Main Themes and Characters in of Mice and Men

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MMain Characters and Themes CURLEY Who is he and what his role is * The ranch boss’s son * Privileged, in a position of relative power and wealth * Small, hostile man – has an inferiority complex * Has recently married * Least likeable character – aggressive to everyone, possibly bordering on the evil – maybe even too one dimensional to be believable * Helps reinforce key themes of novel: shattered dreams, prejudice and injustice, anger * Gives insight into relation of the sexes at the time * Drives plot – major source of conflict and the tragic outcome of the story Drives plot * Curley is major source of conflict in the novel * Introduction of Curley immediately foreshadows that he will bring problems – George‘s warnings to Lennie build tension * Fight with Lennie creates excitement and tension: we wonder how it will be resolved – G has already told Candy that L ‘don‘t know no rules‘ and reminds L to hide in brush if they get in trouble: hints that L might seriously hurt Curley * Tension once fight is over: Curley could get L and G sacked at time when work is hard to find * Even after men keep there jobs, it is clear from what we know about Curley‘s personality that this ‘humiliation’ will not remain unrevenged * Fight is also a major point of foreshadowing – shows Lennie‘s innocent intentions yet his potential to be physically extremely harmful * Curley‘s treatment of his wife could be seen to push her towards L in barn scene when he kills her * Catyslyst for final tragedy is Curley‘s desire for brutal revenge on L: G is forced to kill his friend to protect him from a worse fate * Without Curly, there is less pressure for G to act – he needs to kill L or watch Curley shoot L in the stomach. Major theme: shattered dreams * Curley is essential to the destruction of the dreams of others
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