Of Mice and Men

The importance of minor characters might not have been truly understood until John Steinbeck wrote Of Mice and Men. Minor characters allow the author to have an event take place without going to deep into the characters background and back story. There are three extremely good examples of minor characters from Of Mice and Men, they are Curley's wife, Crooks, and Carlson. Curley's wife allows for one purpose to be shown through the text. The purpose of Curley's wife is to ruin the American dream for George, Lennie, and Candy have going for them. With Curley's wife dead George, Candy, and Lennie are hurtled into can reality, " 'You an' me can get that little place, can't we George? You an' me can go there an' live nice, can't we George? Can't we?' Before George answered, Candy dropped his head and looked down at the hay, he knew. George said softly, '-I think I knowed we'd never do her. He usta like to hear about it so much I got to thinking maybe we would' 'Then it's all off?' " (95). The details tell the reader that Curley's wife is lonely, she wanted to be a big a movie star and she got stuck on the ranch, "Why can't I talk to you? I never get to talk to nobody. I get awful lonely' " (86). Curley's wife represents how low of importance women were during the great depression. Curley's wife doesn't even have a name! Her husband is rude to her, and all the other men ignore her. It is amazing how far women rights have come since the great depression. Speaking of human rights, the black skinned were not treated any better. Crooks purpose in the story was to paint a real picture for the American Dream. He has seen so many men come through the ranch, and all of their dream's have become crushed. Crooks is a pessimistic when it comes to the American Dream, " 'I seen hundreds of men come by on by on the road an' on the ranches, with their bindles on an' the same damn thing in their heads. Hundreds of them. They come, an' they quit an' go on; an' every damn one of