Crooks Physical Description

551 Words3 Pages
In “Of Mice and Men” on as aspect that John Steinbeck excels at is physical description of characters. A reader can get much from his descriptions. One way he describes characters is by leaving the description very open ended and open for interpretation. “She had 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.”(ch. 2, pg. 31) This description of Curley’s wife tells the reader nothing about the hair color, eye color, or proportions of Curley’s wife. Instead the reader has to make up most of the character himself. This causes the character to look very different to varying readers.…show more content…
“His body was bent over to the left by his crooked spine, and his eyes lay deep in his head, and because of their depth seemed to glitter with intensity. His lean face was lined with deep black wrinkles, and he had thin, pain-tightened lips which were lighter than his face.”(ch.4, pg. 67) This description of Crooks is less open ended than the description of Curley’s wife but the specific features Steinbeck mentioned can make it easier for the reader to picture Crooks. With a more specific description it is easier to develop details on Crooks whereas when picturing Curley’s wife details are not a promonet because there is less of a base to start with. Steinbeck also compares attributes of one character to another helping the reader to see the differences between the 2 characters. Steinbeck uses this technique when describing George and Lennie. “The first man was small and quick, dark of face, with restless eyes and sharp, strong features. Every part of him was defined: small, strong hands, slender arms, a thin and bony
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