Of Mice and Men Literary Analysis
The world is plagued by inequality, whether social or economical, but still, Americans live in one of the most equal and forgiving times in our human history. Compared to our past, never before have races, genders, and people with disabilities been so caring to one another. When John Steinbeck originally published his novella Of Mice and Men however, it was the late 1930’s. America was stuck in the great depression, and people still judged each other by the differences in the color of our skin, gender, and our ability to think. Through John Steinbeck’s writing in this novella, he suggests that humans should not be confined by other people’s perceptions of them. This theme is shown through his characters of
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In the opening chapters of this novella, the reader finds out that Lennie and his traveling partner George had just left a town called Weed due to Lennie wanting to feel a woman’s red, silk dress. The woman claimed that Lennie had attempted to rape her and the authorities started to chase both of the men. Although George later states that Lennie is in no way mean and never intended to hurt the woman, you can tell that this constant misunderstanding and judging of Lennie due to his size and strength has happened before and is the main cause in why they can not hold a consistent job: “’Course he ain’t mean. But he gets in trouble alla time because he’s so god damn dumb. Like what happened in Weed-”(41 Steinbeck). When Lennie broke Curley’s hand he was very upset. He never wanted to hurt anyone or cause any trouble, but he was scared when Curley was beating him up and turned to George for instruction, as he always does. When George told him to fight …show more content…
All the men at the ranch think Curley’s wife is flirting with everyone because she is a tease and is trying to get Curley mad at them so that they get fired, but really, she is just lonely: “Well, I aint’ no trouble. Think I don’t like to talk to somebody ever’ once in a while?”(77). Also, many of the men think that she is just another woman who married a rich man solely for his money, but in reality, Curley was just her second option: “I tell you I ain’t used to livin’ like this. I coulda made somethin’ of myself.” (88). Curley’s wife thought that she had an opportunity to go to Hollywood and become a big movie star, but she never received the invitation to come that the other actor had promised, so she had to settle with marrying Curley so that she had food on the table. Finally, when Curley’s wife dies, Steinbeck writes that her meanness, discontent, ache for attention and all of her other negative qualities seem to leave her face (92). This seems to imply that there was much more to her than what was on the surface or what others perceived her as being. Due to the men’s assumptions about Curley’s wife, we never get to fully understand who she is or why she decided to do the things that she did. We only partially get to see her true feelings and personality, a lonely girl whose dreams were taken away from her and was forced to settle for second
As we journey through life, we must make difficult decisions, even when few options exist and the situation is grim. In John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, the decision George faces after Lennie accidentally kills Curley’s wife is complicated, as none of his choices are good. The importance of his relationship with Lennie forces George to look at the big picture and act in Lennie’s best interests, even though the action he must finally take will result in a weight that he will carry forever.
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.
John Steinbeck’s creative and carefully planned writing expressed the difficulties of oppression in this Era. Of Mice and Men explored the effects of systemic oppression on women,
When Curley approaches Lennie for laughing, Lennie attacks Curley in defense. “Curley’s fist was swinging when Lennie reached for it. The next minute Curley was flopping like a fish on a line, and his closed fist was lost in Lennie’s big hand. George ran down the room. “Leggo of him, Lennie. Let go” (62). In this quote, Lennie’s ridiculous power proves to be harmful as he ends up crushing Curley’s hand in fear. Lennie is typically a very peaceful person, but when he feels threatened, the resulting damage can be overwhelming because of the lack of sense needed to control his strength. When Curley’s wife screams for Lennie to let go of her hair, Lennie panics and ends up breaking her neck. “He shook her then, and he was angry with her. ‘Don’t you go yellin’,’ he said, and he shook her; and her body flopped like a fish. And then she was still, for Lennie had broken her neck” (91). In these lines, it is revealed that in his desperation to not get in trouble, Lennie ended up breaking the neck of Curley’s wife, which is another indicator of his lack of sense and his physical prowess. His child-like desire to “tend the rabbits” made him realize that he should not get in trouble, and when he found himself in that situation, he became angry and accidentally killed her. This shows how Lennie’s immaturity and great power makes him
John Steinbeck explores human experience in the novella ‘Of Mice and Men’ in friendship, loneliness and marginalisation. He does this through the characters as explained thought the paragraphs below.
We can see how Curley’s wife feels about Curley on page 78 of Of Mice and Men, where John Steinbeck writes, “ “Sure I gotta husband’. You all see him. Swell guy, ain’t he? Spends all his time sayin’ what he’s gonna do to the guys he doesn’t like, and he doesn’t like anybody.
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
When asked about John Steinbeck’s career, people often refer to Steinbeck as a playwright, journalist, and a well-known novelist. The book Of Mice and Men is a popular novel by John Steinbeck and a required read for most high school students. Most of Steinbeck 's novels have a central theme focusing on the relationship between man and his environment. The American dream for George and Lennie, two of the main characters in Of Mice and Men, is to have a place of their own, to be respected, and to work hard for everything they earn and deserve. In Steinbeck’s novel Of Mice and Men, the land and a hope of a better life becomes the talisman of an American dream for Lennie and George that is left unfulfilled.
Steinbeck also presents another view of Curley’s wife. In his omniscient description [form: overall writing technique] of her, he writes that she ‘bridles a little’ at Lennie’s attention; she is metaphorically shying away from the fixated attention. Steinbeck also unobtrusively mentions that she is a ‘girl’; both these observations suggest her innocence and vulnerability.
Curley’s wife’s femininity may be seen as her greatest weakness or flaw to most, but she rapidly discovers that it is also her only weapon on the ranch and learns to use it to her advantage. Therefore, she puts up an alluring and sultry front in an attempt to receive attention, because she is aware that none of the men on the farm respect her because of her position as a woman. The men's blatant lack of respect for her belittles the miniscule amount of power she has acquired
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.
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.
Written in 1937, Of Mice and Men, by John Adolf Steinbeck Jr., American author and Pulitzer Prize winner, follows the lives of downtrodden farmhands, George and Lennie. As with many of Steinbeck's books, the themes in Of Mice and Men include his favored themes of class warfare and oppression of the working class. Steinbeck also focuses his literature on the power of friendship and the corrupt nature of mankind. In 1993, Professor Thomas Scarseth wrote a critical analysis of the novella analyzing many aspects of Steinbeck’s work including the presentation, themes, and writing style. In his essay, Scarseth explains the key themes of the Novella. He noted that the corrupted nature of man, the injustice of life, and the power of friendship were three important themes of the book. Much of Scarseth’s analysis contained numerous thoughtful insights. Were his insights and opinions valid, or were his, and Steinbeck’s, perspectives on these issues flawed?
All throughout Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck explores how isolation through sexism and racism can cause a person to crave attention. He helps the reader to understand this by depicting both Curley’s Wife and Crooks, who were minorities on the farm, as extremely needy for attention
In the book Of Mice and Men John Steinbeck uses characters and setting to convey that sometimes first impressions are wrong. These literary elements convey my theme, because characters in this book show their actions towards curley's wife in a negative passion even