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Gender Lens In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

835 Words4 Pages

Being forced to kill someone would be really emotional, but imagine if that person was your best friend. In John Steinbeck’s book “Of Mice and Men” George and Lennie have been together since they were kids. Lennie idolized George and George, as often as he gets mad at him, still loves Lennie. They run from their old town of Weed to get a job as ranch hands in Salinas Valley. From there they meet many people, most of which welcomed them, while some had a harder time accepting them. Things start off well, but take a turn quickly. George and Lennie are the main characters, but some of the other characters can be deeply examined too, through different literary lenses. Curley’s wife is one of these characters, whom could be identified by many literary lenses. However, we will focus on one lens, the Gender lens. First off, while everyone in the story has a name or nickname, even Crooks, Curley’s Wife is never given a name. She is the only …show more content…

These were just a small handful of them. Now you understand how hard it would be to be forced into killing your best friend, who you know has a mental disorder. You can sympathize with Curley’s Wife for knowing how much Curley abused her and knowing she isn’t a tramp. You can understand why Curley, the Boss’s own son, doesn’t have much power at all. Now think about this, what if you were in any of these character’s situations. If you were forced to kill a friend, or suffered abuse from a husband you can’t divorce. How would people judge you based on your actions, not knowing the full truth. Would they Think you’re a murderer, or did what was best for your friend. Would they think you’re a tramp, or understand that your marriage is awful and you can’t do anything about it. Maybe you’ll think deeper about things like this from using literary lenses, and understand characters more

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Curley’s married woman is talked about before she is seen in the book. The first existent reference of her is ‘wife. ’ Already it has been established that she has no name. she is merely Curley’s married woman. The work forces see her as a adult females.

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How Does Steinbeck Use Foreshadowing In Of Mice And Men

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Besides, the fact that there were not any women’s names mentioned in the book reveals how evil women presented in this book. Curley’s wife was considered as only temptation and the source of conflict. Eventually, Curley’s wife deserved her death, and only then would she back to innocence. Also, the death of Candy’s old dog strongly foreshadows Lennie’s death. Obviously, the similarity between Candy’s dog and Lennie was that they were useless, weak but innocent.

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Taking someone’s life is nearly impossible to justify. In John Steinbeck’s novella, Of Mice and Men, George had to make a tough decision when he killed his best friend, Lennie, to save him from a more painful death. The story takes place during the Great Depression in California, and follows two unlikely friends, Lennie, a extremely strong yet mentally disabled man and, George, who is much smarter and the leader of the two. George and Lennie are migrant workers, and after losing their previous job, have come to the ranch where the story takes place to find work. After Lennie accidentally murders Curley’s wife, he runs away, and a band of the workers assemble to punish Lennie, with Curley, an aggressive and prideful character as the leader.

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