Of Mice And Men Powerless Analysis

Though Crooks is a Black man he is a hell of a good worker, so he says himself. When he talks to Lennie and Candy he feels pleasure mixed with anger. When Curley 's wife comes in and threatens him, he feels small and scared and feels like he lost power and privileges over his room and realizes he is black and shouldn 't have back talked her. He knows what she could do to him for what he did, so she says her self. “She closed on him. “You know what I could do?”.....“Well, you keep your place then....I could get you strung up so easy it ain 't funny. '”(80, 81). Because she was a white female and the boss ' son 's Wife she had superiority over him and so he felt alone at that moment. He didn 't realize the cruelness of white folk when he was younger but as he grew older he did, mainly because of where he slept and the way he was treated. “ 'Why ain 't you wanted?”...“Cause I 'm black. They play cards in there, but I can 't play because I 'm black... '”(68). This

Just as Havisham and Curley’s wife’s isolation is because of their gender, Crooks in “Of Mice and Men” is presented as the epitome of the frustration and loneliness caused by isolation. However, Crooks’s isolation is not due to his gender, but his colour and race. In “Of Mice and Men”, Steinbeck presents Crooks as an isolated character due to his race. He names Crooks as Crooks because he has a crooked back and he is called “Nigger” implying that he is unimportant. Steinbeck portrays Crooks’s loneliness through “this is just a nigger talking a bust-back nigger. So it don’t mean nothing” and “nobody’d listen to you”, these can be inferred as Crooks has a low status in the ranch, no one has ever listened to him. This can also be referred to the

Crooks, the African American stable hand of the Tyler ranch, was discriminated for his skin color and could not imagine his dreams would ever to come true because of it. Crooks grew up on his father’s ranch with his brothers and they were happy. He worked hard for his American Dream of eventually living off the ‘fat of the land’ with George and Lennie. Crooks' home is, a little shed that leaned off the wall of the barn “This suggests that he is isolated from the other men and treated like the animals he cares for and as such is made to live with them” (“Effects of Segregation and Racism in Of Mice and Men Chapter 4”). He came to the quick realization that it is impossible to go along with George and Lennie and he does not see any dream with white men possible.

By looking more closely at the story, one can see that Curley’s wife is also a metaphor which symbolizes the way which other people looked upon women in the society of the 1930’s. Curley’s wife represents a whole marginalized group in the American society at that time. In the novel, characters are never fully developed, but instead appear as outlines or symbols of real people. Candy, Crooks, and Curley's wife represent the discriminated groups of age, race, and sex. Curley’s wife has been given an overall picture in the eyes of George and Lennie before they even meet her, by Candy. The picture Candy paints about her hints at how she tends to give all the men on the ranch ‘the eye’. Nobody really knows Curley’s wife because nobody ever talks to her and listens to what she really has to say. Curley’s wife wants attention. She wants people to notice her. She is the only woman on the ranch out of all the men. She wears fancy clothes and nice make up to make her look beautiful and

Some characters in this novel are alienated by mainstream society because they do not fit society’s ideal image of a person. And they are all not accepted as human beings. Throughout John Steinbeck’s novel, Of Mice and Men, the social injustice of how people were treated during the Great Depression is explored through the characters Crooks, Curley’s wife, and Lennie, to show that society actually needs to become stronger than it really is.

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

Curley’s wife constantly complains how lonely she is as Curley is not around most of the time. This drives her to wander about the ranch talking to other men and questioning them about Curley's whereabouts. As most of the men are in town, Curley’s wife wanders to the barn where Candy, Crooks, and Lennie are currently located. The men question why she is there and see her as a nuisance. But, she stays and discusses her struggles with loneliness. “‘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 nobody’” (Steinbeck 87). In other words, Curley’s wife is left alone by Curley so much that she feels the need to talk to anybody that she finds. This is why she wanders about the ranch all day and talks to any men she can find. This demonstrates how women were treated during this time; they were thought to be unimportant and were often left alone by their spouses. Curley’s wife did not have a name, which shows how unimportant she really is. Women were thought to be of no use, leaving them to not have the ability to achieve the American dream.

Curley’s wife, who is never given a name, but always called “Curley’s wife”, is shown with a lot of sexual prejudice. She is referred to as a “looloo” (51) with a very flirtatious nature and “she got the eye goin’ all the time on everybody”, and she might “even gives the stable buck they eye” (51). A "ranch with a bunch of guys on it ain’t no place for a girl, specially like

Lennie and George end up employed on a ranch and begin to realize that every man is for himself and that nobody is truly happy. They come to know a character referenced throughout the entire book as “Curley’s wife”. Being the sole female on the ranch, she is often referred to in derogatory terms because of her flirtatious personality (Steinbeck 28). She approaches the other men and “stirs up trouble” (77) which in the end leads to Lennie’s death. Being the wife of an arrogant and egocentric man, Curley’s wife tries to cure her loneliness by finding solace in other men. Knowing her future is bleak, Curley’s wife risks the dangers of the other men’s lives by trying to find someone like her. She lures Lennie into her world, telling him about how lonely she is and the future she could’ve had as an actress (86). Her solitary life drives her to put Lennie in danger and ultimately end her and his life. Curley’s wife and another one of the ranch hands talk about how “maybe people are just afraid of each other” (35). The fear of missing out (FOMO) drives people to make irrational decisions when feeling lonely which happened to both Daisy and Curley’s wife..

At one point Crooks expresses his distaste for Curley's wife's actions when she entered his room without his permission. Then she exclaimed "Well, you keep your place then, Nigger. I could get you strung upon a tree so easy it ain’t even funny"(Steinbeck 39). After she threatened him, "Crooks retired into the terrible protective dignity of the Negro"(Steinbeck 38). Steinbeck even expresses his opposition to racism in that quote and later on the page. I commend Steinbeck on breaking social norms and bringing the issue of racism to light. I am glad to know that Steinbeck doesn't condone

“You know what I can do to you if you open your trap?”(80) This selection is showing Curley’s Wife what little power or influence she really does have against Crooks, being that he is an African American and she is a

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.

This key root involved George and Lennie dream of handling their own ranch; however, Lennie’s tragic end was the result of his innocence that caused the death of Curley’s wife making his death inevitable by George that ultimately crushed their dream. In addition to, the reader witnesses how Curley’s wife had her own aspirations and dreams of becoming an actress ever since she grew up in Salinas (Steinbeck’s hometown), but it was crushed due to her mother’s hegemony and her marriage with Curley which she opposes. On the other hand, Attell’s analysis also validates social realism with Crooks. Crooks, a black man, is shunned out by the white society because of his race that led him to his unfortunate fate of being discriminated from the prejudiced