Power In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

Throughout the book we are introduced to many characters with traits and qualities that make them each memorable and unique. These characters have interactions among each other that shows the way that power affects them. While there are a few characters that do not abuse their power, most of the characters respond to power or a lack of power with acts to make themselves make themselves feel more powerful. In Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck uses the strengths and weaknesses of various characters to show how characters can prey on weaker characters in order to make themselves seem superior.
Curley’s wife exposes her dissatisfaction with her current life, but then hastily disparages all of those who have learned of her powerlessness. All the men except

Candy, Crooks, and Lennie have gone into town. When Curley’s wife comes into Crooks’ room looking for her husband, Crooks and Candy regard her coldly, and tell her to go home because she shouldn’t be speaking with other men when she has a husband.

She flares up once Curley is brought up and says “Think I’m gonna stay in that two-by-four house and listen how Curley's gonna lead with his left twict, and then bring in the ol’ cross?” (78) In this moment of uncontrolled and bottled up anger, she reveals that her marriage to Curley is an unhappy one. When she complains about Curley, it shows how tired she is of his constant violent threats upon other people. She makes it apparent that she doesn’t like Curley’s personality. She also expresses her unhappiness of being stuck in the house, which may explain why she is often found around the farm supposedly looking for Curley and trying to start up conversations with the men. A few moments later, she begins talking about her aspirations. She says, “I tell ya I could of went with shows. Not jus’ one, neither. An’ a guy tol’ me he could put me in pitchers” (78) As speaks about her dreams it becomes apparent that she has pent up emotions concerning this topic. Her passion and longing for an entirely different life makes it apparent that she is extremely dissatisfied with her current situation. Once she finishes talking about her problems, she

turns her attention onto Candy, Crooks, and Lennie who she has exposed her problems to. She insults them by calling them “a bunch of bindle stiffs- a n an’ a dum-dum and a lousy ol’ sheep” (78) By saying this she points out the obvious weaknesses and flaws of those around her. She chooses to do this right after showing her own weaknesses and flaws so that she does not seem as vulnerable. Later in the scene Crooks tries to help Candy, who is trying to defend Lennie, by telling her to leave his room. In this scene she is alone against Crooks, Candy, and Lennie, who all want her to leave. Feeling powerless, she picks on one of Crooks’ obvious weaknesses, which is his race. After he threatens to tell the boss to ban her from the barn, she immediately starts defending herself and attacking Crooks by saying to him, “Well, you keep your place then, n . I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain’t even funny.” (81) By saying this, she puts herself in a position of power that is much above Crooks. She uses her race and her power as the wife of the boss’ son to put herself higher than Crooks. But this also serves as a reminder to Candy and even Lennie that she is much more powerful than they are. Her response to being cornered and outnumbered by Candy and Crooks is to lash out and threaten to have Crooks killed. She may have attacked Crook because she perceived him the weakest and the easiest to attack. Lennie has physical strength and she knows that he attacked Curley, while Candy does not seem to be affected by her attacks and either retaliates or ignores her altogether. Overall, Curley’s wife seems to let down her walls, but once she realizes that she has done this, she immediately builds them back up by exposing the weaknesses of others; she also attacks who she feels to be the weakest after she is attacked.

Crooks feels vulnerable after revealing his loneliness and lack of company, so he targets Lennie’s insecurities in order to make himself feel more empowered. When Lennie comes into Crooks’ room in the barn, Crooks, although at first hesitant, allows him into his room and begins talking about his childhood and current life as a African American man. He reveals his insecurities about being alone compared to the other men, as well as his insecurities of being an African American man. He tells Lennie, “This is just a n talkin’, an’ a busted-back n . So it doesn’t mean nothing, see?” (71) Although he knows that Lennie doesn't understand anything that he is saying, and nor will he go tell anyone, saying these things makes Crooks feel weak. In the span of a couple minutes, he has revealed many of his insecurities. This is because his lack of companionship makes him desperately grasp onto many companionship that may come his way. After he reveals his insecurities he feels weak, and so in order to make himself feel better, he makes lennie feel scared. It is apparent that he is enjoying this because “Crooks’ face lighted with pleasure in his torture.” (71) Crooks seems to enjoy making Lennie feel weak. Crooks know that Lennie relies heavily on George for support, so he deliberately targets George when trying to attack Lennie. He knows that george is lennie’s weak spot. He also knows that Lennie is extremely gullible and will believe almost anything that he told with only a small amount of persuasion and convincing. He uses this to his advantage when raising lennie’s doubts about george. Crooks does not get very many opportunities to have power in social situations. Although his job is valuable, his race makes him distinctly less powerful than the other men when they are not working. This may explain why Crooks is so pleased when he gets the opportunity to have power, even if it is at the expense of another’s suffering. Overall, Crooks savors power so that he can feel stronger despite his race and he does this by making Lennie, who is intellectually weaker than him, feel inferior and exposed by attacking an obvious weak point.

The strengths and weaknesses of various characters to show how characters can prey on weaker characters in order to make themselves seem superior.