Sympathy and Curley's Wife

P. We’ve talked a lot about how Steinbeck presents Curley’s Wife in a negative way. Even though we don’t have evidence yet about the good in her, we do, as a reader, feel sympathy towards her. Q. ‘Tell her to stay the hell home where she belongs.’ E. We begin to feel sympathy for her because… In this quote the alliterative ‘hell home’ emphasises where the men believe she belongs. Using the word ‘hell’ suggests… P. Another reason we feel sympathy for her is how women are treated in America at this time. Q. ‘you give me a good whore house every time.’

Jail bait

P – After seeing her for the first time, George says this about Curley’s Wife: Q – ‘I never seen no piece of jail bait worse than her.’ E – Jail bait is another example of slang. It means…. George also uses a double negative ‘no’ and ‘never.’ This emphasises how negatively he views Curley’s Wife. He sees her as ‘bait,’ which will lure men to ‘jail,’ both of these adjectives are very negative, giving us more evidence that Curley’s Wife is only shown as a bad person.

Curley's Wife and her phallic hair...!

P – The way Steinbeck describes her suggests the negative, promiscuous nature, of her character. Q – ‘Her hair hung in little rolled clusters, like sausages.’ E – The simile is repeated by Steinbeck in the novel. This gives it extra significance. By comparing her hair to the sausages, Steinbeck creates phallic imagery here, the sausage is representative of the penis. This emphasises her sexual nature. The simile could also suggest that her hair is full bodied and ‘meaty’ or that it is greasy. It is ironic that her hair is curly and she is married to Curley, perhaps Steinbeck is creating a pun here.

Of Mice and Men

How do writers present the good and bad in people? Point – Relates to the question Quote – Your evidence taken from the text Explanation – Explain how your quote proves your point. Talk about language features. (That’s the English bit!) P – Before we even meet Curley’s Wife we get a negative impression of her from Candy. Q – ‘Tart’ E – The way that Candy describes her, using slang, gives us the negative impression, because ‘tart’ in this case means someone who is sexually permissive. P – Another negative impression we get of Curley’s Wife is when we first meet her in the book. Q ‘A girl was standing there looking in. she had full rouged lips…heavily made up. Her fingernails were red”. E – Steinbeck repeats the word ‘red’ in his description of Curley’s Wife. Red is usually associated with… (add your own ideas) Our connotations of this mean that we think Curley’s Wife is… (add your own ideas) which is negative.

Of Mice and Men - bits and pieces from revision session today

GEORGE "I don't want no fights," said Lennie. He got up from his bunk and sat down at the table, across from George. Almost automatically George shuffled the cards and laid out his solitaire hand. He used a deliberate, thoughtful, slowness." In this quote we see George playing a solitary card game showing, that Lennie cannot join in with any of the activities that George does. Playing a 'solitaire hand' is showing us that Lennie and George don't really have a true connection. The group of three 'deliberate, thoughtful, slowness,' illustrates the isolation and social awkwardness in this situation. The 'almost automatically' could indicate that George doesn't want human interaction and is purely doing this as a time wasting, mechanical action. Slim quotes After meeting Curley's wife for the first time, a new character - Slim - is placed into the story. He uses dialogue like: "Hi, good-looking" & "Well, you ain't tryin' very hard. I seen him goin' in your house" Since Curley isn't around, he uses a chance to potentially flirt with Curley's Wife and get away with it. His disregard for Curley's 'alpha male' personality shows that he likes to put his job in danger to talk to the only woman on the ranch. Also by using 'you ain't trying', it can make it seem like C's Wife is not very bright so she has to try and make herself noticed George "Guys like us that work on ranches are the loneliest guys in the world. They ain't got no family and they don't belong no place. They got nothin' to look ahead to". It's hard out there for a ranchhand. Steinbeck seems to be saying that the loneliness is even worse than the poverty: like Lennie and George, you can bear a lot more if you have a friend. The double negatives reinforces the lonely aspects of the speech. "We travel together," said George coldly. "Oh, so it's that way." George was tense and motionless. "Yea, it's that way." (2.80-82) By saying "Oh, so it's that way," Curley is essentially accusing Lennie and George of being gay. But George doesn't take the bait. It just shows how pathetic Curley is that he can't understand the men's friendship. SETTING Quote: 'A water snake glided smoothly up the pool, twisting its periscope head from side to side... the beak swallowed the little snake.' This pathetic fallacy foreshadows the tragedy that is about to befall Lennie. The theme of survival of the fittest is present throughout the book, notably in the symbol of Candy's dog and how it is treated. The simile of the periscope head and the repetition of 'side from side' present us with a cautious animal, which contrasts with the antics of Lennie who 'crashes' through the brush.

Character Quotes for Of Mice and Men - Crooks

Crooks scowled, but Lennie's disarming smile defeated him.  A guy needs somebody- to be near him." He whined, "A guy goes nuts if he ain't got nobody. Nobody never gets to heaven, and nobody gets no land. 
“I seen hundreds of men come by on the road an’ on the ranches, with their bindles on their back an’ that same damn thing in their heads . . . every damn one of ’em’s got a little piece of land in his head. An’ never a God damn one of ’em ever gets it. Just like heaven. Ever’body wants a little piece of lan’. I read plenty of books out here. Nobody never gets to heaven, and nobody gets no land.” Crooks is so named because of a crooked back caused by a kick from a horse. Crooks is the stable hand who takes care of the horses and lives by himself because he is the only black man on the ranch. Along with Candy, Crooks is a character used by Steinbeck to show the effects of discrimination. This time the discrimination is based on race, and Crooks is not allowed in the bunkhouse with the white ranch hands. He has his own place in the barn with the ranch animals. Candy realizes he has never been in Crooks' room, and George's reaction to Crooks being involved in their dream is enough to cause Crooks to withdraw his request to be part of the dream. Racial discrimination is part of the microcosm Steinbeck describes in his story. It reaches its height in the novel when Curley's wife puts Crooks "in his place" by telling him that a word from her will have him lynched. Interestingly, only Lennie, the flawed human, does not see the colour of Crooks' skin. Crooks also has pride. He is not the descendent of slaves, he tells Lennie, but of landowners. In several places in the story, Steinbeck shows Crook's dignity and pride when he draws himself up and will not "accept charity" from anyone. Crooks also displays this "terrible dignity" when Curley's wife begins to tear away at his hope for the dream farm. Crooks is not without his faults, however. He scares Lennie and makes up the story of George leaving him. Prejudice isn't simply a characteristic of the white ranch hands or the daughter-in-law of the boss; it is a human characteristic, and Crooks needs to feel superior to someone also. That he becomes part of the dream farm is an indication of Crooks' loneliness and insecurity. He, like Candy, realizes that once he is no longer useful he will be "thrown out." Where, then, can he find some security for his future? The dream farm of Lennie's seems to be the place. Crooks promises to work for nothing as long as he can live his life out there without the fear of being put out. Like all the others, he wants a place where he can be independent and have some security. But there is no security for anyone in a prejudiced world, least of all a black stable hand with a crooked back.

Character Quotes for Of Mice and Men - Candy

Candy is "a tall, stoop-shouldered old man …. He was dressed in blue jeans and carried a big push-broom in his left hand." His right hand is simply a stump because he lost his hand in a ranch accident. Now the owners of the ranch keep him on as long as he can "swamp" out or clean the bunkhouse, because there was no retirement and pensions in that time, so when he stops working he will have no source of income therefore cannot be able to survive in the world – linked with the survival of the fittest. Candy gives Steinbeck an opportunity to discuss social discrimination based on age and handicaps. Candy represents what happens to everyone who gets old in American society: They are let go, canned, thrown out, and used up. Candy's greatest fear is that once he is no longer able to help with the cleaning he will be "disposed of." Like his old dog, he has lived beyond his usefulness. Candy and his dog parallel the relationship of George and Lennie. Like Candy's dog, Lennie depends on George to take care of him and show him what to do. Candy, like George, is different from the other ranch hands because he has his dog as a constant companion, someone devoted and loyal to him. When the unfeeling Carlson suggests that Candy's dog be put out of its misery, Candy abdicates the responsibility to Carlson. He tells George later that he should have shot his dog himself, foreshadowing George's decision to take responsibility for Lennie's death and "be his brother's keeper." Candy also plays a significant role in the dream, providing the money needed to make the down payment. Because of Candy, the dream almost becomes real. Candy's down payment causes George to believe that, perhaps, the dream can be realized. But none of them count on the tragic meeting between Curley's wife and Lennie in the barn. Even then Candy still thinks he can have his safe haven, a place where no one will throw him out when he is too old. The dream is so strong in him that he pleads with George, to no avail, to have their farm despite Lennie's death. “The old man came slowly into the room. He had his broom in his hand. And at his heels there walked a dragfooted sheepdog, gray of muzzle, and with pale, blind old eyes. The dog struggled lamely to the side of the room and lay down, grunting softly to himself and licking his grizzled, moth-eaten coat.” Throughout the novel, there is the difference between the two of them. Even in the description there is a parallel of the description of the dog and the "Curley's like a lot of little guys. He hates big guys. He's alla time picking scraps with big guys. Kind of like he's mad at 'em because he ain't a big guy." (Page 26) Candy is basically the old "swamper" on the ranch who knows just about everything about everyone. He provides George with all the information he needs to know about most of the people on the ranch and gives the reader insight to their personalities as well. Candy's sort of like a narrator in the beginning of the story in the sense that he helps to explain the ranch hands. "You seen what they done to my dog tonight? They says he wasn't no good to himself nor nobody else. When they can me here I wisht somebody'd shoot me. But they won't do nothing like that. I won't have no place to go, an' I can't get no more jobs." (Page 60) This is basically Candy realizing that he's weak and not really important to anyone on the farm; he has no more power than his dog, who was shot, had. Much like his name, Candy is a sweet person and a nice thing to have a round, but he is in no way, shape, or form vital to life. In this context, Candy is trying to convince George to allow him to go with him to the dream ranch because, not only does Candy have the $350 to put the down payment on the farm, but he's willing to work there since no one is going to help him, and (in all likelihood) he's going to get fired soon. "I ought to of shot that dog myself, George. I shouldn't ought to of let no stranger shoot my dog." (Page 61) This was one of the most important quotes that Candy made. It foreshadowed the end of the story, which was that George would shoot Lennie instead of letting a "stranger" (the other ranch hands, namely Curley) do it. This quote foreshadows this due to the parallelism that is drawn between the relationship of Candy with his dog and the relationship of George with Lennie.

OMAM - Curley's Wife focus

Explore the ways one or two minor characters are presented in Of Mice and Men Characters are presented in two main ways in Of Mice and Men: through Steinbeck’s narrative and through other character’s comments and conversations. This allows the reader to view characters in different ways: through Steinbeck’s narrative, the reader can form more of their own opinion, whereas we are given a more biased perspective when detail is offered through other character’s conversations. It is notable that the majority of Curley’s Wife’s presentation is through other character’s comments and Crooks’ presentation comes from a combination of narrative and his own comments in chapter 4. Curley’s Wife is first presented to the reader through Candy’s comments. He tells George, after speking negatively about Curley, “Wait til you see Curley’s wife”, he then goes on to tell us she is “Purty…but” and “she’s got the eye”, summing up moments later that “I think Curley married… a tart”. The effect of this is that the reader immediately things negatively of her, before she has even entered the novella, especially as we are told of Curley’s violent nature and George warns Lennie to stay away from him, reminding him where he can hide if things, inevitably, go bad. The reader immediately associates Curley and his wife as negative characters. Steinbeck’s narrator outlines Curley’s Wife in chapter 2, moments after Candy’s biased and negative comments, through her physical description when we are told: “Both men glanced up, for the rectangle of sunshine in the doorway was cut off. A girl was standing there looking in. she had full rouged lips…heavily made up. Her fingernails were red”. The fact she is presented as such, following on from Candy’s words, creates a negative impression on the reader – she has cut off the light and seems to have come uninvited. Added to this is her appearance in red, a colour associated with sex and promiscuity in women. It reinforces the idea that she is a tart and the reader automatically has a negative view of her. The reader’s opinion only changes when Steinbeck deliberately tries to create sympathy for her in Chapter 5 before she is killed, by letting us hear her life story and how badly she has been treated, to ensure the reader is satisfied that Lennie must be punished and his death is acceptable. That presentation of Curley’s Wife changes because we hear her speak, honestly, in her own words. The language is childlike and simplistic and we realise how sad and lonely her life is. She believes that she could have been a movie star because someone told her that and she lived her life in that belief – it shows her lack of education. We see how sad and lonely she is when she says “Well, I ain’t told this to nobody before. Maybe I oughtt’n to. I don’t like Curley. He ain’t a nice fella”. The effect on the reader is to realise that maybe she is misunderstood. Perhaps her attention seeking, viewed so negatively by Candy and the others, is actually a way to stem her loneliness. A similar trait is seen when Crooks speaks at length to Lennie in his room in Chapter 4. It is important that Steinbeck changes her presentation at this point, to allow the plot change to occur – the reader needs to be satisfied that Lennie must be punished to allow the ending to work – we then view George as doing the right thing, putting Lennie out of his misery, rather than killing him.

Curley's Wife - Controlled Assessment

'Explore the ways a central character is presented and developed' Curley's Wife • Explain what she looks like and how this initial portrait gives us an insight into her character • What do we learn about her hopes and dreams? • How does she convey the theme of loneliness and isolation? • How does she convey the theme of prejudice both as victim and aggressor? • What is your opinion of her - are you sympathetic of her by the end of the novel? • Compare her with other women mentioned in the book - what is Steinbeck indicating about the role of women in 1930s America? • No rights / sexism – where do we see this in the novel? • Lack of identity • Isolated through relationships and also through her sexuality / femininity

DIY - Curley's Wife

P. Q. ‘Married two weeks and got the eye.’ E. The key word here is ‘eye,’ which is a reference to the expression ‘a roving eye.’ This means that she is already looking for something better. Other connotations to eye are…. Early on in their relationship, this doesn’t bode well for the newlyweds. The reason that George says this is…

Two PQEs on Curley's Wife

P. After we see CW feeling frustrated, she suddenly takes out this anger on Crooks. As a black man, he is socially the lowest person in the stable, lower even than her, due to his skin colour. Q. ‘Well, you keep your place then, Nigger. I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain’t even funny.’ E. Steinbeck allows CW a moment of fire and anger. The repetition of ‘you’ and ‘your’ personal pro-nouns emphasise how she doesn’t view Crooks in the collective of their gathering, but instead she sets him apart. She reinforces this with the pejorative slang ‘Nigger,’ which is shocking today, but would have been perfectly acceptable at the time – although not for Crooks. She says ‘it ain’t even funny’ as if to suggest she would gain some amusement from doing this, for kicks. This hints at a cruel streak from CW. Even though she has felt the isolation of the men on the farm, she ironically decides to divide even further and to reinforce the isolation by dividing with gender and colour. P. In the stable scene, CW is presented as being frustrated by her domestic situation. Q. “Sure I gotta husban’. You all seen him. Swell guy, ain’t he?” E. Steinbeck uses a rhetorical question to allow both the characters and the reader an opportunity to reflect on this. By using ‘swell’ she is being ironic and put next to the rhetorical question we get a sense of the sarcasm with which this would have been delivered. We do / do not feel sorry for her and are unsympathetic like the characters / we are sympathetic towards her unlike the characters.

More Of Mice and Men

Click here for a Prezzi link for Of Mice and Men flo-chart goodness, thanks to Miss Brayne!

Of Mice and Men - Informative website

This website helped me work out what a kewpie lamp is! It has summaries of the sections, some good insights into character names and a Q&A section.

GCSE English Literature - Of Mice and Men

Model Theme-Based Answer

Do you agree that all the characters in “Of Mice and Men” are seeking companionship more than anything else?


It is human nature to seek companionship, and Steinbeck is keen to emphasise that his characters are ordinary human beings, many of them on the lower rungs of society. They have little status, few possessions, no savings, no home, and little control over their own destinies. It is this ordinariness which makes us sympathise with most of Steinbeck’s characters.

These are mostly men who travel from place to place seeking work. They have no job security, and no real prospects of securing a long-term job or a place to call their own. As a result most are lonely, but unwilling to admit that they are, and unable to express their sense of loneliness in an articulate manner.

Their lives are also complicated by the presence of one woman, Curley’s wife, who is attractive, unhappy, and desperate to find somebody to talk to. She expresses her loneliness in anger when on Saturday evening she is forced to seek the company of Crooks, Lennie and Candy,
“ ‘ a nigger an’ a dum-dum and a lousy ol’ sheep – an’ likin’ it because they ain’t nobody else.’ “
She insults all three at the same time as she is willing to accept their companionship, even if it is only temporary and short-lived.

Candy finds companionship in his old dog, although it is now smelly and unable to work, rather like Candy himself.
“ ‘I been around him so much I never notice how he stinks.’ “
He resists the pressure from the other men to have the dog shot, and turns sadly to the wall when it is shot.

He is quick to listen in to George’s and Lennie’s dream, and grasps a way to become part of it, offering the only thing he has, his savings. For a brief period of optimism, he believes they can fulfil the dream together and he can once again find purpose, friendship and independence.

Crooks has become so accustomed to his loneliness that he appears to resent an intrusion into his private space, even if it offers companionship.
“He kept his distance and demanded that other people kept theirs.”
He is an outsider even more than the other characters because of his colour. He lives with constant physical pain, which Steinbeck intends us to interpret as an emotional pain as well.

Given the chance of companionship with Lennie, he cannot resist the opportunity to inflict pain on Lennie when he senses Lennie’s vulnerability.
“ ‘S’pose he gets killed or hurt so he can’t come back.’ “
If he has to remain lonely, he is jealous of Lennie’s friendship and tries to wish it away, if only to let Lennie see how fortunate he is to have a good companion.

Slim comes closest to accepting and making the best of being single. He is more independent than the other men by virtue of his skill and status as a jerkline skinner. He invites and earns their trust, for example encouraging George to tell the story of his relationship with Lennie. In this way he gains a kind of detached companionship.

George and Lennie have found a kind of companionship which is not entirely one-sided. It gives George a sense of authority over Lennie, but also teaches him to care for and protect Lennie because of all the troubles Lennie has caused them both.
“ ‘Made me seem God damn smart alongside of him.’ “
Although to begin with George enjoyed playing jokes on Lennie, he has learnt a sense of humility from Lennie’s gentle reactions to being outsmarted.

In return, Lennie, although a constant burden to George –
“ ‘ if I was alone I could live so easy’ “ –
is extremely loyal, as Crooks nearly finds to his cost when he threatens their friendship. Lennie also recognises deep down that he complicates George’s life, and that he has done things wrong.
“ ‘I done another bad thing.’ “
even if he is incapable of anticipating when things will go wrong.

Steinbeck uses the ending of his novel to emphasise just how alone his characters are. Those with most to lose, because they have a relationship which has stood the test of time, are bought to a tragic end. Lennie dies with his dream ahead of him over the river, while George is left to mourn his companion in the knowledge that he took the impossible decision to end Lennie’s life for Lennie’s own sake. The only character who understands what George has lost, and why he had to execute Lennie, is Slim, the one person who is at least in part happy in his singleness.

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.