Happiness / Unhappiness Flashcards
1
Q
Optimism for George and Lennie’s future
A
- every character has a dream, even if that dream is unattainable.
- This shows that no matter how terrible a person’s external situation is, their hope will always remain internally. Giving the strength and happiness to keep going
- Therefore, a sense of happiness and hope may be instilled into a reader.
- The main example of this would be Lennie, as he keeps his childlike sense of hope and excitement for the dream of the farm until the very end of his life
- his last words are ‘Le’s get that place now’ , often asking George to tell him about their shared dream.
- Although, at the end of the book, his sense of childlike wonder and joy is juxtaposed with his own death, making the theme of the novella rather more pessimistic.
2
Q
Curley’s wife
A
‘ he says he was gonna put me in the movies, he says I was a natural’
- The establishment of dramatic irony emphasises the tragedy of Curley’s wife’s life.
- Her dream was never materialised. ‘He says I was a natural’ -noun.
- He was only complimenting her to get her to do what he wanted.
- In reality it was never going to happen, reflecting the inevitable tragedy of a working class woman trying to make something of herself. Reader feels sympathy for how she was groomed. Golden age of Hollywood when this was a common thing.
- Now she’s left isolated, confined and unhappy on the ranch. With the sickening dramatic irony that her dream was never going to come true. Her happiness and hope for the future, essentially an insidious lie from a perverted movie director
3
Q
Candy’s unhappiness
A
- The last of his key moments is when his loneliness has built up and manifested itself in frustration
- “He looked helplessly at Curley’s wife and gradually his sorrow and his anger grew into words’
- He acts in frustration, calling her a ‘Goddamn tramp’
- “he looked helplessly” suggests that his loneliness has broken him down
- proves Crooks quote when he says ‘i tell ya, a guy gets too lonely an’ he gets sick’.
- His chance at escaping loneliness and having hope for the future is ruined. He’s left with frustration, anger and no more hope
4
Q
Where does the character’s happiness come from
A
- pivots around their hopes and dreams. It’s what keeps almost every character going on the ranch
- Great Depression is hard for itinerant workers, elderly, women.
- They’re dreams inspire them with the hope to not give into the cut-throat cruel nature of society in 1920
