Choose one Dramatic Incident from 'Of Mice and Men' - What methods does Stienbeck use to Create and sustain Tension?
Hannah Barnes.
Choose one Dramatic Incident from
'Of Mice and Men'
What methods does Stienbeck use to
Create and sustain Tension?
Incident- the crushing of Curley's hand
In the crushing of Curley's hand incident tension is apparent from the start.
In of mice and men there are a number of dramatic incidents. John Steinbeck makes them all very apparent from the start. I have chosen the incident of the crushing of Curley's hand.
Dramatic tension in this novel keeps the reader intrigued, it makes you want to read on and I think that John Steinbeck creates and sustains this very successfully. In the novel we are prepared for this incident and little hints and quotes make you notice the tension and realise soon there is going to be an incident apparent. Very early on in the novel (chapter 2) it is noticed that Curley does not like 'big men', which is why also very early on in the novel it is apparent that Curley takes an immediate dislike to Lennie. He immediately speaks rudely and in an intimidating manner to him.
-P.47 "Next time you answer me when you're spoken to"
Steinbeck mentions how Curley does not like Lennie earley on so that the reader knows that there is tension between them, and that there could be future trouble. This then gets the reader prepared for the 'explosion' of the fight.
Verbal exchange between Curley against Slim, Carlson and Candy was the first stage of Curley's humiliation. Before no one had ever dared to stand up to Curley, but now suddenly every-one had turned and Curley was on his own. Usually it was Curley who had started off the verbal arguments but however, this time it was Slim who could not take anymore from Curley. He shouts at Curley and tells him to
"Look after his own god damn wife." And then when Curley try's to back down in the argument Carlson gets involved, positively backing up slims statements and using personnel insults towards Curley. Carlson calls him "a God Damn Punk! Your as yellow as a fogs belly" and as final revenge threatens to "kick his God damn head off!"
John Steinbeck uses great techniques and for a second you feel sorry for Curley. This is because every-one has turned against him and Steinbeck feels this is a great opportunity to start off the role reversal between Curley and ...
This is a preview of the whole essay
"Look after his own god damn wife." And then when Curley try's to back down in the argument Carlson gets involved, positively backing up slims statements and using personnel insults towards Curley. Carlson calls him "a God Damn Punk! Your as yellow as a fogs belly" and as final revenge threatens to "kick his God damn head off!"
John Steinbeck uses great techniques and for a second you feel sorry for Curley. This is because every-one has turned against him and Steinbeck feels this is a great opportunity to start off the role reversal between Curley and Lennie. But then in the next paragraph it immediately re-focuses your mind to how he really is, and to cover up Curley's humiliation he looks for another target. "His eyes slipped past and lighted on Lennie."
Lennie still had a smile on his face from the previous conversation about "tending rabbits and living in his own house" Curley used this to his advantage and immediately started abuse at Lennie." What the hell you Laughing at?" said Curley, Lennie said nothing.
This quote says a lot about Lennie's personality because it backs up the sentence in paragraph three when Slim says, "he's a nice fella. ... He never means no harm" because Lennie was not interested in joining in the argument with Curley, he did not want to get involved. It was Curley who brought him into the argument, Lennie was still thinking his happy thoughts about tending rabbits. Lennie means no harm and although he can accidentally hurt people he does not like violence.
But unexpectedly Curley suddenly lost his temper and hit Lennie. His aggression is identified by "Curley stepped out like a terrior." The author uses animalistic terms and a simile describing the actions for both Curley and Lennie. Because Lennie is later described as "covering his face with his huge paws and bleating with terror" Curleys actions towards Lennie are described as active aggressive verbs, at first they start off minor- "Glared" then "pounced" and suddenly it says his "Rage Exploded"- "Curley was balanced and poised. He slashed at Lennie.... Smashed down" Whilst Curley is attacking Lennie; George is repeating, "Get im Lennie," He repeats this three times before Lennie actually reacts. This builds up tension because we know that Lennie always follows Georges commands, so we know that Lennie is going to attack, but not sure when. This leaves us on edge and unknowing what Lennie is capable of as we have not seen him fight before. This can also lead to excitement because a lot of action is about to happen.
After Lennie eventually listens to George, there is an immediate role reversal- "Curley's fist was swinging when Lennie reached for it, the next minute Curley was flopping like a fish on a line, and his closed fists were closed in Lennie's big hand." Before it was always animalistic terms used on Lennie, but now it is Curley. Also during the fight the animalistic term used for Lennie was a bear (huge paws) and although it was used in a negative way, bears are described as violent creatures. Where as Curley was just described as a fish, there is nothing positive, strong and powering about a fish. The fish is described as victim. John Steinbeck again uses this to make you feel slight sympathy for Curley. There are many other suggestions that describe Curley's weakness in relation to Lennie. - "Curley's closed fist was lost in Lennie's big hand... Curley stood crying his fist lost in Lennies paw." And finally Curley was described as a "Flopping Little Man." This all destroys Curley's previous aggression. Eventually George manages to break up the fight, and after a lot of damage is caused to Curley's hand, Curley sat on the floor looking down at his hand, and Lennie lay up against the wall. This again shows the clear role reversal, and Curley is now scared of Lennie. A sentence after the fight describes this when Slim asked him not to tell anyone about the fight, and Curley answered- "I wont tell" whilst he does this he "avoided looking at Lennie" He did this because he felt intimidated and scared because he went into the fight with confidence and courage and came out losing the battle!
After the fight Lennie does not boast in his victory, he "suddenly let go of his hold and crouched cowering against the wall." This is again because he feels intimidated and scared by Curley and worried that Curley may hurt him like before.
Steinbeck uses this to Lennie's advantage, as any violence and crime he had just committed and any slight opinion change of him from the reader will immediately be re-justified back to the same nice, kind, gentle giant! Because this brings a lot of sympathy towards Lennie and makes you feel sorry for him. The same things happened to Curley before, only with Curley your opinion is quickly changed back to the original impression, and you realise that Curley is not a nice person, he is not nice to anyone and wants to lead the ranch.
John Steinbeck successfully creates dramatic tension by using animalistic structure to characters. Short syntax show anger during the fight as does the use of rhetorical question and the demeaning of Curleys qualities as a man. The clear role reversal in the middle of dramatic incidents I thought were very effective, and the way I felt towards different characters repeatedly changed.
