OF Mice AND MEN
Throughout Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck portrays the characters as suspicious of each other and their actions, misunderstanding as they let their strongest feelings remain hidden which causes the loneliness and the gruffness of many characters that we associate with the book, as they feel that they have no one to talk to.
In Of Mice and Men, the suspicion between the men is caused by the men not having close friends and so they have become accustomed to not having a close friend and so the relationships between them are fragile, this also helped along by characters who assume their dominance over others. This is portrayed through Curly’s suspicion that Slim is with his wife. An example of this is when Curley is told that no one knows where his wife is and that Slim left to the barn “Five-ten minutes” ago, he “jumped out the door” to go after Slim. When Crooks, Lennie and Candy are confronted by Curley’s wife in Crooks’ room and he tries to make her leave, she shows contempt, as though Crooks is an insignificant speck beneath her notice, and authority over him when she tells him how she “can have you strung up on a tree so easy it ain’t even funny”. The authority is assumed as Crooks can easily overpower her, but no man would listen to a “coloured man’s” word over a white woman. This example shows one of the reasons why the men of the ranch are fearful and suspicious of Curly’s Wife.
The characters in Of Mice and Men let their strongest feelings remain hidden throughout the book and this creates misunderstanding, fear and isolation between them. This is portrayed through George’s fear of being without Lennie and wandering the countryside to find a job, who overtime, would become lonely and men and when Lennie asks if George “If you don’t want me, you only jus’ got to say so”, he is scared that his fear will come true. At one point in the story, George says to Slim, “Maybe ever’body in the whole damn world is scared of each other.” This quote explains a
In Of Mice and Men, the suspicion between the men is caused by the men not having close friends and so they have become accustomed to not having a close friend and so the relationships between them are fragile, this also helped along by characters who assume their dominance over others. This is portrayed through Curly’s suspicion that Slim is with his wife. An example of this is when Curley is told that no one knows where his wife is and that Slim left to the barn “Five-ten minutes” ago, he “jumped out the door” to go after Slim. When Crooks, Lennie and Candy are confronted by Curley’s wife in Crooks’ room and he tries to make her leave, she shows contempt, as though Crooks is an insignificant speck beneath her notice, and authority over him when she tells him how she “can have you strung up on a tree so easy it ain’t even funny”. The authority is assumed as Crooks can easily overpower her, but no man would listen to a “coloured man’s” word over a white woman. This example shows one of the reasons why the men of the ranch are fearful and suspicious of Curly’s Wife.
The characters in Of Mice and Men let their strongest feelings remain hidden throughout the book and this creates misunderstanding, fear and isolation between them. This is portrayed through George’s fear of being without Lennie and wandering the countryside to find a job, who overtime, would become lonely and men and when Lennie asks if George “If you don’t want me, you only jus’ got to say so”, he is scared that his fear will come true. At one point in the story, George says to Slim, “Maybe ever’body in the whole damn world is scared of each other.” This quote explains a