Friendship In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

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This book is about two friends who leave their hometown after an incident which had them getting chased out of the town; they arrive on a ranch and face ‘déjà vu’. This leads to George and Lennie’s (the two main characters) friendship being tested. Overall this novel is a great read. Following on, Steinbeck uses language to present the theme of ‘shattered dreams’ by portraying fictional examples and real life events, when he then combines together to show shattered dreams and how it can affect people. Following on, in this essay I will be writing about: Lennie; Crooks and Curley’s Wife. In my opinion, Steinbeck portrays Lennie as a slow and a dull minded person (in juxtaposition to George). However he also shows him to be really innocent and…show more content…
Steinbeck shows him as a ‘bookish’ person who likes to keep his room neat. He lives by himself because he is the only black man on the ranch. However, he has been so beaten down by loneliness and prejudice he is now suspicious of any kindness he receives. This can be accredited when Crooks articulates: “A tattered dictionary, a mauled copy of the California civil code” This tells us that Lennie's ephemeral interaction with Crooks reveals the racial prejudice in the northern California ranch life. From my perspective, the phrase: “a mauled copy of the California civil code”. This is significant because, Crooks was born in California (not like many Southern blacks who had migrated, he implies), he is still always made to feel like an outsider, even in his home state. We can also infer that Crooks is painfully aware that his skin colour is all that keeps him separate in this culture. This outsider status causes him to dirge his loneliness, but he also delights in seeing the loneliness of others, perhaps because misery loves company. In my opinion, Steinbeck wants to show that racism still happened in the great…show more content…
Steinbeck presents her as a negative married woman. She has been presented first through Candy when he describes her to George. His opinion is very sexist towards Curley’s wife as he says Curley “married a tart”. This shows Steinbeck presents her in a very crude manner as she hasn’t even appeared in the book yet and the readers are already getting an indentation of her. The word “tart” shows the immediate impression and effect Curley’s wife has on the other men on the ranch. Steinbeck used this effect because he wants to show the reader the first impression the man have about Curley’s wife. This makes the reader pre-judge Curley’s wife even before she appears. She has been portrayed as dangerous. When Curley’s wife first appears both George and Lennie notice Curley’s wife is like darkness. She is also dangerous and brings only trouble to the ranch because when she appears she makes someone miserable. When Curley’s wife states: “Says I was a natural. Soon he got back to Hollywood he was gonna write to me about it”. Even though her dream breaks, as her mother throws away the letter; she also dies. It makes the reader think that maybe the wife isn’t such a “tart”, even so; maybe she has an aspiration as well. In my opinion this can be seen when she says that: “Says I was a natural”. The author does this by changing the events to represent that she isn’t so bad. Nonetheless, I
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