Answer the question pertaining to the character you have been assigned. Enter it as a comment. Use your name. You answer will be the basis for further class discussion. About 200 words.
Curley's wife is described as trouble and "jail bait" in the novel. She precipitates Lennie's downfall and death. But she is also another character who exemplifies human hardship and suffering. Explain how this is so and describe her character realistically but with compassion.
Carlson, some critics say, serves as an "Everyman," meaning a character who represents the average or typical individual. Looking at Carlson's role in the book, what does this tell you about the author's view of the common man?
Slim is a sort of stand-in for the author's point of view. Describe his character and explain why this is so.
Take a careful look in Chapter 4 at Crooks' interaction with Lennie and also with Candy after he joins them in Crook's room. Track the way Crooks slowly opens up to Lennie and his plan. Why is he so closed at first and what allows him to open himself to a new possibility? Finally, what closes him abruptly down? What does this say about the position of African-Americans in the 1930s?
Carlson did not play a major role in this novel. In fact, the only time he makes any kind of impact on the plot, is when he persuades Candy to let him kill Candy’s old, blind dog. This event, proves to be very significant. George, remembers this incident, and how Candy had said that he wishes he would have killed his dog himself, and decides to kill Lennie, to prevent the lynch mob from getting to him first. The only other important scene with Carlson, is when he and Curly can’t figure out why George is so upset after he kills Lennie. This act makes Carlson appear heartless and cold. From the reader’s point of view, Carlson seems nothing but cruel. The author, John Steinbeck, must not have had much faith in the average man at this time. He sees them as insensitive and self-centered. They are not capable of being sympathetic, making any kind gestures, or heroic actions. They simply go from place to place, only thinking of themselves, and have no problem getting rid of what seems useless.
ReplyDeleteCurley's wife is a very interesting character because her personality differs from that of the average "jailbait". During her conversation with Lennie, she describes her hopes for a better life and how she would have liked to be a movie star. Eventually, she settled for Curley. Even though she was young and beautiful, she gave up on anything better than she had, probably because she saw the women around her lose hope as well. She wound up with a husband she detested and more lonely than she was before. Because of this, she sought the company of the men on the ranch. They must have been far more interesting than Curley, and far nicer. I pity her because she had a proper future ahead of her. Everyone does. Instead of suffering a little longer and coming close to or achieving her dreams, she gave up. This led to great suffering from loneliness and ,eventually, her death. I do understand that during the Depression, all lower and middle class people had to change their lifestyles drastically. Maybe she felt that since all of the Okies were struggling to survive, let alone follow their dreams, she had an extremely slim chance of achieving hers.
ReplyDeleteCrooks slowly opens up to Lennie and his plan because he sees hope in the plan with the farm. He finds hope for himself in the plan. He finally realizes that it is unrealistic for an African-American man like him to join white men in the, at the time, successful plan. This shows that there was discrimination in the 1930's.
ReplyDeleteCarlson:
ReplyDeleteThroughout the book we see various, and somewhat vicious, examples of how Carlson handles his business like an average man would. In my opinion, if this is Steinbeck’s view of the average person, I am slightly insulted. Carlson comes off as a narcissistic, selfish man who believes that what he wants is for the betterment of the people. An example of this is when he guilt trips Candy into executing his dog. In the process of persuasion, he mentions that everyone thinks the dog is nothing but a nuisance. This shows that Carlson wanted what was best for him and would even be willing to use those around him to get what he wanted. Steinbeck wrote the novel Of Mice and Men intending to depict the actions of those who suffered through The Great Depression. While his depiction of the average man was slightly insulting, it was also accurate during that historical time period. America was in a state where millions of people were battling it out for their personal well-being, and essentially, fighting for their lives. Carlson was nothing but a man with the mindset of someone someone who can’t smell his next meal. While his actions in the book may seem vicious, they accurately portray the actions of an average man living in the battlefield that was The Great Depression, one of someone struggling for his life, health, and sanity.
At first Crooks is hesitant to even let Lennie and Candy into his room. He is reluctant because he feels strongly that if he is not allowed in the white men's bunkhouse, then they should not be allowed in his. But he gives in and lets Lennie in because he is so lonely and is in dire need of a companion, or just an ear to listen to him. After Crooks takes advantage of Lennie's weaknesses and tries to play upon his fears, Lennie begins to tell him about their dream ranch. At first Crooks explains how he has seen many people with this dream yet none of them actually successful; also, he believes that he must separate himself from them in all ways because he is a colored man. But ultimately, Crooks is also enticed by this idea of freedom and companionship. He, along with Candy, is handicapped and fells as if his uselessness around the ranch will run out, and he will be fired with no where to go. After Candy's wife comes in to his room and starts speaking to him very rudely, he is brought back to the harsh reality that he is different than the men and that he can't join them on their farm. In the 1930s blacks were on a lower level than whites, and were defenseless when spoken to harshly. All Candy's wife had to do was threaten to lynch him and he was to be quiet. Candy's wife shows that not many people had respects for blacks at all, and treated them horribly.
ReplyDeleteCurley's wife is a pitiable character because she, too, has a hard life. She has no one to talk to on the ranch or to be friends with. She has almost nothing fun or entertaining to do all day and so tries to talk and flirt with the ranch men, but they spurn her efforts. It hints to the fact that she is not very close to her husband as well. So, when she finally finds Lennie who doesn't judge or leave her, she jumps at the idea of talking to him. She also mentions that she could be an actress, living the easy life, but instead she is stuck on a ranch. Curley is also so possesive of her that it is no wonder that she is unhappy. The only way she can think of having some entertainment in her life is to flirt, which is not looked well upon. All in all, Curley’s wife has a miserable life.
ReplyDeleteAt first, Crooks is angry at, and defensive and bitter towards Lennie for coming to his personal space. Then he becomes just annoyed, rather than angry. After that, he kind of just deflates and lets Lennie come in and sit and talk with him. He tries to impart to Lennie what it feels like to be alone. Soon enough, Crooks opens up to Lennie and begins venting about his life. When Candy gets there, Crooks becomes irritable and bitter again, but lets him in grudgingly. He doesn't believe it when Lennie and Candy tell him about the dream farm, but he asks to be able to go with them. When Curley's wife shows up, he and Candy try to make her go away. Crooks gets angry when she won't leave. She gets angry at Crooks and starts to yell at him. He curls in on himself and is a pathetic little man again. In the beginning of this scene, Crooks shows how lonely and disconnected he is. When he sees how much Lennie and Candy are set on the dream farm and how much they have already prepared for it, he begins to have hope and opens up a little. When Curley's wife comes in and starts verbally abusing him, he shuts down. The lives of African Americans in the 1930s must not have been very good. They must have been verbally and/or physically abused, despised, and degraded. They obviously did not have a good life.
ReplyDeleteSarah Brown said:
ReplyDeleteCurley’s wife, unnamed in the novel is described the few times she is present as a very flirtatious, good looking, yet lonely young woman who joins Curley in working on the farm. Curley’s wife is the only woman character on the ranch, which brings up different issues to the reader. Many of the men on the farm are highly attracted to Curley’s wife for sure is a young, flirtatious woman who flaunts herself around the ranch. The men all think she is very attractive but make fun of her sexual appearance to the men. An issue brought to the reader is the ranch being a place for work, where it is all men not for Curley’s wife to be. Although she gets much attention and seems somewhat happy, she really is not at all and dislikes her life. Her dream was to become a movie star and be famous, not work on a ranch with her husband and be treated like nothing. Curley’s wife is treated harshly throughout the novel even though she really is unhappy with her life and how the men treat her. Although she comes off to many as the sexual, seductive, flirtatious type, deep down she really wants to change her life and how she is treated.
With her vulnerability and selfishness, as well as being the ranch tramp, Curly’s wife, an unnamed character, serves as perfect “jail bait”for Lennie. Indeed, when George first sees her he warns Lennie not to talk to her because it will only cause trouble. Despite George’s warnings, when Lennie finds himself alone in a barn with her, he can’t help but accept her company. Although Lennie can hardly keep up with her story (his mind is elsewhere), she tells Lennie of her hard life. She is more three-dimensional than anyone would have thought if they had just looked at her from the outside: she is very attractive, dresses like a tramp, and is always heavily made up and wearing fancy clothing. Despite her outside appearances, Curly’s wife is a person that many of the men in the novel could relate to. She, too, has lost her dream, and as a result is completely torn, horribly lonely, and hungry for attention to make up for all that was reprieved of her. I do not believe that she is not partially to blame for Curly’s death, but one cannot say that she was on the easy end of that either. In conclusion, I think Steinbeck included her story so readers would feel compassion for her and realize that she’s not all that bad.
ReplyDeleteCurley is an interesting character. He represents the typical entitled son of the owner. Many successful people have children, and because they are so busy they do not have time to watch after them. Because of this, their children would generally do one of four things. They would turn out completely normal, feel neglected and depressed, do anything for attention, or feel entitled and feel like because their father is the boss they can do whatever they want (and generally, they can). Curley, is obviously the last one. He feels safe tormenting the other bigger men like Slim and Lenny, because he knows if they retaliate they will be fired.
ReplyDeleteCrooks question #4:
ReplyDeleteAt first Crooks has no interest in Lennie’s plan of owning a farm because so many other men have already come through the ranch in the past with plans of owning their own farm, and every single one of their plans have failed. However, after Candy enters the room and starts talking about how George, Lennie, and himself already have everything planned out and almost have all the money they need for the farm, Crooks realizes that their plan actually has a chance of happening and asks if he can join as an extra hand on the farm. Crooks ultimately tells Candy he is not really interested after interactions with Curley’s wife and George remind him that he is only a Negro, and make him feel as if he does not deserve to be part of the farm due to his inferior status. This shows how much of a schism there was between Blacks and Whites in the 1930s due to the Whites treating the Blacks so poorly. As a result, Blacks never wanted to take part in any activities with White people because they were all too often reminded of their inferior status. Blacks were put in a unfavorable position to either stick with their own race or be alone.
Rebecca Davis said...
ReplyDeleteSteinbeck’s view on the common man, I think, is that common men have to work really hard just to get by in life. Carlson was a really hard worker at the ranch and he was a common man. I think the common men, like Carlson, just want things to be best for themselves first, before others. When he wanted to shoot Candy’s dog he wanted to do it because the dog was bothering him, not because he wanted to help anyone or make the dog feel better. But that also turned out to be a very important part in the book. He’s saying that even though common men don’t seem very significant, what they do changes things. Because he’s so common I think that Steinbeck wanted to make the common man seem like someone who follows others when huge things are being decided and that the common man feels like he should be more in life and is trying hard to actually be a leader and not to rely on others to do things for him. Carlson wasn’t really a sensitive person and didn’t really understand and get other people’s feelings.
When critics call Carlson’s character an “everyman,” they basically mean that he is just your run-of-the-mill worker in Depression-era California. From these observations, we can clearly understand what Steinbeck thought of the “everyman.” Like other characters in Of Mice and Men, Carlson doesn’t have a lot going for him. He’s just an average ranch employee who is trying to get by in life. However, because of the grim atmosphere, it is hard to look after oneself, and I think Carlson feels a need to look up to some kind of leader. This leader can be either Slim or Curley. For instance, Carlson seems to genuinely want to help Curley hunt and kill Lennie because Curley is his superior and he looks up to him. However, just because he depends on a leader doesn’t mean he can’t take advantage of somebody else. Knowing that Candy is weaker than him, Carlson seemingly kills Candy’s dog because he finds it useless, but he actually is just using it as an excuse to take advantage of Candy for his own personal benefit. This shows that Steinbeck understood that nobody was perfect during this time, and Carlson represents that the “everyman” is a hypocrite who takes advantage of others even though he depends on somebody else.
ReplyDeleteSlim is a natural leader. He can understand emotions and feelings and will act when others can't or won't. He sees all, knows all, and comprehends all. He has a feel for judgment. He sees doom like George does. He knows when and how to step in. When he met George and Lenny, he understood very quickly that Lenny was an innocent, but dangerous person. He is the balance in the story; the voice of rhyme and reason in this story of chaos. He sees and comments but even he cannot stop or change everything. He reflects John Steinbeck’s opinion. He reflects Steinbeck’s feeling of the justice of George’s actions and the injustice of life. He shows his feeling of the need of leaders to have the ability to understand whoever follows them. He shows his view of how even if you’re a strong, great leader, sometimes life cannot be changed. He shows his view of how the majority see a sad person and think, “I wonder why they’re sad.” when they just saw the event that made them sad, but almost always there is that one sympathizing person. It is up to them whether they go up and announce their feelings or keep it hidden. Slim is Steinbeck’s view of the optimal human. Not necessarily physically incredible, but mentally and humanly he’s optimal.
ReplyDeleteCurley’s wife, who is unnamed in the novel, emerges as an interesting character. She is good looking, trouble making, and very flirtatious, which puts Lennie into a predicament. In the beginning of the novel, George warns Lennie not to talk to her so there will be no trouble. However, because of his kindness, Lennie listens to her when she reveals her problems. She tells him that she is very lonely and that she needs somebody to talk to. She says that she had lost her dream of becoming an actress. I think that Curley’s wife relates to the men on the ranch in the sense that she lost her dream just like Candy, Lennie, and George. I do think that it was partially her fault for the death of Lennie because she knew that George did not want him to talk to her, however, she ignored that and proceeded casually. Nevertheless, I think that the reader should feel bad for her because clearly she wants to change in a good way. In conclusion, I think that Steinbeck puts her in this novel in order to make the readers feel bad for her, but at the same time, to teach the reader to stay away from dangerous people.
ReplyDeleteSlim is essentially the brains of the ranch. When people have troubles they look directly to him for guidance. For instance when Carlson complains about Candy’s dog and insists on him putting the dog down, they consult with the ranch president, Slim. Slim is officially a mule driver but he help around the farm as well to make sure things are running smoothly. He is the most intellectual and fundamentally sound member of the ranch clique. Because of this he can tell that George and Lennie have a true friendship contrary to the beliefs of the rest of the ranch. The rest just see them as one sharp edged tool next to a big blunt one. In a sense, he is Steinbeck’s stand in for two reasons. One, in order to be analogous to the author you must have a good scene of the other characters, which slim did indeed have. We see Slim’s sympathetic side in the last pages of the book as he assures George he did the right thing. Two, he must not be the main character, otherwise, he wouldn’t be a stand in, he’d be a protagonist. Slim is enough of a main character to shed considerable light and knowledge onto the other characters without overpowering the protagonist, George.
ReplyDeleteBRYAN -SLIM-
Of all of the characters in Of Mice and Men perhaps the most subtly compelling one was the shunned outcast, Crooks. Crooks, an African American man, is widely unaccepted throughout the novel. However, one instance brought out the true Crooks, the one behind the fury and the resentment towards whites. Everyone but Lennie had gone to town when he found himself lost inside of Crooks’ room. Crooks was initially taken back by the fact that a white man was in his room. At the beginning of their exchange Crooks was rude to Lennie, but Lennie had no idea he was doing something out of the ordinary. The useless chitter chatter didn’t help in getting Crooks to open up but the talks of dreams, a paradise land for George and Lennie, and the possibility of him capturing the American Dream as well causes Crooks to become himself, to feel something in a time of depression and discrimination. When the men arrive back and wonder what Lennie is doing in his room, pointing out how wrong it is, suddenly he realized that the dreams of living the high life with two white men was simply unrealistic and at the time, unethical. This instance as well as the whole novel depicts the way things were during this time for African Americans; demoralizing.
ReplyDeleteCurly's wife is a woman of diversity. On one hand, she is a considered to be a slut by the ranchers, but she is really a lonesome, young, beautiful woman. She is the lone woman on a rural ranch in California, who one day aspired to be a wonderful movie star. Her dream was cut short by her mother, and instead moved on to marry an older, disgusting man. She is a bona fide example of a woman like her kind during the Great Depression. She has potential, but her family is not capable of realizing this because they are only focused on her marrying a man who has a sufficient amount of money. She does not enjoy the situation she has been placed in. She enjoys seeing her husband, Curly, suffering. She also symbolizes the average American during the Great Depression. She has a plan and great expectations, but all of the sudden it is washed away. She, like the normal American of the Great Depression, is then put into a difficult situation and is confused. In conclusion, the reason for Curly’s wife’s actions is not because she is a slut, it is because she has had her hopes and aspirations swept away, and is now living a lonesome, difficult life.
ReplyDeleteCurley’s Wife:
ReplyDeleteConsidered the ranch "tramp," Curley's wife is a very complex character who plays a big role in the novel, as she is the ultimate cause of Lennie's death. When we are first introduced to Curley’s wife we get the impression that she isn’t the best role model and Geroge foreshadows that something will happen between her and Lennie. In the last scene, we learn a lot about Curley’s wife and her hardships. We learn that she didn’t intend for this to be her future rather she wanted to be an actress, but after that dream didn’t come true, she settled for Curley, an over-protective husband, and she is now very lonely. Curley’s wife represents one of the common occurrences that we see in the novel, which is people who have had their dreams crushed, and as a result are lonely and looking for companionship. Curley’s wife had her dreams of becoming a movie star crushed, and now she looks for attention on the ranch. I think that Steinbeck is trying to get us to look beyond Curley’s wife’s external issues, and look at the good within her, and show some compassion for her.
Crooks plays a very interesting role in this book Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. He is not a main characters, but he plays a big part in helping to understand what that time was like, and how it reflected on characters like Candy and Lennie. Crooks was a crippled black man, back in the 1930’s neither of those kinda were accepted, so you can imagine how hard it was for him. No one would ever talk to him, and if they did it wasn't nice, and it was a command to do something, he lived by himself, and no one ever went to his room. One night Lennie, who is also an outcast for being slow, went into Crooks room, which has almost never happens to him, and Lennie was talking to him. Crooks didn’t know what to expect, this had never happened to him, at first he was annoyed and confused, because nothing like this has ever happened , but he got used to it and started to enjoying it. Then Candy walks in, and their like a group of outcast, all getting along with each other. It was very hard for an African American to live in this time. It was very hard for Crooks, but eventually he found some people to be wit
ReplyDeleteLeib Weiner said ...
ReplyDeleteIn the book Of Mice and Men, There is a ranch hand on the farm named
Carlson. He represents the “everyman”, as in the typical man. The author has given
us a view of what he thinks of the common man in this book, but the view is not a
good one.
The first time you read about Carlson he is in the bunkhouse urging Candy,
the janitor, to let him kill Candy’s dog, who is very old and is suffering from old
age. On top of that Carlson argues, the dog has not been able to do its job properly
for years and is stinking up the bunkhouse. When Carlson does eventually kill the
dog, outside, he does it painlessly. This episode tells us a few things: the first is that
man is persistent and impatient, like when Carlson would not stop telling Candy to
kill the dog, and would not stop until he got what he wanted. Common man is also
only interested in his own interests and only likes things that can do there job as
seen when he argues about the dog. Finally, man is quick to resort to violence, such
as killing the dog, instead of finding another solution, but also sort of sympathetic
because he wanted to pit the dog out of its misery.
THIS COMMENT IS NOT LATE.
William Weinstein says...
ReplyDeleteIn Of Mice and Men, written by John Steinbeck, there are many different characters. Critics of the book think that John Steinbeck, while writing the book, decided to put himself in the story in order to nudge it in the right direction. Thus,
the character Slim is a stand-in for the author's point of view. The reasons why are as follows: Firstly, Slim is a tolerant and understanding character, trustworthy enough to let the plot advance as the characters reveal their stories, like how George reveals why he and Lennie were kicked out of Weed. Second, Slim is
also a major character, but not so major as to severely affect the plot line. Third, Slim is always around to correct other characters and judge over all of the affairs on the ranch. Fourth, Slim is a leader, and acts in the only "righteous" way in the book. Finally, Slim is portrayed as a good-looking, tall, mysterious man. Most authors do not like to think of themselves as ugly, so that is a hint in any book: look for an attractive character, and you have found a likely candidate for the author’s point of view.