Of Mice and Men

Curley’s wife is the only female on the ranch and is described in a very feminine and incongruous manner, “full, rouged lips and wide spaced eyes, heavily made-up. Her fingernails were red. Her hair hung in little rolled clusters, like sausages. She wore a cotton house dress and red mules, on the insteps of which were little bouquets of red ostrich feathers”. The bold, heavily made-up appearance matches her personality as she disguises her true feelings and emotions with lies like the colourful, interesting appearance disguises her lonely, isolated life.

As the only woman, she is segregated from the ranch society and Steinbeck makes her seem more isolated and friendless by never giving her a name but being identified as Curley’s possession. She is seen throughout the novella searching constantly for Curley yet this is just an excuse to talk to the other people, ““I’m looking for Curley,” she said, her voice had a nasal, brittle quality. ” She struggles to create friends or let alone have a civilised conversation with the men on the ranch.

She uses this feminine appearance and flirtatious, predatory behaviour in an attempt to communicate and attract attention to herself. However this backfires and leaves her in a no-win situation as her heavily sexualised manner is the key point of criticism amongst the men as they describe her as a “tart” and “a piece of jail bait” who, if approached, will only lead to trouble as she can ultimately cause the destruction of their own versions of the ‘American Dream’. Her isolation throughout the novella is caused by her gender, sexual appearance and predatory behaviour.

Racism was a strong form of prejudice in the 1930’s, and throughout the novel is violently used against the stable buck Crooks. From his first introduction in the book, he is constantly being described and treated like an animal. In the first description of Crooks’ room in chapter 4, it is referred to as ‘A little shed that leans off the wall of the barn’. This gives the impression that Crooks is not important enough to sleep with the other ranch hands, and must be isolated and separated from them: giving him no other choice but to sleep with the animals: creatures that are on the same level of the hierarchy as him.

Also, Crooks’ possessions reflect this image. His bed is described as ‘a long box of straw’ which implies that Crooks isn’t worth his own bed, and must settle for a horse’s trough: something that even a horse doesn’t sleep in, but eats out of. As well as this, most of his other possessions don’t even belong directly to him. For example, ‘a broken harness in process of being mended; strips of new leather’ and ’a range of medicine bottles, both for him and the horses.’

This shows that even his own room, isn’t fully his own room, and that he has to share it with the horses; suggesting that even the horses are more important than Crooks as even they have the power to invade crooks’ space. It could also mean that all of crooks’ possessions are considered just as worthless as a horses ‘broken harness’. This shows the reader that crooks means no more to the ranch hands than one of the other horses.

Slim, on his first appearance, is described as moving with a “majesty only achieved by royalty or master craftsmen”. With this descriptive phrase, Steinbeck immediately establishes Slim as someone who is confident in himself that is admired by others. To move like majesty, it requires one to move with graceful fluency without seeming effort. This is a man who is comfortable in his own persona. Continuing with the comparison to royalty, Steinbeck describes Slim as “the prince of the ranch”. Slim has such an authority on the ranch that his word was golden.

If Slim said that something was to be done, everyone on the ranch went along with it and no one rebelled against it. This is not because the other characters on the ranch are scared of him by rather the fact that he is portrayed to the Readers as the being very respected. Slim is the voice for justice within the novel. This shows that he is wise and all the other ranch workers looked up to him as a role model since he is like a father figure to all the ranch men with his words of wisdom being the words they live by.

Steinbeck describes his manner as having “gravity” and “a quiet so profound that his word was taken on any subject. ” Slim was not someone who had to raise his voice to be authoritative. His presence spoke for itself. Slim serves as an annoyance to the character of Curley, since he really should be the “prince of the ranch” as the boss’s son. The use of this metaphor implies that Slim has a higher social status than the other ranch workers. Additionally it is important to understand that he has t assigned himself with the label as curly no doubt would

He is described as having a “hatchet face” which goes along with the name of Slim. Together the name and the description of his face give the reader the sense of someone who is very lean. Along with this, he is described as being actually being between the ages of 35-50 but suggested as an ageless character. Also when talking about his appearance he is described with “His hands, large and lean, were as delicate in their action as those of a temple dancer. ” In this simile the word ‘large’ suggest that they are masculine and strong but the phrase ‘temple dancers’ implies they are skilful and tender.

Similarly at the beginning of the extract his strength is mentioned – saying he is ‘capable of driving ten, sixteen and even twenty mules’, which also expresses his strength and importance on the ranch as he is able to carry out jobs, which was of great value during the Great Depression. Another key descriptive phrase for Slim is that “His ear heard more than was said to him, and his slow speech had overtones not of thought, but of understanding beyond thought. ”. With this descriptive phrase Steinbeck artfully portrays that Slim is able to read into people and what they say.

He is not someone who takes things people say at face value. He also understands that there is often more to the story. The word ‘beyond’ suggests that he is omniscient which again depicts the connotations of Slim being like God and king of the ranch. This also is what leads to Slim’s word being gospel on the ranch. Everyone knows that he gives everything a fair hearing. Slim renders a decision much like a judge would do. This links to Slim natures as Judges are well-respected ad distinguished as is he.

Right away when Slim began to talk to George about working on the ranch, he used a tone which was friendly, encouraged confidence without demanding. It is this friendly tone that allows George to develop a similar friendship with Slim and allows him later to confide in Slim about Lennie. Steinbeck portrays that despite being thought higher by everyone he doesn’t let this get to his head since he has a lot of general decency. While Slim is certainly modelled as a friend and upstanding character, as one can see from this extract he is one of the characters who plays a pivotal role in the plot in Of Mice and Men.

In the book, Of Mice and Men, Curley is the antagonist who creates problems for George and Lennie. He is a pugnacious man who is small in stature. Curley has a Napoleonic complex and tries to compensate for his small size by fighting with people who are larger than him. This makes him feel bigger. The reason he is able to intimidate everyone by fighting, is that he has power over everyone. Being the boss’ son he has no fear of punishment and is able to do anything with impunity.

He uses his freedom as an advantage, while he can fight someone and not get into any trouble the other person will and will not fight back. Lastly, he has an excuse to fight; Curley is small and if he thinks someone bigger than him is intimidating he can fight them. The main reason Curley is able to intimidate everyone is because he can do anything without the fear of punishment. Curley is the boss’ son and has a high power over the other workers. He is able to pick a fight without the punishment of losing a job.

Curley’s freedom is intimating to other people, they know that Curley is able to do anything to them, and with his aggressive personality they are afraid that he could do something very severe. Most people like Curley will bluff and say they would fight, but with Curley the other people know he will do it. This lack of restrictions is a reason to fight more; since there is no punishment he does it more. Curley, with his ability to do anything with impunity will cause great hardship for both Lennie and George.

Curley is very intimidating to everyone because he has the advantage of freedom. Not only that he can do anything he wants without a consequence, but the other person cannot do anything back to him. The other people know that even if Curley fights them they cannot fight back in fear of trouble. He can threaten other people by trying to get them fired. For example, George is afraid that Curley will pick a fight on Lennie and when Lennie fights back they will lose their job. Not only are people afraid of losing their jobs, but they are afraid because there are many people on Curley’s side.

In the book, Candy says “S’pose Curley jumps a big guy an’ licks him. Ever’body says what a game guy Curley is. And s’pose he does the same thing and gets licked. Then ever’body says the big guy oughtta pick somebody his own size, and maybe they gang up on the big guy. ” This gives him a sense of power, he feels bigger because people are afraid to even throw a punch at him. With Curley around the ranch it will be very hard for George and Lennie to keep their jobs. Curley is intimidating to both George and Lennie, mainly because he finds any excuse to fight with them.

Curley always got “a chip on his shoulder,” he is looking for any excuse to engage in a conflict. For example, when he sees Lennie, he gets mad at wants to fight. He uses Lennie’s large build as a reason to “scrap”. Even George wonders, “What the hell’s he got on his shoulder? Lennie didn’t do nothing to him.” It turns out Curley just thinks Lennie is intimidating. George is also afraid that Curley’s wife will create problems. George has to guard Lennie from her or Curley could use her as an excuse to fight with him, even though Curley’s wife is a flirtatious woman.

Curley can create many excuses and all of them are valid because of his high power. All the reasons that Curley is able to intimidate people with, are tied in with power. With power comes impunity, and being the boss’ son gives him the freedom to do anything without consequence. Since people are afraid to start a conflict with him, because of fear of punishment, Curley feels a sense of power over other people. Lastly all the excuses Curly makes are valid because of his power. Curley uses his authority in a way that intimidates everyone.

They both have similar qualities that relate in each story. In Steinbeck’s novel, Of Mice and Men, the time period is set in the 1930s. In the movie Whats Eating Gilbert Grape, it is set more in the modern times. The characters act and are similar in a lot of ways. Gilbert is a teenager that is struggling to support his family after his father killed himself. Gilbert relates to George because they are both constantly having to take care of someone else.

George is always having to take care of Lennie. Lennie is also a mentally handicapped man who is the reason why they are in trouble most of the time. Lennie and Arnie are exactly the same.They both have a “fatherly” figure that is always there to take care of them and they both are diagnosed with mentally retardation. Although the time period is different, both stories follow along with the same story line. They both are struggling with living in a depressing world and always looking for opportunities for work. Betty Carver is a married mother of two children who is lonely.

Her husband is a sales man and is considered mean. They relate to Curley and his wife. Curley is a land owner and is the boss of the workers. Curley’s wife is always looking for attention but is not someone you want to mess around with.They both are seducing younger men which in the end turns out to be trouble. Bonnie, the mother of the grape family, is struggling with being morbidly obese and widowed. She is laughed at and made fun of when seen.

She reminds me of Crook. Crook is a black man who is put down because of his color. He doesn’t like to be  around anyone he doesn’t know. In the end, both George and Gilbert have to make a big decision. George has to either killer Lennie or run away again and Gilbert has to either let his mother be humiliated by being lifted out by a crane or burn the house down with her inside of it.

In the Novels, “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck and “Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes, a mentally handicapped person faces some kind of trouble in their day-to-day life. Lennie, from “Of Mice and Men,” can’t remember extremely well, but understands how to take directions.

He also has a superhuman amount of strength, which makes him seem like a great threat to society. In the Novel, “Flowers for Algernon,” Charlie Gordon has a passion for learning, but is incapable of doing so. To help him, he has a surgery that turns him into a super genius. Conclusively, these two characters have some similarities, but there are also some vast differences between them.

Lennie’s seen as a remarkably likeable, innocent, slow man. If only he knew how to control his own strength. He often dreamt about living on a ranch with George, where his only responsibility is to tend to the rabbits. He obsessively enjoys petting animals, those with soft fur in particular (mice, rabbits, etc.). Lennie seems to be unaware of how aggressively he pets the animal, so he ended up killing a few of them. When presented the opportunity to touch the hair of Curley’s beautiful wife, he couldn’t help but to hold on.

Consequently, he snapped the woman’s neck, accidentally murdering her. George had no other options than to put his best friend away; the reason being that he didn’t know how to control himself, nor did he realize that there were consequences for his mistakes. Lennie passed away still believing that his dream of tending to the rabbits would come true.

In comparison, Charlie is a likeable guy who makes innocent mistakes constantly. “You really pulled a Charlie Gordon this time.’ He enjoys his job at Mr. Donner’s bakery, along with going to Ms. Kennian’s school for retarded adults. His only wish is to be smart like all of his friends. He accepts an offer to have an operation that will, theoretically, raise his IQ. He is set to be the first human to have this operation performed.

After the operation, he begins to become more paranoid, more depressed, and more aware of his surroundings as he grew smarter. When he reached a certain level of intelligence, he begins to lose all of his friends. He also starts getting smarter than everyone around him. “I’m just as far away from you with an IQ of 175 as I was with one of 70.” (page number).

Amazingly enough, Charlie’s wish comes true, but it costs him his friends and his sanity. Tragically, his intelligence starts declining, until he becomes just as simple as he was before. After trying to fight the regression, he ultimately has no choice but to leave town, in the direction of the Warren State Home, due to the fact that he was no longer capable of taking care of himself.

Both of the characters from the novels were lacking in knowledge or oblivious of the world around them. They also had a dream of living a better life with their friends. Charlie, somewhat reached his goal. He became much smarter than he once was, and became smarter than everyone around him. Lennie never actually reached his goal, but found peace and happiness when imagining it before his death. Both of the characters also faced an upsetting end. Lennie’s ends up being death, while Charlie’s turns into a total downhill spiral that left him worse off than he was originally.

These characters are undeniably similar, but they also have some strong differences. They both have different strengths and different weaknesses. They also went about reaching their goals different ways. They both had different endings.George, Lennies best friend and heavily trusted ally, shoots Lennie in the head, while, in ‘Flowers for Algernon,’ Charlie became so ashamed, so upset, about how he lost his ability to learn that he left to the Warren State Home.

One of Charlie’s strengths before the operation was his eagerness to learn. There was no way of knowing why he wanted to learn so badly. Perhaps it was to impress his friends, or so people would like him more. Charlie’s biggest strength after the operation is his new ability to soak up information.

Before, he could only dream of being that smart, but then, when he became that smart, he used is intelligence to help science, psychology, and people like him. Lennie’s biggest strength was his strength. He could probably do the work of 5 men with how strong he was, which is why he did such great work in the fields. All he needed to do was listen to whatever George told him to do, so he would be just fine.

Charlie’s biggest weakness before surgery was his inability to tell the difference between people laughing at him and laughing with him. It’s questionable if this counts as a weakness or not, seeing that he was much happier when he couldn’t tell the difference. Some may consider it a weakness, on the grounds that large numbers of people don’t like being laughed at, so at least if you’re aware that you’re being laughed at, you can do something about it.

After the surgery, Charlie’s biggest weakness would be the way he interacted with other people. Connecting and understanding how people’s feelings as well as emotions worked seemed impossible to Charlie, now that he was on such a higher level of intellect. (INSERT QUOTE) Lennie, somehow, could tell when the laughing and the mockery was aimed at him, but his biggest strength was also his biggest weakness. Lennie, didn’t exactly know how to control his strength, so when facing a problem, he didn’t know when to let things go. “‘Lennie let go before you rip his arm off,’ said George.” (page number).

There’s a difference between how the two went about trying to reach their goals. Lennie largely depended on George to take him to his goal. Lennie appears to be like a super powerful machine that only listened to George, so George was the brains of the duo. The operation in ‘Flowers for Algernon,’ was a large factor in Charlie’s mental development, though he largely relied on himself to read while trying to do productive things. Charlie received a great deal of help from Professor Nemur and Dr. Strauss, but they don’t deserve all of the glory.

At the end of, ‘Of Mice and Men,’ Lennie accidentally snaps the neck of co-worker’s wife. After escaping to where George told him to hide, Lennie waits for George there. George approaches him, talks to him, and fills his head with fantasies of tending rabbits on a farm. Right when Lennie feels at his happiest, George shoots him in the head, killing him.

The end of ‘Flowers for Algernon,’ is just as heartbreaking. After realizing that Algernon, the lab rat that underwent the same surgery as Charlie, starts regressing mentally, Charlie has to accept that he will soon suffer the same fate. He tried his absolute best to remember everything that he had learned, but it’s hopeless. Charlie ends up dumber than he was before the operation, forcing hom to move to a state home.

Charlie and Lennie have numerous similarities. They also have multiple differences. Characteristics that appear in both characters are their lack of intelligence along with how they didn’t fully understand the world around them. They both had large dreams and goals, but they both met emotionally devastating ends. Some of their differences are their strengths, weaknesses, strategies to achieve their goals, and how their tragic ends occurred. The ending to both of these novels is heartbreaking, which makes you think. Would you prefer to live in the dark, unaware of all the wickedness of the world, or live in the sun and be forced to accept the positives and the negatives of the word?

of Mice and Men’ and Sean Peen’s ‘Into the Wild’ explore the fundamental themes of freedom, companionship and following your ambitions. (QUESTION). ‘Of Mice and Men’ is set during the Great Depression in which George and Leonie explore the realism of freedom and hardships by hoping to one day have their own farm. In contrast, Chris from ‘Into the Wild’ achieves ultimate freedom by choosing to run away and live In the wild. Both texts explore different perceptions of freedom. Steinbeck novel demonstrates how everyone’s perception of freedom is suppressed.

George and Lien’s idea of freedom is to have their own land and yield themselves from the peril of the world. However, they are denied this freedom because of their lack of money. The technique of multiple perceptions Is adopted by the omniscient narrator to access various view points of the characters that represent different types of freedom suppression. This is depicted in the sentimental quotes by Curlers wife who says “l tell yea I could of went with shows’. ћ She was breathless with indignation” or Crooks who states “Cause I’m black. They play cards In there, but I can’t play because I’m Black. Similar to George and Leonie, Chris desires freedom however, he does this by moving away from a lavish lifestyle to one of struggle which he calls “ultimate freedom”. This change is contrary to that of George and Leonie who are looking to free themselves from the chains of poverty. Through the poetic phrase “The freedom and simple beauty Is too good to pass up” Chris expresses his new found freedom in the laws of nature. Therefore both texts explore a heightened sense of suppression for the protagonists when it comes to the idea of freedom.

The necessity of companionship is integral in both texts. Companionship can have both positive and negative ramifications. In Steinbeck novel Leonie Is shown to exhibit child-like behavior which makes him completely dependent on George. As a result of his disability, Leonie spends all of his time with George and the pair often find themselves running from authority. Despite the difficult situations that Leonie Imposes on George, George describes his gratitude towards Lien’s companionship through a sentimental tone when he states “… With us it anti like that…

We got somebody to talk to… ” This highlights that through a time of great difficulty where people avoided each other as expressed through the quote, Maybe everybody in the whole damn world is scared of each other” George values Lien’s companionship. In contrast. Peen’s film explores Chris’ distaste for human companionship in order to achieve his ultimate freedom. He expresses this through his aversive tone, “You don’t need human relationships to be happy… ” Chris demonstrates that companionship isn’t necessary to have happiness and that it can be found In nature.

HIS viewpoint of companionship Is a result of his parent’s physical disputes. However he later realizes that he was happiest when in the company of other travelers. He expresses this through the technique of regretful tone as he says “Happiness only real when shared”. Therefore both texts signify the Importance of companionship. Both texts promote the Idea of following your ambitions to ultimately lead you to happiness. George and Leonie strive to have their own farm but their dreams remain unfulfilled.

In the end George has to kill Leonie 1 OFF Burns’, “To a Mouse”, which contains the couplet, “The best laid plans of mice and men / Often go awry’. Hence, it is a novel that Juxtaposes the nature “of mice” – and the social world – “men” and provides an insight into the fading nature of ambitions. The manifestation of handicapped characters such as Crooks having a crooked spine, or Leonie being mentally slow, metaphorically schemes the theme of men going ‘awry by trying to achieve a disillusioned dream.

Peen’s film contradicts Steinbeck novel and shows that Chris indeed found happiness by following his ambitions. His ambitions involved trying to understand the human condition which can be seen through his zealous poetry when Chris states ” Two years he walks the earth… The climactic battle to kill the false being within… No longer to be poisoned by civilization…. Chris wanted to understand the raw power of human experiences which he says is “… The core of man’s spirit… And his dedication to fulfill this ambition led him to find what he was looking for and ultimately find happiness. Therefore in conclusion, the protagonists in “Of Mice and Men” and “Into the Wild” uniquely express the fundamental ideas of freedom, companionship and following your ambitions. Their desire for freedom is shared but their perception of obtaining it is different. Steinbeck shows that the ambitions of men will remain unfulfilled while Peen’s film depicts that the ultimate freedom is to share happiness. (Question)