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What Is The Conflict In Of Mice And Men

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in Of Mice and Men, a tragic novella by John Steinbeck takes place in Salinas Valley California during The Great Depression. In this story, we follow George and Lennie who are migrant workers pursuing The American Dream in Salinas Valley, California. Lennie, who does not know his Herculean strength, is childlike due to the fact of his mental disability; George is more of a parental figure, and they travel together looking for employment. They are hired onto a Ranch where the Rancher’s son, Curley, runs the ranch cruelly. The conflict of this story is that Lennie's disability makes him unaware of his strength resulting in the accidental deaths of mice, a dog, and Curley’s wife. As a result of these events, George is forced to kill Lennie in …show more content…

Curley is violent towards Lennie which leads them to have a fight resulting in Curley getting hurt more than Lennie (Steinbeck 63). In other words, Curley, being a lightweight boxer, believes that he has more authority over anyone, and that makes his ego be more prone to hurt so will gives him reasons to fight with anyone than to begin conversations with his wife, which can lead to his wife being more disobedient in him telling her not to talk to anyone. While Curley is most to blame for his wife's death since he is aggressive, he is also guilty of neglecting her. Curley is more concerned about what people think of him. As a result of his large ego, Curley’s wife seeks friendships with other men on the farm. This conflicts with the workers and Curley because Curley expects his wife to be …show more content…

Steinback is saying that Curley's wife is incapable of starting a conversation because Curley is the one in control of her life, and if she starts talking to anyone that makes her feel extremely lonely. We saw this when she found Lennie in the barn which led to her being more solace around Lennie instead of always being scared and not afraid of what Curley is capable of doing like hurting others."Well, I ain't told that to nobody before. Maybe I ought to. I don't like Curley. He ain't a nice fella’’ (Steinbeck 89). Curley’s wife insisted on George keep on talking so she does not get bored and start a nice calming conversation so she can feel like she is talking to someone and not be lonely and also make her feel like she is not invisible to others except Curley. This would also feel like she is irrelevant to anyone because Curley is making her feel like she is not a value to society by limiting her actions on the

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