“A writer who does not passionately believe in the perfectibility of man has no dedication nor any membership in literature” is a quote from John Steinbeck himself explaining that if a writer doesn’t think that man is or can be perfect therefore,he has no dedication,no commitment. In the novel “Of Mice and Men”, John Steinbeck writes a nonfiction novel about conflicts within the characters of George and Lennie and their experiences as laborers.Steinbeck’s book “Of Mice and Men”conveys his belief that he pointed out when he received the Nobel Award. Steinbeck conveys this belief within 3 characters that are George, Curley, and Candy. Steinbeck shows this in the character of George. George says,”No-look! I was jus’ foolin Lennie.’Because I want you …show more content…
“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
Lennie is day dreaming/laughing about the dream farm, but Curley gets the wrong idea from Lennie laughing. He thought that Lennie was laughing at him. The scene of everyone laughing at Curley made him furious and he went for the easiest target to take his anger out on. Lennie. We already know that Curley hates big guys and that he doesn’t joke around when he fights. As shown in the second part of the quote, Lennie “helplessly looked at George, and then he got up and tried to retreat” meaning that Lennie was confused and forlorn. Steinbeck uses “helplessly” to show how Lennie feels about Curley approaching to him and that he doesn’t know what to do thus looking at George. In other words, because of his size and his dream not being a reality, Curley can’t stand people that are bigger than him. Towards the end of the story, Curley’s wife comes inside the barn where Lennie was and tells him what her life was before she married Curley. “Well, a show come through, an’ I met one of the actors. He says I could go with that show. But my ol’ lady wouldn’ let me. She says
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.
John Steinbeck, an American novelist, is well-known for his familiar themes of depression and loneliness. He uses these themes throughout a majority of his novels. These themes come from his childhood and growing up during the stock market crash. A reader can see his depiction of his childhood era. In Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck shows the prominent themes of loneliness, the need for relationships, and the loss of dreams in the 1930s through the novels’ character.
One week after Lennie's death, George sits in the dark corner of a bar. The room is all but empty and dead silent. All the windows are shut, through the small openings come beams of dull light that barely illuminate the room. George stares at his glass with an expressionless face, but a heavy sadness in his eyes. The bartender comes towards him and asks if he would like something else to drink.
Lennie is not so much stereotyped, but rather trapped because of his size. Because Lennie is so big, Curley thinks he has to prove something by beating up Lennie. Lennie gets on Curley’s bad side when he didn’t do anything wrong. Lennie is then forced to fight. " ‘I don’t want no trouble,’ he said plaintively.
Curley’s belligerence is a character trait that is the reason he does many of the things he does throughout the book. He picked a fight with someone he knows is weak.
First, Curley is an antagonist that complicates George and Lennie’s dream. Curley is the boss’s son, a skillful boxer who hates big guys. That is the reason why he wants to fight with Lennie. Because of the hostility Curley takes out on Lennie, it
...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.
Even from the very start of John Steinbeck’s novel, Of Mice and Men, the uniqueness of George, as a character, is already noticeable. He is described as “small and quick, dark of face, with restless eyes and sharp strong features” and has an obvious dominance over the relationship between Lennie and himself. This lets the reader know from a very early stage in the book that George is different, and probably the essential character. George’s character seems to be used by Steinbeck to reflect the major themes of the novel: loneliness, prejudice, the importance of companionship, the danger of devoted companionships, and the harshness of Californian ranch life.
“Of Mice and Men” is a 1930’s novella written by the American, John Steinbeck. It is a tale not only of isolation and loneliness, violence, dreams, and the competitive urge to dominate others, but also a tale of the journey of true companionship. True companionship is emphasized by indescribable loyalty and extreme devotion between two men, George and Lennie, during the hardships of the Great Depression. The story takes place south of Soledad, California during the 1930s and is told from the perspective of a third-person omniscient narrator. The story’s genre is fiction and tragedy; a tragedy so well crafted by John Steinbeck, that the conclusion leaves the reader questioning the inherent contradictions in both loyalty and devotion. George shows extreme devotion and loyalty to Lennie, serving as Lennie’s “guardian angel” – sticking up for him and staying with him in difficult situations, which eventually leads to heartbreaking sacrifices.
John Steinbeck was inspired by the line "The best schemes o' mice an' men [often go awry]" by Robert Burns in one of his poems. This line refers to ambitions that went off track during the process. There are multiple examples in the novel that refers to the line in the poem, that inspired John Steinbeck. Those examples are Curley's boxing career coming to an end, Curley's wife not becoming a actress, and Lennie's plans of tending the rabbits, but messed everything up.
George’s struggles with himself become apparent at the beginning of the novel. Steinbeck clearly lets the reader know that George has conflicting feelings about Lennie. He believed, “ ...if he was alone he could live so easy. He could go get a job an ' work, an ' no trouble” (11). George is basically telling Lennie that sometimes, he wishes he could live
It first started with a feud between Curley and Lennie which didn’t really make any sense but Curley felt some kind of intimidation from Lennie size. So he got in his face to show that he was the bigger man. But most knew, he wasn't. Another situation where Lennie and Curley had a feud was when Curley did something dumb which made Lennie laugh. Curley wasn’t going to take that from him so he viciously assaulted him. After Curley was a few punches in Lennie finally decided to fight back and break the hand of Curley. This got Curley even more angry and upset with Lennie. What didn’t help it was another situation with Curley's wife. Lennie was minding his own business when Curley's wife walked in. Long story short Lennie ended up killing Curley's wife. He was stroking her hair too hard and when Curley's wife was begging him to stop he wasn't sure what to do. So he just held on. While Lennie was begging her to stop he was also shaking her head back and forth to the point where it broke her neck. Things like this happening just didn't make it safe for Lennie to be around anymore. At the end of the story, Curley wanted to make him suffer a painful death. George did a good thing by shooting him in the head he didn't feel a thing and it ended all the trouble he was
The evening sun was disappearing from the valley. A cool breeze rushed through the leaves of the trees as birds danced to the sound of silence. The calm, bright blue Salinas River swayed back and forth, bumping into the grayish rocks. Grass sprouted as they were being fed. The barn was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. No more yelling, no more galloping horses, just the sound of lungs inhaling and exhaling.
Steinbeck proves that even through hard work to obtain the American Dream, many people have yet to achieve and succeed in what they want to do. Nowadays, high school students work restlessly to get good grades, ace tests or exams, and eventually get into college. Yes, some students don’t try, but many do and don’t end up where they want. This relates to the novella Of Mice and Men because Curley’s wife, Crooks, and George and Lennie try their bests to reach their goals, but never do. These four characters and present day high school students have one thing in common; they work hard and try to achieve, but many don’t obtain their goals or achieve what they had planned. Overall, the novella Of Mice and Men prove that the reality of American Dream just doesn’t happen that often anymore.