Of Mice And Men Flashcards
Context
-The American dream
-the Great Depression
-FDR new deal
-Hollywood
-racism
-farmworkers
-the Dust bowl
-Steinbeck
The American dream
-the belief that success is possible for anyone in America
-hard work and determination will let everyone have their success
-this is because America is equal, has democracy and freedom
-juxtaposition between aspirations and reality they inhabit
-G + L dream = poignant metaphor for societal yearnings of stability and self-reliance (no boss)
The Great Depression
-stock market crashed (Wall Street Crash) in 1929
-high levels of unemployment, abject poverty and homelessness
-many labourers migrated west hoping for work
-those at the lower end of the socioeconomic hierarchy struggled the most
-1929-39
FDR new deal
-relief, recovery, reform were the three aims of his new deal
-the economy began to recover but slowly
-created optimism in people’s lives
-introduced in 1933
Hollywood
-film stars were becoming more well-known
-film stars made a lot of money
-biggest form of mass entertainment
-greta garbo (famous actress at the time)
-called the golden age of Hollywood
Racism
-crooks was probably treated in the typical fashion, marginalised
-much horrific violence, Thomas shipp and Abram smith were lynched, accused of rape but never tried.
-1920s kkk = 4 million members
-slavery technically abolished in 1865
-only 1% of those lynched were found out to be actually convicted of crimes
Farmers
-George and Lenny were itinerant farmers
-dust bowl
-most travelled alone
-ranch life offers insights into the hierarchical dynamics of the time
-stratification in the ranch encapsulates the disparities between authority and labourers
-because so many came from the dust bowl, people were given very low wages
Loneliness and isolation
-‘don’t try pull nothing over’-boss
-‘they got no family’ - George
-crooks lives closer to the animals than people, ‘stable buck n——‘ he doesn’t want Lennie’s company ‘you’re not wanted’
-‘susy’s place’
-‘i aint got no people’- George to slim, he and Lenny travel together because they are ‘used to eachother’
-animals provide a temporary solution for some, until they die, lennies dogs, mice, candy’s dog
-curley’s wife, flirts with ranchers, for attention only time Curley is with her is when she is dead
-soledad- Spanish for loneliness
-they ain’t susy’s. crooks, wife don’t! Animals loneliness
Prejudice
-boss gives crooks ‘hell’
-‘get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain’t even funny’-curleys wife
-we never learn curleys wife’s name
-slim treats crooks with civility, he is the only person apart form the boss to go into crook’s room
-‘a guy goes nuts if he ain’t got no body’-crooks
-all the stuff about women as well
-prejudice against the old (loose their value) candy will be canned (fired) and his dog is killed
-prejudice on the ranch creates loneliness
-slim nuts women, hell strung name old loneliness
Women
-curleys wife- ‘god damn tramp’, ‘tart’, has her impossible dream, naive, tries to use her sexuality to get some attention
-men and women stereotype eachother and undermine eachother’s dreams
-the girls are ‘clean’
-Curley doesn’t understand his wife’s needs, his idea of being there for her is ‘a glove fulla vaseline’
-Curley’s wife never actually does anything bad
-women were mostly housewives and didn’t have jobs
-until reasonably recently acting was seen as a ‘revealing’ job, especially for women
-‘ranch ain’t no place for a girl’
-tart stereotype? Never Vaseline, clean housewife prostitute girl
Dreams
-people on a ranch ‘work up a stake and then they go into town and blow their stake’ -George
- ‘they ain’t got nothing to look ahead to’ - George
-all dreams are shattered by the end of the novella, ‘ill take my fifty bucks and ill stay in some lousy cat house’
-never sure if George believes in the dream ‘ i got to think maybe we would’‘I think I knowed wed never do her’
-geroge’s changing attitude to the dream is shown by how he speaks “rhythmically” to “monotonously”
-dreams often get physically crushed- curleys hand, curleys wife
-‘an live on the fatta the lan’
-‘every damn one of ‘em’s got a little piece of land in his head. An’ never a God damn one of ‘em ever gets it.’
-George stake ahead rhythmically. Crushed fatta cat, damn
Destiny
-George seems likely to be in controle of his destiny, but he isn’t ‘if I was a little bit smarter, I’d have my own little place’
-‘you hadda, george’
-Lennie can’t even controle himself
-‘My ol’ lady woulndn’ let me’-curleys wife (her mum wouldn’t let her be in movies, trapped by marriage
-slim =‘god like’, can stop some things (curleys hand), can’t stop others ‘well i guess we got to get him’
-title of the book from Robert burns poem ‘To a Mouse’, ‘gang aft agley’ (often go wrong)
-foreshadowing, Lennie’s lack of controle, pets mice till they die, ‘you’ve broke it pettin’ it’
-‘nobody never gets to heaven and nobody never gets no land’
Smarter lady hadda controle god, gang foreshadowing nobody
Death
-Lennie kills but doesn’t mean to-death is unpredictable,
-death is part of your destiny
-heron catches water snake- death is part of nature, ‘a silent head and beak lanced down and plucked it out by the head’
-‘I’ll put the old devil out of his misery right now’
-‘the meanness and the planning and the discontent and the ache for attention were all gone from her face’
-‘flopped like a fish’
Part ache(y) old heron unpredictable flopped
Lennie context
-Vunerability of the mentally ill, did not get the treatment they do today
-only think of consequences from George, not that he might be lynched or hung, hanging was still a thing
-Robert burns’ poem ‘to a mouse’ written 1785 imbues the narrative with a sense of inevitability (mouse makes a nest, man destroys it)
-vulnerability of consequences ‘To a mouse’
Intro
John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men” is a novella that delves deep into the lives of itinerant ranch workers during the Great Depression. Among the central themes explored in the story, responsibility manifests in various forms, encompassing moral responsibility, economic responsibility, and the hope for a better life. This essay will examine the intertwined responsibilities of morals, money, and the yearning for a brighter future as portrayed through the characters and their struggles in the narrative.
Conc
Of Mice and Men” masterfully weaves the responsibilities of morals, money, and the hope for a better life into a rich tapestry of characters and relationships. Moral responsibility is embodied in George’s commitment to Lennie, economic responsibility is manifested in the characters’ constant pursuit of employment and their shared dream of land ownership, and hope for a better life binds these responsibilities together as a shared goal. The novella serves as an important reminder of the complexities of human interactions, aspirations, and the enduring relevance of responsibilities in our lives. As the characters in “Of Mice and Men” grapple with these responsibilities, their story resonates with the universal human desire for a more secure and meaningful existence.
George profile
1)Often calls Lennie a ‘crazy bastard’
2)he is loyal: ‘I want you to stay with me Lennie’
3)he is pessimistic: ‘I think I knowed from the very first. I think I knowed we’d never do her.’ ( to candy next to dead candys wife)
4)he is caring: ‘I ain’t gonna let ‘em hurt lennie’
5)he is relatable: ‘tonight I’m gonna lay right here and look up. I like it.’
6)‘poor bastard’ to Lennie before he tells him off, makes reader feel sympathy for him, he tell him of for his own good
7)he is defensive: ‘you got nothing to do with us’ he says to candy]
8)tells slim that lonely men ‘get mean’ and want to ‘fight all the time’
9) good at reading people ‘gonna tangle with that bastard’ (about curly)
10)’with us it ain’t like that. We got a future’
Tonight stay tangle bastard bastard knowed future nothing hurt I’m not mean
Lennie profile
-Lennie is childlike: ‘he’s jes’ like a kid’
-Lennie is strong: ‘strong as a bull’
-like an animal: ‘Lennie covered his face with his huge paws and bleated with terror’
-slim sees Lennie ‘ain’t mean’
-he drags his feet ‘the way a bear drags his paws’
-Lennie is a bit like George’s pet- ‘like a terrier who doesn’t want to bring a ball to its master’
-George treats Lennie like a pet too, he orders him round, uses him to get jobs, the shoots him like candy shot his dog-for its own good
-he is a good worker ‘there ain’t nobody can keep up with him’
-he knows George would feel guilty about leaving him and uses it to his advantage threatens to ‘find a cave’
-in his imaginary conversation with aunt clara she says ‘ he been doin’ nice things for you all the time’
-he is a killer, shakes curleys with to death because he is ‘in a panic’
THE Mean bull bleated drags kid pet terrier TO cave TO keep nice panic
Slim profile
Slim is respected: ‘his word was taken on any subject’
Mysterious: ‘ understanding beyond thought’
Godlike: ‘calm, godlike eyes’
-calls Curley’s wife ‘good lookin’, he is not intimidated by her and gives her the attention she craves, showing he is not afraid of Curley
- he is a ‘jerk line skinner’ a very skilful job
- ‘the prince of the ranch’ he has ‘authority’
-drowns dogs, ‘she couldn’t feed that many’
Word beyond god, feed afraid jerk prince
Crooks
-only person with his own room
-his possessions are: ‘rubber boots’ ‘an alarm clock’ ‘a shotgun’
-his books show he reads, thinks, and aims to improve himself his book is the ‘California civil code’ ‘dictionary’
-hides his loneliness by being proud and aloof
- ‘Crooks scowled, but Lennie’s disarming smile defeated him. “Come on in and set a while,”’
- ‘a guy needs somebody -to be near him’
-dream has a powerful effect on him, and gives him the courage to stand up to Curley wife
-but then after she says ‘I could get you strung up so easy it ain’t even funny’ then ‘crooks had reduced himself to nothing’
-he is proud:’a proud, aloof man’
- “I ain’t wanted in the bunk house and you ain’t wanted in my room” C to G + L
Only clock dictionary set aloof reduced courage needs proud
Candy
-Candy is old: ‘lousy ol’ sheep’
- candy is weak: ‘when they can me here I wisht somebody’s shoot me’
- candy is one handed: ‘I ain’t much good with on’y one hand’
-feels sorry for Lennie when he has just killed curley’s wife ‘poor bastard’
-shouts at curleys wife’s dead body ‘god damn tramp’
-he likes to gossip, calls curley’s wife a ‘tart’ and Curley ‘scrappy’
-he is the depressing destiny the other ranch hands face
-quick to be seduced by George and Lennie’s dream, offers them all his money after one day of knowing them
Depressing lousy shoot hand bastard tramp seduced scrappy
Carlson
Carlson is aggressive: ‘you come for me, an’ I’ll kick your god damn head off’
Carlson is insensitive: ‘now what the hell ya suppose is eatin’ them two guys?’
-quick to pick a fight with Curley, saying he’s ’yella as a frog belly’ and a ‘god damn punk’
Kick head, eating’ guys, yella belly
Whit
Whit is young: ‘a young labouring man’
Whit is fun-loving: ‘well, a guy got to have some fun sometime’
-plays cards with George, but as soon as they start talking he’s ‘not interested’ in the game anymore, suggesting he is lonely
Curley profile
Curley is insecure: “you seen a girl around here”
Curley is aggressive: “He’s allá time picking scraps with big guys”
Curley is disliked: “ this guy Curley sounds like a son of a bitch to me. I don’t like mean little guys.”
-He wears “high heeled boots”, as he is “little” shows he is “not a labouring man”
-“Curley’s like a lot of little guys”. He hates big guys”
-“I don’t like Curley. He ain’t a nice fella”
-he is also trapped on the ranch
-no one likes him, he is lonely
Bitch girl scraps heeled fella trapped lonely hates
