Of Mice And Men

When Steinbeck introduces Curley’s Wife she is first portrayed as “Purty”. However Candy thinks that “Curley’s married … a tart.” I think that she then plays up to this image throughout the novel. This is because whenever there are large groups of people she normally appears. Although this could be due that she is the only woman on the ranch so she probably feels isolated and lonely. Steinbeck then makes Curley’s wife very whiney and complaining about the loss of her dream. Curley’s wife had the dream of going to Hollywood; however she thinks her mother sabotages it by not giving her the letter from the man in Hollywood. I think this then makes her bitter towards people who still have and are working towards their dreams, this is also a reflection of the depression at the time was that people were too quick to push their troubles onto someone else rather than sort it out themselves.This ultimately leads to her death because she is complaining about her life when Lennie accidentally kills her. This meant that her only happiness was in her death. This was shown when “all the meaness and planning and the discontent and the ache for attention were gone from her face”. Then for the first time Steinbeck actually describes Curley’s wife as “Purty” when “her roughed cheeks and reddened lips make her seem alive and sleeping lightly”.

Steinbeck doesn’t let the reader know much about Crooks until quite late on in the story.  Although we encounter him not much is said except “the stable buck a nigger, got a crooked back where a horse kicked him and he reads a lot” on this first encounter we don’t even find out his name. It’s not until midway through chapter three we find out his name. Crooks is described as a proud man and he takes care of all his belongings because “he was more permanent than the other men and had accumulated more possessions than he could carry on his back”.  Crooks is probably the most lonely man on the ranch due the fact that he “couldn’t go into the bunkhouse and play rummy” and could only read books once it got dark and he couldn’t play horseshoes outside anymore.  He then starts to scare Lennie when he starts describing his own life but as if it were Lennie and George. He says things like “s’pose George don’t come back no more”  “s’pose he gets killed or hurt so he can’t come back.” Which he later says is his own life and that people just used to abandon him because he was black.

Lennie is probably the most interesting character in the novel due to the fact that he is very aware of what he is doing but sometimes just wants everyone to pay attention to him. He is extremely scared of being left alone and I think that works against him therefore making him very paranoid about what’s going on around him and if he’s going to be left alone. Steinbeck makes Lennie react like a small child so he needs his bedtime story (dream story), constantly needs attention and had to be told what to do and how to react to certain situations. However Lennie is also very manipulative and knows exactly what to do to George so he can get exactly what he wants. The fist example of this is with the ketchup incident when he winds George up so much that George wished he lived on his own. Then he lets George calm down for a minute then goes off on a tangent about how he could live on his on with George no longer wanting him. ”George, you want I should go away and leave you alone?” this is the prime example because he knows that George will say no. This is also a technique of making himself still feel wanted as he knows that no-one else will look after him except George.

George is a very caring character and the reader is meant to feel very sorry for him especially at the end when he has to kill his best friend Lennie who has actually been more like a son to him.  Although he gets annoyed with Lennie he had a brotherly love for him really. I think that this then makes it seem like George is the least lonely character in the novel. We then discover that he was desperately lonely but he’s never had the chance to express it because he’s always had to look after Lennie. Right at the end he gets the chance to no longer be the parent to Lennie but to be looked after by Slim when he suggests “come on, George. Me an’ you’ll go in an’ get a drink”. This is finally what makes George free of his loneliness.

To conclude I think that nearly all the characters were lonely on the ranch but they all had or still have a way to escape it. Some were easier than others but they all had the chance.