Of mice and men questions

Between the line


What is a characteristic that many of the characters seem to display through out the whole story?


I would have to say loneliness and the need for a friend. George always makes the comparison of how he and Lenny are different from all of the other men because they have each other. Through out the story as it goes on Crooks, candy, and Curleys wife admit to being lonely. Crooks because he is black and no one respects him. Curleys wife because Curley isolates her from every one and he is never around. Candy because he lost his only companion the old dog. Unlike normal people with companions they easily open up t strangers for friendship. But at the end of the story changes when Lenny died. He was now alone.


In the story what type of symbol does Curley’s wife represent?

Curley's wife represents the typical woman of the early 1900’s; weak, alone, and incapable of doing anything for her self. This is how woman were portrayed in this time. They did not have a say in anything and were under the power of men. Curley was very controlling of his wife and did not want her to talk to anyone but him. So this made her feel lonely. She is incapable of doing anything for her self because Curley always wants her to stay in the house. Because she lives this type of life style this makes her look weak and defenceless.


How is the motif of violence foreshadowed in the story?

Well, violence is all throughout the story from the start. Even
When Lenny pets the mouse and kills it. This sets off a chain of events it also leads up to when Curley's wife was killed. The girl getting her dress torn, the mouse getting crushed in Lenny's hand, Curley getting his hand broke all led up to one thin. The death of Curley's wife. Also another event that had a lot of violence was George's decision to kill Lenny. What foreshadows this is when candy had to make his decision to get his dog killed by Carson. Carson regretted this afterwards because his dog was his main companion and he became lonely. I believe this because when George shot Lenny
He regretted it because now he is alone.



What is one of the themes of this story?


To me the theme of the story is that dreams are impossible. No one in the movie gets to live his or her dream. Let's take Curley, his wife, Crooks, and George and Lenny. These characters all share one thing in common. They all had a dream that in some way became impossible. Crooks although he was bitter had the dream of hoeing the beautiful gardens. This was made impossible for him because he was black and also crippled. Curley had a dream of becoming a professional boxer, but this was made impossible when Lenny had broken every bone in his hand. Curley's wife had a dream of becoming a movie star, but when she had realized that she could not be this she had to settle for Curley. Last the main characters George and Lenny did a bad thing and was killed this dream had faded away with him. It was said by Crooks that such paradise and freedom does not exist in this society.


Beyound the line

Does Curley equal up to a real man?

No I do not believe that Curley equals up to a real man. there are reasons for days to prove to prove this, but I have a few. Curley is very materialistic and he is not humble. He does not have good values and was a pervert. When you read this essay you will be given reason to believe this.

First off, the reason that I have to believe that Curley is not a real man is because he is materialistics. He values material things before his own family. For example his wife’s looks. She is a pretty girl. But he does not look at her for who she is on the inside. She is more like a trophy or an achievement to him than a llifge comnpanion. He is very protective of her like she is a thing and does not love her. At the end of the book when she was killed by Lenny instead of staying with her body he went to go kill Lenny and had a different view of the situation.

Another reason that Curley is not a real man is because of the fact that he is selfish and narsisistic. Curley does not worry anyone but him self. Curley is more worried about maintining a good reptation and keeping fear in the other men. When ever something would happen regarding his wife instead of being worried about her he would try to look tough. Curley also did not care about any of the workers and treated them like crap.

Last, Curley is not a humble man and is very egotistic. He believes that because he has a beautiful wife, His father is the boss, and he is a box that he is better than every one. The other men are viewed by him as scum. He has no respect and tries to pick fights with the other men. This shows that he has no respect for him self and is not a real man.

Curley is far from a real man. He does not respect him self or anyone around him. He is also not a good human being. Curley is an example of what type of person not to be.