Isolation Flashcards
Curleys wife
- married to Curley, only woman on ranch
‘I get lonely. I can’ talk to nobody except Curley or else he gets mad’ - ‘any you boys seen Curley’ repeated
- the men make fun of her calling her ‘a tart’ and saying ‘she ain’t concealing nothing’
- her lips are ‘rouged’ and she wears red shoes and nail varnish to symbolise that she is a danger to the men because if they talk to her they will get beaten up
- mention women’s roles in the 1930s for context
- she not given a name to show how little she is respected
- ‘think I don’t like to talk to nobody ever’ once in a while?’
Crooks
- ‘nigger’ offensive derogatory term that was totallt acceptable back then shows the prejudice against him.
He is isolated from the others and forced to live with the horses because of his colour- this shows that he is dehumanised and discriminated against. Refer to the fact that this reflects the racial hatred in the 1930s
Not allowed to work or room with the men
- ‘I can’t play because I’m black’ discrimination
- ‘a guy needs company- somebody to be with’
- he tells Lennie that the fact that he has so many books could show that he is lonely and lives his life through Interactions with characters in stories
Candy
He loses his only companion, which is his dog. He gets very upset by this ‘no i couldn’t do that. I’ve had him too long’
Oldest member on the ranch and physically disbaled has the least respected job ‘swamper’
His dog is a representation to the fact that he fears he too is becoming old and useless and will soon be ‘canned’ and thrown off the ranch, with no where to go and no friends to care for him. He says that when he gets old he ‘wishes someone would shoot (him)’.
This is why he jumps so quickly at the idea of George and Lennies dream
Other men
The book is set in ‘Soledad’ which means alone in Spanish representation of how the ranch is a lonely place
‘Guys like us is the loneliest guys in the world’
They find it strange how George and Lennie are friends because everyone is isolated ‘funny how you an’ Jun string along together’
The bunk house guys blow their money every Saturday night on prodigies and booze at ‘suzys place’ they go for some companionship and attention
