GCSE English Literature - Of Mice and Men

Model Text-Based Answer

Re-read pages 90-91, where Lennie crushes Curley’s hand. What does this extract tell you about a) Lennie b) Curley c) the way the story might develop?


The extract begins with Curley, uneasy about his wife’s loyalty and suspicious of Slim in particular, pestering Slim with repeated ill-judged questions. When Slim rejects his questions, Carlson is quick to join the attack, openly insulting Curley:
“ ‘You’re yella as a frog belly.’ “

The way Candy “joined the attack with joy” emphasises just how unpopular Curley is with the ranch hands, something Curley must sense. In a place of work where all the men see themselves as equals, in status and poverty, someone who assumes a superior status as Curley does is quickly resented.

Suspiciously jealous of his wife, and belittled by the treatment he has just received from three of the ranch-hands, Curley sights an easier target in Lennie. He reacts to the taunt of cowardice,
“ ‘I’ll show ya who’s yella.’ “
and sees an opportunity to prove his toughness by tackling the biggest man on the ranch. His response is typical of these working men, for whom words do not come easily, whereas actions are a natural part of the hard life they lead outdoors.

Lennie, on the other hand, is only a man of action when he is directed closely in what to do, for example bucking bags of grain, at which he excels. He is completely oblivious to the tension around him, for in his idealised world people and animals live in harmony and peace. He is remembering details of the ranch he and George dream of owning, “smiling with delight.”

Curley, typically insensitive, misinterprets Lennie’s smile as a further attempt to humiliate him in front of the other men. His attack is brutal and calculated, “balanced and poised”, in much the same way as he hunts Lennie down at the end of the novel. Hurting Lennie becomes a way to prove himself when he has been unable to scare Slim, Carlson or even the old man, Candy.

Lennie’s response to the attack shows how right George is when he claims, at several points in the novel, that Lennie doesn’t act out of meanness, a desire to hurt others. Lennie is terrified by the violence of Curley’s assault: he is “too frightened to defend himself,” his hands useless at his sides. He is not a natural fighter like Curley.

Lennie is entirely dependent upon George to guide him, repeating George’s name and appealing
“ ‘Make ‘um let me alone, George.’ “
He is compared with a frightened animal, his hands like “paws” and his voice a lamb’s – “bleated”. Having few words to express himself, Lennie simply repeats his plea,
“ ‘Make ‘um stop, George.’ “

Lennie’s reactions are slow too. George has to yell his instruction twice. The way in which he looks about him, and his big face, add to the sense of Lennie’s helplessness to act independently. Having been given the instruction, Lennie has no notion of acting on his own, so merely holds on tight, crushing Curley’s hand.

George is fully aware of the danger Lennie presents, and rushes over to free Curley. Lennie’s strength is such that, intensified by his terror of Curley, he instantly crushes Curley’s hand. He is so strong that George is compelled to slap Lennie repeatedly in the face to force him to release Curley.

The episode is concluded when Steinbeck emphasises Lennie’s naturally gentle disposition by having him say to George
“ ‘I didn’t wanta, I didn’t wanta hurt him.’ “

This extract describes both the comradeship which exists among the working men on the ranch, and the threat to harmony which an outsider like Curley can pose. It prepares us for the hatred which Curley nurtures for Lennie as a result of his public humiliation, being robbed of the one attribute he felt he had, his capabilities as a fighter.

It demonstrates just how much Lennie depends upon George to rescue him from the troubles he finds himself in, and warns us that Lennie will always be liable to do unintentional damage to those he meets.

It gives George a reminder, if he needed one, that he will constantly have to rescue Lennie from scrapes, that Lennie’s dependence upon him will always hold him back, and that, as he finally admits at the end of the novel, all their dreams will be destroyed by Lennie’s inability to think or act for himself.