Curley’s wife would always try to show more of herself, and of course the reaction of the men was to call her a “tramp” and a “rat trap”. This is also subtly changing the readers view. We can see that all the men on the Ranch feel the same way about her. Steinbeck almost puts you in the position of Lennie and George, so whenever she insults them, so also insults you, further exaggerating what you feel about Curley’s wife. For example, when she says “They left all the weak ones here” all the men ignore her to let her know that she isn’t wanted, and Crooks tells her to get out.
She had bigger dreams than just being a housewife and I think being the only woman on the farm stifles her. She looks to the men on the farm for friendship and companionship, but obviously they take it as flirting and in order to stay out of trouble with Curley, they stay away from her. This increases Curley’s wife’s loneliness. Curley’s wife represents women in the 1930’s during the Great Depression. Women in the 1930’s were seen by men as scheming and devious.
Wednesday 21st November 2012 Quaiyum Miah Explore how Steinbeck presents the theme of power and powerlessness in the relationships between characters in ‘Of Mice and Men’. Focus on the events in chapter 4. The theme of power and powerlessness in chapter 4 of ‘Mice and Men’ is presented by Steinbeck in various ways. For example power is displayed though imagery, characterisation and dialogue. The main theme of power in Steinbeck’s novella includes seduction, physical strength and maintenance of hierarchy.
She tries to flirt with men on the ranch but they all seem to have a rule of staying away from her because they think she is a “rat trap” or piece of “jail bate”, meaning she would get them into trouble if she got the chance. Her flirtatious actions towards Lennie at the end of the novel ,where she allows him to touch her hair, results in her death because Lennie wouldn’t let go of her hair and it resulted in him gripping her too tight and he broke her neck. Slim has lots of power over people on the ranch because of his reputation of being a good guy and all the men seem to confess in him almost as a priest-like figure. He is the jerkline skinner which mean that he is the leader of the ranchers and isn’t like Curley who abuses his legitimate power. He makes friends with George quite quickly and they talk about Lennie in a pitiful but admiring way (pitiful about his lack in intelligence but they admire him for his physical strength).
Lennie was very isolated also from the ranch workers because he wasn't normal and acted very childish, this mustn't of been nice for Lennie and that is how the ranch is unpleasent for him. Carlson made Candy's life on the ranch very hard because he depised Candy's smelly old dog, in the book Carlson kills the dog because it was old and it stank but he never cared about how Candy felt about the dog he just cared about himself. Carlson killed the dog eventhough he knew how much Candy loved it, when Carlson suggested killing the dog “Candy looked for help from face to face” but nobody helped him. The reason why Candy couldn't stop Carlson from killing his dog was because he was a very brittle old man and was mainly over powered by people stronger than him. This event was very unpleasent for Candy.
The word “tart” shows the immediate impression and effect Curley’s wife has on the other men on the ranch. Steinbeck used this effect because he wants to show the reader the first impression the man have about Curley’s wife. This affects the reader to pre-judge Curley’s wife even before she entered. She has been portrayed as dangerous. When Curley’s wife first appears both George and Lennie notices “...the rectangle of sunshine in the doorway is cut off”.
It is the relationship between Slim and Curley that arguably could cause the events of chapter 3. Curley has picked a fight with Slim, the one person who he doesn’t use his inherited power over. The ranchers all see how dismissive Slim is of Curley and how Curley has been reduced being very apologetic, a rare occurrence. The ranchers seize their opportunity and all begin to mock him, even the most vulnerable rancher, Candy. Carlson goes
Lennie, being mentally slow, gets himself and George into trouble countlessly causing them to run from place to place in an attempt to escape the repercussions of Lennie’s actions. On page 11, George tells Lennie the trouble he causes; “ ‘You can’t even keep a job and you lose me ever’ job I get. Jus’ keep me shovin’ all over the country all the time. An’ that ain’t the worst. You get in trouble.
We can see that he has gained power through this as he uses the ability to get others to do what you want them to do. Jack is a dictator type of leadership, he values his respect from everyone.The dictator in Jack becomes leading in his personality, during when the boys have seen the beast in sight. The boys panic when they tell everyone, but Jack uses his rhetoric words to blame it on Raplh. He argues back that ‘ he’d never got us meat’ which emphasises that his hunting skills could make for an effective leader.If jack was becoming a dictator leader, it would mean that the people would follow his orders without a question meaning that there are less arguments. His importance has lead to him ordering his hunters to forget about the beast so that they wouldn’t have any nightmares.
Although he’s a stubborn person, he can also be considered a pushover. For example, as Jack bullied Piggy, he just stood by and watched rather than helped him out. Also, as they were trying to hunt for the beast, Ralph got carried away along with the other boys and started acting wildly. When it came to defending his power, Ralph wasn’t able to convince everyone else. As Jack defied him, all he could say was “I’m the chief” or “I have the conch”.