decisions. Curley’s Wife is misunderstood due to the workers’ assumptions, Curley’s relationship with her, and her unclear background.
...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.
Curley’s wife shows her sympathetic side when she comforts Lennie after he kills the dog. She tells Lennie, “Don’t you worry none” (87). This quote demonstrates trying to connect with someone on the ranch; in this case it is Lennie. She tells him he is not a bad person and tries to keep his dream of tending the rabbits alive. She also says, “You can get another one easy” (87). This quote shows that she is a compassionate human being despite the constant judgment of her personality. Because Curley’s wife is comforting Lennie, he calms down and starts listening to her. Moreover, despite ...
...r say anything. So she is stuck at a ranch where all the members there avoid her because she is trouble and can’t even run away because of her being a female in the early 1900’s made it almost impossible to survive on her own. She dresses a certain way to live out the American Dream the only way she can. She doesn’t dress that way to show off her body, she wants to feel like she is living her dream. She realizes that she is good looking and she uses that to her advantage to talk to some of the people at the ranch like Lennie. The only way she got to talk to Lennie was by letting him touch her hair. Steinbeck let Curley’s Wife die in such a peaceful way; I didn’t even realize she was dead until I read over the section multiple times. He left her there in the barn describing her beauty, showing the reader through Curley’s Wife that even the worst of us have humanity.
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...
Curley's wife is seen as a cheap possession, a toy that belongs to Curley. A possession that he gets to control. His lack of love, respect and attention results to her death in the end. By all the men she’s seen as a tramp, they think that she’s out cause trouble. But the truth is she’s desperately lonely. She just wants someone to talk to. She’s missed out on a wonderful life that could have been hers, and that hurts her.
“In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage.” - John Steinbeck. Curley throughout the story, whenever he came in, there was always a negative vibe going on. Events he’s in, usually goes downhill for him or some other major character, he’s always bringing out bad events in the story, from when he wants to kill people, from when he wants to hurt people, Curley is someone who brings bad events to him, and the characters around him. Curley’s actions throughout the story has proved him to be a belligerent, unemotional, and cocky character.
(GS1) Lennie is a man that doesn’t mean to do half of the things he does, because of his ableism; only it doesn’t mean that it didn’t happen, like Lennie murdering Candy’s wife. (DS1a) Lennie says, “I like to pet things. Once at a fair I seen some of them long-hair rabbits. An’ they were nice you bet” (90). (DS1b) Lennie loved soft things, though he was always brutal with them; which is what happened with Candy’s wife, her hair was soft and Lennie accidentally got brutal and killed her.(GS2)Lennie was almost like a force of energy for George, Candy, and his dream; though when he died all the hope once built up for the dream was lost because of what George said. (DS2a)“ -I think I knowed from the very first. I think I knowed we’d never do her. He usta like to hear about it so much I got to thinking maybe we would” (94). (DS2b) Lennie was the centerpiece of the entire plan, he believed so much that he was able to convince George and Candy that it was actually possible for them to achieve.(GS3) George was Lennie’s best friend and he was the one who had to kill Lennie because he knew that all the others would have been cruel.(DS3a) Lennie and George talk for the last time, “‘No, Lennie. I ain’t mad. I never been mad, an’ I ain’t now. That’s the thing I want ya to know.’ The voices
Curley makes sure his wife doesn’t talk to anyone. She is a victim of herself because she married a man that she hardly even knew. She married him though, to have a companion. She killed herself and Lennie because of her need for companionship. She craves companionship because she is an attractive woman with a need for interaction.
“I never seen no piece of jail-bait worse than her” (George) what is the reader supposed to think about Curley’s wife?