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How Does Steinbeck Show The Power In Of Mice And Men

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In the novel Of Mice And Men by John Stienbeck, the hierarchy of the characters in Crooks’ room is Curley’s wife, Candy, Lennie, and Crooks. This is shown by the way each of these characters interact with each other. Crooks is shown to have the least power because he lost his battle with Lennie. Crooks tried to get into Lennie’s head, which worked, until Lennie became violent. Crooks, seeing that he couldn’t compete, backed off, showing that Lennie had power over him. In the story, it says “He edged back on his bunk to get out of the way,“ Lennie responds with anger, leading to Crooks taking his glasses off. Glasses are a sign of intelligence, something Lennie doesn’t inherently have. The removal of crook’s glasses symbolizes Crooks’ defeat in his battle with Lennie . …show more content…

In the story, when Curley’s wife confronts the three men, Lennie gets upset, saying that he wishes George was here. Candy, trying to calm Lennie, responds by saying “Don’t you worry none, I jus’ heard the guys comin’ in. George’ll be in the bunkhouse right now, I bet.” This calms lennie down, showing Candy’s power over him. Curley’s wife is shown to have the most power because of her ability to frame the three men and get away with it. In the story, Candy stands up for Crooks and Lennie, saying that they’d tell the others if she framed them. Curley’s wife responded to this by saying “Tell an’ be damned, nobody’d listen to you, an’ you know it.” to which Candy replied “No… Nobody’d listen to us.” To summarize, the hierarchy in chapter four depicts Curley’s wife having the most power, followed by Candy, Lennie, and Crooks. This is shown by their actions towards each

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1073 Words | 5 Pages

Both have very little parts but they are very important to the story. They both have a similar goal which is to have companionship but both struggle to find it as they would both be regarded as inferior at the time. Crooks tries to find companionship by not really bothering people because he thinks he will struggle because he’s black but you can tell he does want companionship when he asks Lennie “s’pose George don’t come back no more” I think he’s trying to get Lennie to stop with him if something happens to George. Curleys wife try’s to gain companionship by being very flirty although when she has an opportunity to talk to Lennie, Crooks or Candy, all of which could be discriminated against, she just pushes them aside in the sense of she insults

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768 Words | 4 Pages

Curley’s wife has great power over Crooks. When Curley’s wife walked into the crook’s room she was looking for conversation but when Lennie, Crooks, and candy started talking about their dream farm and Curley’s wife just all of the sudden she laughed and thought that the dream farm will never exist. Then Crooks tells Curley’s wife to leave but she then she gets mad and says “well, you keep your place then, nigger. I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain’t funny” (81).

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1155 Words | 5 Pages

Later in the story Candy joins George and Lennie’s plan to get their own farm, and they only need one more month's pay. Lennie and Curley get into a fight and Lennie crushes Curley’s hand. But Slim saved Lennie by making Curley lie about what really happened to him. Lennie and Crooks talk in Crook’s room and Crooks tells Lennie about the racism that he receives from all of the other men. Later, Lennie accidentally kills Curley’s wife when he was touching her hair, and he runs away.

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568 Words | 3 Pages

In the novel of “Of Mice and Men” power and friendship is the very bases of the story. There are many people with power in the book but I specifically was interested in Curley’s power. Curley is the son of the Ranch’s boss and he is very spoiled. He does not listen to rules and usually gets away with any trouble he makes or gets into.

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547 Words | 3 Pages

Between Curley’s wife and Crooks, Crooks is the less powerful of the two. Even though women have lowly ranked in society, African Americans are ranked even lower. The ranch is similar, Crooks is a stable buck who is on the lowest social level at the ranch. In the story, Curley’s wife threatens Crooks that she will tell everyone a lie and they will believe her because she has a higher social status. Crooks has the least amount of power and respect at the ranch.

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956 Words | 4 Pages

Her treatment towards Crooks is poor and disrespectful, but this was the only time she had power over someone, as black people in 1930s America had even less power than women due to racial segregation, reinforced by the Jim Crow laws, their lack of power and authority was that low that they were compared to animals instead of being compared to human beings, this is shown in the novel since the character of Crooks has to live with the animals in the stable, and cannot enter the ranch like any other farmer. Therefore, Curley´s wife's power and authority were so little that she could only rule over a person who was seen as an animal, implying that the only power she had was over living beings that were not human, such as animals. The treatment she gives Crooks is shown in the quotation "I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain't even funny. " This quotation shows how poorly valuable were the lives of black people as even women such as Curley´s wife that had almost no power could make his life come to an

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626 Words | 3 Pages

Not to mention this Quote,” I always thought my ol' lady stole it.... " Curley’s wile Pg88). To clarify, Curley’s wife was talking about how the man she met said he would send her a letter, and thought her mom took it. Additionally, Crooks also had a dream that was affected by someone else. When Crooks heard about George, Lennie, and Candy’s dream from Lennie and Candy, he wanted to join them, but when Curley's wife came into his room and threatened him, he didn't want to go through the same thing with Candy, Lennie, and

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687 Words | 3 Pages

This piece of text evidence says that Crooks can't be around anyone because they're racist and he has to isolate himself from everyone since they didn't like black people back in the 1930s. This is saying that Curley's Wife is lonely because Curley won't let her hang out with anyone else besides him because he's very jealous and protective of her. The theme starts to develop through conflict in the plot, such as Lennie and Curley. Curley is mad at Lennie because he thought that Lennie was laughing at him when he was convinced that Slim was having an affair with his wife but Lennie was actually smiling because he was thinking about the rabbits and the farm he and George are gonna buy someday but sense Curley wasn't in the mood he decided to punch Lennie over and over again even though Lennie wasn't fighting back. In the article it says “He slashed at Lennie with his left, and then smashed down his nose with a right” (Steinbeck 63).

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837 Words | 4 Pages

Considered weak, Crooks did not mingle with the strong. Within the male social order contained the weak too, which includes Lennie and Candy, but white men still had more power than women. When strong white men went into town to drink, they left the weak on the ranch. Candy and Lennie shared many of their powers with Curley’s wife, proving that women could gain a miniscule chunk of

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638 Words | 3 Pages

Lennie, Candy and George have a picture perfect life. They have all they need. They have a job, place to sleep, food, friends, and hope. Their hopes and dream are about to become a reality, until their world flips upside down. Lennie kills Curley’s wife by accident, and he has no chance of survival.

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801 Words | 4 Pages

In addition, Crooks isn't wanted in the bunkhouse so he made Lennie feel unwanted in his

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745 Words | 3 Pages

Crooks was required to be reclusive because he was not wanted around. Racism was an extreme issue in the world in the 1930s and in America alone. All in all, power has important roles in the relationships in Of Mice and Men. Power is shown through the relationships of Lennie and George, Curley and his wife, and crooks and society. This bias power is determined by competence, gender and race.

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833 Words | 4 Pages

The reader is positioned to view her negatively as she uses her beauty as power to seduce the workers on the farm and make her husband jealous. The men often complain about her throughout the novel, calling her names that no woman would ever appreciate. Candy tells George and Lennie his honest opinion of Curley’s wife, “You know what I think?” George did not answer. “Well, I think Curley’s married…a tart.”

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703 Words | 3 Pages

This is apparent in the way the men working on the ranch view Curley’s wife. When speaking about her to George and Lennie, Candy says, “Know what I think? Well, I think Curley’s

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282 Words | 2 Pages

Crooks is a black man who has been given the nickname because of his crooked back. He is another character in the novel that is discriminated against. Similarly, as Lennie and Candy are discriminated because of their weakness, Crooks is discriminated because of his race. For example, he says how he “ain’t wanted in the bunkhouse… can’t play [cards] because I’m black” (68). His race causes him to be separated from everyone else and be isolated in his own room.

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