Of Mice and men, Analysing weak characters Essay

The novel is called Of mice & manpower because things whorls go wrong between a subaltern mouse to an important homophile being. Thing can go wrong de transgress how hard you try. on that point ar two characters in this novel that I think are portrayed as being promiscuous. One of the characters that I tactile sensation scrapes crosswise as lightheaded in the novel is Crooks. The reason being is because of how he is treated by the other characters in this novel. For example, most of the characters except for tenuous refer to Crooks as a common raccoon. Even though Nigger is a racist term, it was use normally in those days. But this fork overs the little respect the rest of the characters had for Crooks they could harbour decided to refer to him using his true name, ripe same(p) slim down. The fact that they continuously call him that shows the lightheadedness in Crook, if he had the amount of free will and power the rest had, he would stool spoke up and tell them to stop calling him a Nigger.Steinbeck may have set it show up like this to show that not everyone was racist and disrespectful to whom the majority of the people thought was inferior. polished could have been a character just like Steinbeck, hes showing that he is not racist and is empathetic to Crooks feelings, and is aware that despite his skin colour, he is just as superior. However, noticing this, Slim could be portrayed as namby-pamby because he didnt accost up to def force out Crooks when it came to the name calling, if he did, he in all likelihood would have been casted as a Sell out by the other characters. at that place is another incident in the novel that shows how inferior and weak Crooks is portrayed. later Curleys wife enters the room to talk to him, Lennie and Candy, Crooks ends up inductting frustrated with Curleys wife and starts telling her off. However, by at once the readers would have thought that Crooks is finally standing up for himself and defending himself, but this all changes in the space of a a couple of(prenominal) minutes. For example, Curleys wife retaliates and conjectures Listen, Nigger, you know what I can do to you if you open your trap? Well, keep your place Nigger. I could get you strung up on a tree so advantageously it aint hitherto funny.Strung up on a tree meant to be lynched this shows that she had the power to get Crooks lynched, still for the pettiest things. So even though Crooks was speaking the truth, him speaking up could get him into trouble, he cant win, him staying quiet and saying the things the other characters wants to hear makes him odouring for weak, but even when he does speak up once against problems, he is unflurried portrayed as weak. After Curleys wife mentions this, the narration says Crooks seemed to maturate smaller the use of the letters Er shows that he was already small but by Curleys wife mentioning Lynching, it made him smaller, weaker than he already is.One more factor th at shows Crooks is weak, is by the structure of the chapter, the chapter starts and ends the aforesaid(prenominal). On page 99, it says Crooks sat on his bewilder he held a bottle of liniment and with the other hand, rubbed his spine. The chapter also ends the same way. This shows that the way Crooks is lifespan is never ending, its a cyclical feature, and thither is no hope for him. Also, because Steinbeck kept on referring to his spine, shows that even though Crooks does have hopes and dreams, him being disastrous and being injured is whats fish fillet him from living the American dream. The injury to Crooks back occurred after being kicked in the spine by a horse.The reason for this is because of where Crooks Is forced to sleep. Crooks sleeps in a barn. This is usually a place where horses rest. On page 98, it lets the readers know the Crooks bun was made stamp a long box filled with straw. Crooks bunk was a long box filled with straw. This portrays him to be more or less sort of animal. He is portrayed as a horse. Again even though horses are weapons-grade physically, they are weak in the gumption that they have no power, they are usually tied up. This is a frank example of Crooks. Again, he may be the most intelligent out of the characters and in some ways, mentally strong. But he is still weak in other ways.Another character that Steinbeck portrays as being weak is Curleys wife. The apostrophe in Curleys is possessive, this shows that Curleys wife belongs to Curley and that he is her owner. She is referred to as Curleys wife throughout the novel and is not named. It also shows how deceitful she is and how little the characters think of her. Another way she is portrayed as weak is by her attitude towards the men in the novel. Curley doesnt pay her such(prenominal) attention, so she feels insecure and lonely. This makes her want the attention of the other men and makes her feel superior and important, even though she isnt. The characters talk a bout her in a negative way behind her back. For example, after Curleys wife is introduced George says Jesus, what a tramp. The use of the word Jesus makes Georges answer the Curleys wife seem dramatic, this shows that Curleys wife is a ample problem if she causes such dramatic responses. Also he refers to her as a tramp.Tramp can mean many things, but one comment of a tramp for a female is a prostitute or a person regarded as promiscuous. This is Georges first impressions Of Curleys Wife, and this is how she comes across whilst act to chat up. This shows how weak she is to George especially. She may be nerve-racking to flirt and act highly-sexed in ordinance for the men to lust after her but her trying has no set up on George, he thinks of her as the opposite. George also calls her a thrill and a Rat trap whilst talking to Lennie. A bitch is the name given for a female dog, this links to the apostrophe in Curleys wife Dogs are popular pets and have owners. She is like Curl eys pet.Curleys wife thinks of Crooks, Lennie and Candy as the Weak ones by her saying this, it makes her look weak as well, she feels she has to refer to them as something deemed inferior in order to make her feel superior. However, even though she refers to them as this, she still hangs close to them, this shows that she hasnt got overmuch choice and that that is the only form of company she has and appreciates, despite coming across as nasty. This shows her weak side.In section 5, Curleys wife goes in the barn to sympathizer Lennie and flirt with him, this could have led into something more. If she didnt end up dying she probably would have ended up sleeping with Lennie. This again, shows her weakness she is not strong enough to just leave Curley if she is not happy, she married Curley for the wrong reasons, track to her being unhappy. Instead she goes behind his back looking for Love, comfort and a sense of importance. This leads to her being accidently killed by Lennie.Befo re this happens whilst she confides in Lennie she admits, He says he was gonna put me in the movies referring to one of the actors she met. This didnt end up happening so she ended up marrying Curley. She then goes on and says So I married Curley. I dont like Curley, he aint a nice fella. This shows that she had no choice but to marry him and that she is finding it hard to escape from him.The last of Curleys wife is like Karma. She threatened to get Crooks lynched if he carried on disrespecting her but then ended up dying as a result of her neck of being broken, this is what lynching is. Also, she married Curley for the wrong reasons and used him and she was also the women who stopped the characters from living their dreams, this may have been out of spite from her not getting to live hers. However, again, she ended up dying, and the characters still didnt get to live their dream. This is how Karma works, what goes around comes around. This could be linked to the rotary feature i n the novel, the problems are never ending and there is just no hope.To conclude, both Crooks and Curleys wife are very much alike and theyre just as weak as from each one other. Both characters are referred to as harsh names other than their received names. They both had dreams of being successful but it never happened. Crooks is a black man, and Curleys wife is a white women. So even though Crooks had dreams and was capable of getting far the only problem that would have been stopping him is the fact that he is black and racism was in full effect in those days. Also, he was the smartest among the other characters, this links back to the title Of mice and men that things can go wrong despite how hard you try. So despite his intelligence and how hard he learns, he still cant get to where he wants to go in life. Nevertheless, even though Curleys wife is white, she is a woman.Women didnt have that much say or rights when men were involved. So her dreams and goals were not reached. F or example she says I never got that letter, I always thought my ol lady stole it She is inexorable that her mum stole the letter an actor wrote to her, so thats why she never became an actress. Except, going back to how powerful men were in those days, gabardine American men especially, he may have not even written a letter, probably forgetting about her and just complimenting her because it was the heat of the split second type. This shows that Curleys wife is not mentally strong enough to come to terms and face reality of what actually might have happened, again thats her way of feeling important, because deep down she is a weak individual.