Comparing Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

How does Steinbeck present the characters of Crooks and Curley 's wife ? In what way are these minor characters shown to be significant throughout the novel ?

Steinbeck uses Crooks character to show how weak people take advantage of other weak people. Curley’s Wife threatens him by calling him everything except his name and saying that she can get him hung. ¨Well, you keep your place then nigger, I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain’t even funny¨ Curleyś Wife says (80-81). The Boss allows the migrants to fight him because just for a laugh

Curley’s wife acts very provocative, playful, childish and flirtatious, this is because she is very lonely and has no power at all. Nobody knows the real person she is because no one ever dares to get in trouble with her. Curley’s wife is often presented negatively by Steinbeck such as when she is cruel to crooks after his hopes have been raised by the dream. This is easily shown when Curley’s wife snaps at Crooks. “keep your place then, Nigger.

Curley’s Wife was a woman during The Great Depression and couldn’t speak to other men just because she was married to the son of the boss. Lennie was a man who was often yelled at by George because of his mental capabilities and not knowing how to use his immense strength in certain situations. His lack of knowledge and discrimination from the others eventually got him killed as well. Crooks was an African American during a time where he had no rights and was not treated with respect. He was separated from everyone else on the ranch and spent his days alone, too. All these factor into the evidence shown throughout at the novel that living in The Great Depression was full of discrimination and unequal

While Crooks, a victim of racial prejudice, expresses his isolation openly, he also socializes with the other workers on the job and while playing horseshoes with them. Curley’s wife, on the other hand, cannot talk to anyone without suffering the consequences of a jealous husband: “I get lonely,’ she said. “You can talk to people, but I can’t talk to nobody but Curley. Else he gets mad. How’d you like not to talk to anybody?” (87) More specifically,after meeting him that same night, Curley’s wife ran away from home to marry Curley to spite her mother. She further confessed to Lennie she doesn’t even like Curley. As a result, she left one situation hoping to move closer to capturing her dreams, but her companion’s jealous and violent behavior prevents her from even socializing with others.(88) Therefore, she went from living with multiple people to living with only Curley, who is supposed to be her companion and someone she

Crooks the stable hand at the ranch that George and Lennie come to work at. Crooks has an American Dream just like George and Lennie. Crooks is African American so during this time period some people at the ranch are discriminating against him because of his race. “I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain’t even funny” (p.81). Even though Crooks supposed to be free from all discrimination people still haven’t changed. Crooks someday dreams of playing cards with the other fellows at the ranch but mostly he wants to be equal. “S’pose you couldn’t go into the bunkhouse and play rummy ‘cause you was black...A guy needs somebody-to be near him” (p.72). Crooks wants to be treated just like the other people on the ranch. He’s not allowed in the bunkhouse because of his race. Crooks has been forced to sleep alone, away from the other workers on the ranch who sleep and play cards together in the bunkhouse. “‘Cause I’m black. They play cards in there, but I can’t play because I’m black” (p.68). The dream of all becoming equal is very common with many African Americans during this time period. Curley’s Wife also discriminating Crooks. “You know what I could do to you if you open up your trap” (p.80). Every time Crooks stands up for himself he just gets pushed over and never really acknowledged. Crooks also threatened by Curley's wife. She’s nearly at the bottom of the pile in the leadership of the ranch, but she still has power over Crooks. Crooks dreams that there will be a place and time where people won’t judge people by the color of their skin. Even though Crooks has a great American dream in mind he’s likely to not complete his dream. The Boss and Curley have shown that they do not trust Crooks at

The character of Crooks is used to symbolize the social standing of the black community occurring during the time at which the novel is set. Crooks is a lonely African American on the farm that feels out of place. As George and Lennie explain their dream to Crooks he brushes them off and says that no one around here can implement their dreams. This realism gives the reader an impression that Crooks has absolutely no hope. However, Crooks may be pessimistic, but yet even he has a dream, which is the hope of one day experiencing the joys of his childhood again. Crooks' character is portrayed as very lonely in the novel, this is evident when Crooks explains, "A guy needs someone." (Mice 77). Crooks is telling the reader the need of human interaction. This realism that Steinbeck uses shows the reader the harsh realities of the black community during the time of the depression in the 1930's

Another character who is lonely is Curley’s wife. She married Curley only because she never got her letter from the Hollywood producer, not because she loved Curley. As a result, she has no relationship and no friends ,so she wanders the bunkhouse every day looking for somebody to talk to. She wants to escape loneliness by talking to people, but everybody pushes her away, even Curley, her husband. As she says on pg 89, “I don’ like Curly. I could been in the movies, an’ have nice clothes.” This shows that Curley was just her last resort option in her idyllic path to movie stardom. The last character affected by loneliness is Crooks. He is black and thus he is pushed away by everybody and even has to live in an isolated room in the bunkhouse. Because of this he pretends to push away people too even though he longs for their presence because he doesn 't know how to act any differently. In the book, Steinbeck shows that it is almost impossible for Crook’s to escape loneliness unless he escapes out of poverty first.

During this time period, blacks were highly segregated from whites and women were believed to belong inside the house. This was portrayed in the book by the boss beating Crooks whenever something went wrong with the farm, and how Crooks was forbidden to do anything because of his color. That was the only job available to him at the time also, so if he left he would be unable to support himself. Curley’s wife somehow always found a way to find the guys and ask where her husband was, when she actually did not care. She believed she was stuck on the farm because of him and would not forgive him. “Why’n’t you tell her to stay the hell home where she belongs?”(61) Carlson tells Curley after one of her famous disappearances. Curley’s wife often trails the guys around trying to see which guy she can get to pay her any attention. Lennie was an easy target for her, and when she finally got what she wanted she ended up regretting it.

In Steinbeck’s ‘of mice and men’ set in 1930’s, both Crooks and Curley’s wife are defenseless victims of social prejudice which leads to their sadness and depression. Crooks, being a black man is discriminated and segregated towards by all the other ranchers “They play cards in there but I can’t play because I’m black- Crooks” whereas Curley’s wife being a woman is expected to stay at home and take care of the house “Why don't she get the hell back in the house where she belongs- Carlson”. Furthermore Steinbeck as well as the ranchers view Curley’s wife as “trouble” in Candy’s words and she is later referred as ‘jail-bait’ and ‘tramp’ by other men. Consequently both Crooks and Curleys wife choose to express their hurt in different ways: Crooks holes up in his room with his books in order to escape the harsh reality where he is treated as an outcast while Curley's wife does so by clamoring for attention and desperately trying to be noticed either by creating ‘trouble’ or flirting with the ranchers.

In this essay I will show how Steinbeck presents Curley’s wife in a number of ways throughout the novel ‘Of Mice and Men’, showing both how she is portrayed as a ‘nice girl’ as well as a ‘floozy’. This novel was set during the great depression and is written around two key themes of the American dream, which every ‘ranch hand’ owned their own patch of land, and loneliness, the only common feeling that each individual in the novel feared. Loneliness was the main theme that caused Curley’s wife to be interpreted in a negative way by the other ranch men.

Crooks worked around the farm, and takes care of the horses. His skin color differentiated him from others, resulting in Crooks living alone in the barn. Later in the book Steinbeck shows the wall between the races when Lennie attempts to speak with Crooks. “…You go on get outta my room. I ain’t wanted in the bunk house, and you ain’t wanted in my room,” (Steinbeck, 68). By creating this conversation between Lennie and Crooks, Steinbeck reveals another large group of people treated unfairly, African Americans. Eventually, Candy and Curley’s wife enter the room leading into an argument. Finally, Crooks speaks up and says “You got no rights comin' in a colored man's room. You got no rights messing around in here at all. Now you jus' get out, an' get out quick. If you don't, I'm gonna ast the boss not to ever let you come in the barn no more,” (Steinbeck, 80). Irony pours out of this quote, for blacks were not respected by most white people and did not have the right to speak against them, yet Curley’s wife also is treated with disparity, like most women in the 1930s. All of the characters, now in Crooks room, coax Curley’s wife out. Confrontation with Curley and other characters was a catastrophe waiting to happen and most likely to of occurred if they had not made Curley’s wife leave. In fact, this conversation may have been a key factor

Of mice and men, is a classic in American novels. And the movie is very keen, but between the book and the movie there are many differences and similarities. These differences include when George throws the mouse across the water, when the worker asked slim to switch jobs, and when Lennie hallucinated the large rabbit and Aunt Clara. These differences all have adequate reasons why the two were differed. Let me explain them to you.

Crooks, Curley, Candy and Curley 's wife are all lonely, but all for different reasons such as discrimination and prejudice. Crooks is a black man who has always been pushed aside from every group. He is treated as second class, he

Because of her mother, she had to marry Curley. For this reason, she is isolated on the ranch and has to live a lonely life. On the other hand, Crooks also tells Lenny about his past. “‘The white kids came to play at our place, an’ was pretty nice. My ol’ man didn’t like that. But I know now” (70). Crooks understands segregation through his childhood stories and his father. Now that he recognizes discrimination, he knows that he has to live a isolated life on the ranch because of his skin color. In a way, both characters end up in extreme loneliness because of their parents. Curley’s wife wants to be an actress and Crooks wants to be treated equally and longs for a better relationship with white men. Their aspirations are all shattered because they are isolated. Additionally, both speak to Lenny about their past. The effects of these factors leads them to a lonely life on the ranch and affects them emotionally and physically.