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John Steinbeck Contradicts In Of Mice And Men

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What characters say are often contradicted in most novels. An example would be such as in Of Mice and Men when George says “he never lifted a finger against me” (pg.40) therefore showing he is harmless but it is contradicted when he hurts others unintentionally. Lennie in the beginning is petting a dead mouse which he has killed “I pinched their heads a little and then they was dead-because they was so little”(pg.10). Nearing the end of the story Lennie kills his beloved puppy “Why do you got to get killed? You ain’t so little as mice”(pg.85). Almost immediately upon killing the mice Lennie makes a another mistake “And then she was still, for Lennie had broken her neck”. In each instance Lennie contradicts what George told about him to others.

Tough Questions In most novels when a character’s close friend is believed to have done something horrendous it is often doubted. In John Steinbeck’s book Of Mice and Men Curley’s wife has been killed. Curley immediately suspects “That big son-of-a-bitch done it”(pg.96), he immediately blames the big guy Lennie. George and Candy are doubtful but believe that it was probably Lennie who did it, George says “All the time he done bad things, but never done one of ‘em mean.”and Candy “He is such a nice …show more content…

In Of Mice and Men Curley’s wife is hated throughout the book but near the end she reveals her past to unattentive Lennie. “Ain’t I got a right to talk to nobody? Whatta they think I am , anyways?”(pg.87), quote shows that Curley's wife is lonely and wants to talk to someone but she is ignored by all. She goes to explain to Lennie all the things that has happened to her “If I’d went, I wouldn’t be livin’ like this you bet...I wasn’t gonna stay no place where I couldn't get no where”(pg.88). Curley’s wife memory tells of all the “misfortunes” and how she missed so many

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“‘Well, you been askin’ me too often, I’m gettin’ God damn sick of it. If you can’t look after your own Goddamn wife, what you expect me to do about it? You lay offa me” (Steinbeck 62). When Curley cannot find his wife, he becomes quarrelsome and confrontational, putting others in danger. Due to Curley’s wife not staying by her husband’s side, the other ranchers’ duties as well as the lives are put on the line, considering Curley’s amount of power on the farm and his well-known wrestling career.

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As the only women on the ranch, this causes Curley's wife to be the minority to all of the men on the farm. This causes her to become very lonely and isolated since she is the only women. In the texts Curley's wife says, “‘I get lonely,’... ‘You can talk to people, but I can't talk to nobody but Curley. Else he gets mad, ‘How’d you like not to talk to anybody?’”

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Perhaps the most recognized line in S.E Hinton’s coming of age novel The Outsiders, “Stay gold Ponyboy. Stay gold,” was muttered by Johnny Cade whilst on his deathbed to fellow Greaser gang member and main protagonist Ponyboy Curtis. This famous line was a reference to Robert Frost’s poem Nothing gold can stay that Ponyboy recites whilst the two boys were on the run after their deadly fight with a group of Socs, a rival gang. During the course of the novel, it becomes clear that the most important lesson Ponyboy Curtis must learn is to take Johnny’s advice and, “stay gold”.

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Have you ever thought of killing your best friend? No, no one does, that person is supposed to be your everything. In Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, a main character gets killed by his best friend. George had no reason to kill Lennie. Lennie did not mean to kill them on purpose.

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“I don’t want ta hurt you…… but George’ll be mad if you yall.” (pg 91) This is what Lennie said when he accidently made her neck break because she was yelling that he was pulling her hair and wouldn’t stop. This shows Lennie does not know how strong he really is and could do this again. All of these Example show that George had to kill Lennie.

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”(Steinbeck 88). Curley’s wife unwittingly sets up Lennie to change the entire course of the book and further complicate the situation for them. Lennie ends up killing Curley’s wife in a situation she never should have been in, but her nosy behavior brings her to her doom. If Curley and his wife could produce a real conversation maybe everyone could have gotten their dream to come true but somethings just do not pan out. Curley’s wife can be vicious in about any way just like she is to the other

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When Curley’s wife is talking to Lennie, she initially judges him and claims, “I think you’re nuts” based off of the way he sounds and the things he talks about (Steinbeck 98). Curley’s wife misjudges Lennie because he talks and sounds different than her, so her initial judgment is that he is nuts. She uses a stereotypical reference to implicate the idea that he is a crazy person. However, after talking to him for a while now she realizes that he is “kinda a nice fella” and came to accept him (Steinbeck 99). Once she really got to talk to Lennie and really understand who he is, she could make the right judgment about him.

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“Why can’t I talk to you” shows that Curley’s wife is characterized as someone manipulative by trying to talk to Lennie even though George told Lennie not to. On the other hand, it also characterizes Curley’s wife as someone who just longs for a companion and because no one talks to her, she becomes manipulative. Characterization of Curley’s wife is used to create sympathy for her and to lead her to Lennie which ends up badly when Lennie kills her forcing George to kill Lennie. George and Lennie’s friendship is ended because of the loneliness of Curley’s wife because it leads her to talk to Lennie. John Steinbeck creates sympathy for the manipulative Curley’s wife in chapter 6, however, the more known side to her is when she talks to Crooks.

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At the beginning of John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men”, Lennie is characterized as unintelligent and untrustworthy. In the first to chapters of the story Lennie is shown as a character that constantly keeps things from his friend George, even though he is very obedient when given an order. In the first few pages of the story it is found that he is hiding a dead mouse in his pocket, when told that it should be thrown away he denies its existence. George looked sharply at him. “What’d you take outta that pocket?”

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Of Mice and Men Persuasive Essay “ Even the best laid plans of mice and men often go astray. “. In the book of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, George, one of the main characters, has to kill his best friend- Lennie Small. He does this for a few different reasons.

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However Lennie would have been ruthlessly slain by Curley since he did kill his wife even if he did not mean to. Lennie would have been brutally and belligerently slain by Curley if George had not killed him in the painless manner that he did. "The big son-of-a-bitch will be killed by me. I'll shoot him in the heart" (Steinbeck 96). This passage demonstrates that Curley intended to kill Lennie.

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Although Lennie loves mice, he is inept at handling feeble creatures. George notices the mouse and addresses it by saying that: “‘That mouse ain’t fresh, Lennie...you’ve broke it pettin’ it’” (Steinbeck 9). The euphemism that George uses for death suggests that the mouse’ death was not intentional, nor sadistic. Lennie roots his intentions in kindness, but his strength overpowers this emotion.

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George always has to come to Lennie’s aid when he gets into trouble, “‘You do bad things and I got to get you out’”(11). These issues dishearten George, because he is forced to constantly travel to new places to stay ahead of the law. Even when he isn’t with Lennie, George still complains. When talking to Slim, he says, ‘“Lennie’s a God damn nuisance most of the time’”(41). Overall, George believes that even though Lennie is a loyal friend, he is a pain to deal

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758 Words | 4 Pages

In the end of the novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, Lennie accidentally killed Curley's wife after she would not stop screaming for him to let her go, George knows that there is not any way he can get out of it. Even if they were somehow able to escape, Lennie is unable to keep himself out of trouble and therefore will never be safe. If Curley were to find Lennie he would lynch him, making his death agonizingly slow and torturous. George killed Lennie to spare him the agony that he would have had to face either at the hands of Curley or due to his inability to care for himself.

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596 Words | 3 Pages

Lennie kept annoying George by taking dead mice and forgetting where they were going. Then when he asked George for ketchup, George grew very frustrated with him. He went on to talk about how he could live so much better without Lennie and how Lennie was always something that was holding George back from the potential he had. This is showing cruelty because during this time, it seems that

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