Comparing The American Dream In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

    Curley’s wife was known as a tart and was avoided by the men on the ranch. At first the reader could assume her dream was to be noticed and talked to but her dream was to ‘be in the pictures’. A professional man had promised to make her famous and she waited for a letter that ensured this. She never received the letter and that’s where the decline of her dreams happened. Shortly after, her dreams started failing she married Curley who controlled her.

Lennie didn’t think the same way as others, so his intentions were unclear. In chapter five when Lennie holds on to Curley’s wife’s hair, he just wanted to stroke it longer, but she didn’t know what he was doing. Curley’s wife freaks out when he does this, and she begins to scream. The narrator states, “‘Let go,’ she cried. ‘You let go!’

Lennie was not going to talk to her, but Curley’s wife got him to talk to her by telling him she is lonely and by letting him pet her soft hair (Steinbeck, 90). This shows that she eventually gets Lennis to talk with her and their conversation leads to her death which is why Lennie is killed. This is important because Curley’s wife and Lennie

However, this does not justify her death because, when trying to start the conversation with him, she says, “ ‘what kinda harm am I doin’ to you? Seems like they ain’t none of them [the other men on the ranch] cares how I gotta live’ “ (Steinbeck 88). Curley’s wife desperately needed to tell someone about her hardships, and no other man on the ranch was trustworthy, if she could even manage to talk to them without Curley finding out. Therefore, her only possible option was Lennie, and she specifically chose to confide in him since he was mentally challenged and would listen to any order thrown his way. However, she did not know him well enough to know he struggled with controlling himself and being aware of the consequences of his actions, thus leading to him grabbing her hair uncontrollably.

After Lennie showed her the dead puppy, Lennie explained how it was an accident, and that he just liked to touch soft things. Curley’s wife, a flirtatious women, misunderstood him and invited Lennie to pet her soft hair. After that, Lennie touched her hair, and when asked to stop, he became scared and held on tighter. This resulted in Curley’s wife to scream loudly. Not knowing what to do, Lennie covered her mouth with his hand and killed her.

Unfortunately, Curley’s wife’s dream gets crushed. Curley’s wife’s dream gets crushed when Lennie kills her. When Lennie was alone in the barn with his dead puppy, she walked in. She then starts to talk to Lennie and starts to tell her her dream. She then finds out that Lennie likes to pet soft things for she lets him pet her hair. When he starts to pet her hair she tells him to not mess it up. Then she tries to pull away, but Lennie started to panick and holds on to her hair. Lennie then covers her mouth and tells her to be quiet and starts to shake her, but he accidently shakes her to hard and breaks her neck. When Curley’s wife tries to pull away from Lennie he starts to shake her, “he shook her; and her body flopped like a fish and then

Lennie is described to be big and tall, but he also is mentally challenged. He needs George to be by his side because he is clueless, dumb, and strong. Lennie sometimes says stupid thing that might get him into a bad situation. Curley’s wife finds Lennie in the barn where Lennie is with his dead puppy. Lennie talks about tending the rabbits and the place they're gonna get with George and Candy, but Curley’s wife thinks he is not like the others.

Although Lennie is very kind and he follows the rules. He is immensely strong, and Lennie starts fondling Curley’s Wife's hair and it goes too far, “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” (Steinbeck 91). Lennie does not like that she is yelling because he is petrified that George will hear and won’t let him tend the rabbits. Lennie has indescribable strength and Curley’s wife should’ve known what the outcome of letting Lennie pet her hair would be.

Candy’s anger at Curley’s wife for underestimating their dream (to buy and live on their own ranch) is shown in the line, “I had enough…you ain't wanted here…you don't know that we got our own ranch to go to, an' our own house…we gotta house and chickens an' fruit trees an' a place a We got our own lan', and it's ours, an' we c'n go to it” (page 79). Curley's wife laughed at him and responded with "Baloney, I seen too many you guys. If you had two bits in the worl', why you'd be in gettin' two shots of corn with it and suckin' the bottom of the glass. I know you guys” (page 79).

Lennie and George’s dream is to own a piece of land to work and live where they can have cows, pigs, chicken a vegetable patch with alfalfa and rabbits. “O.K Someday – we’re going

Before her death, Curley’s wife admits to Lennie that she had dreamed of better times. “ ‘I don’ like Curley ... Coulda been in the movies, an’ had nice clothes ... An’ I coulda sat in them big hotels ... because this guy said I was a natural’ ” (88). Curley’s wife had an American Dream of being a movie star.

While George, Lennie’s closest companion was out of town with the boys, Lennie was approached by Curley’s wife. Considering the fact that Lennie never really knew what do without George instructing him due to his “slow” nature, it is understandable that he was unable to turn Curley’s wife down to a conversation. After expressing his love for soft velvety things, Lennie still revealed the story of the girl with the red dress; the time when Lennie wouldn’t let go of the girl who wore this profound item because he was scared to react. In a similar sense, when Curley’s wife allowed him to touch her soft hair and Lennie got scared when she told him to let go the situation ended with Lennie snapping her neck. This lead to George mercy killing Lennie and the dream of the farm dying as well.

Her allowing Lennie to pet her hair could have been perceived as an attempt at foreplay with Lennie, or her seeing him hurting and trying to sooth him. One could think the former because of Lennie's earlier interest in her figure, but Curley’s wife didn’t see Lennie like that. Most likely, she saw him as an overgrown child who needs to be taken care

Lennie is speaking to Curley’s wife, his bosses wife, when she offers to have him touch her hair. Lennie’s handicap leads him out of hand and he ends up killing Curley’s wife in the end (Steinbeck 88). He is so innocent that he decides “I’ll throw [her] away” in which

His love of soft things instantly overwhelms the rest of his thoughts. His mental disability causes him to forget everything George taught him: about not going near her, about how she is trouble. Even though he didn’t want any trouble, her hair reminds him of the rabbits. As soon as Curley’s wife starts to get uncomfortable and asks him to stop, Lennie can’t. Curley’s wife is suddenly in horror, so she yells out for help. Upon hearing this, Lennie instantaneously cups his massive hands around her mouth and nose, knowing what consequences will follow if he gets caught in trouble again. Lennie’s childish actions causes Curley’s wife to start suffocate until he eventually breaks her neck. It takes a few moments for Lennie to react to what he has done an then he remembers whar George told him to do if he got in to trouble, “Lennie if you jus’ happen to get in trouble like you always done before, want you to come right here an’ hide in the brush” . This is the only thought he can think of at this point, so he sets out for the river.