Of Mice and Men Flashcards
CW; Powerlessness > Hostility; Racism
“I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain’t even funny.”
George; elusiveness of dreams
“S’pose they was a circus or a carnival come to town, or a ball game, or any damn thing … We’d just go to her … We wouldn’t ask nobody if we could. Jus’ say, “We’ll go to her” an’ we would.
Slim
# Loneliness of itinerant workers; fear of rejection; not socialising only makes isolation worse, viscous cycle.
#Social climate of 1930s America
“Ain’t many guys travel around together … I don’t know why. Maybe everybody in the whole damn world is scared of each other.’”
CW, Lennie, Candy, Crooks.
# HUGE irony because CW is also at the bottom.
“They left all the weak ones here.”
Crooks; psychological impact of being alone.
“A guy goes nuts if he ain’t got somebody. Don’t make a difference who the guy is, long’s he’s with him.”
George; Lennie provides him with companionship.
# Alternatively, there’s a huge strain on George to take care of Lennie - internal battle: Lennie = liability + doesn’t deserve to be left alone.
“Course Lennie’s a God damn nuisance most of the time … But you get used to goin’ around with a guy an’ you can’t get rid of him”.
Lonely even though married > misogynism.
# EVERYBODY wants to be known and appreciated.
“Think I don’t like to talk to somebody every once in a while? Think I like to stick in that house alla time ?”
Crooks = wise cynic. His inability to attain the AD due to his circumstances (being black) affords him an unbiased perspective.
# Elusiveness of dreams.
2 Quotes.
“I seen hunderds of men come by … every damn one of them has a little piece of land in his head … never a
God damn one of them gets it.”
“Nobody never gets to heaven and nobody gets no land.”
Compares likelihood of sinners like them entering heaven to the chance of them getting land - interesting.
Importance of the American Dream. 2 quotes.
“Quasi-religious, obsession.”
“everybody wants a little bit of land, not much … and there couldn’t nobody throw him off of it.”
“Jesus Christ! I bet we could swing her. I bet we could swing her.’ His eyes were full of wonder.”
George’s internal battle to care for Lennie.
“ God a’mighty if I was alone I could live so easy. I could get a job and work … An’ whatta I got? I got you! You can’t keep a job and you lose me every job I get.“
Foreshadow of failure to actualise dream.
3 ways
“The best laid plans of mice and men / Often go awry.” Robert Burns - To A Mouse
“I should’ve knew … maybe way back in my head I did.”
The heron that inevitably eats the water snake.
Relationship is more than another person - it’s a family, belonging with another who is deeply invested.
3 quotes.
“Guys like us, that work on ranches are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They don’t belong no place … With us it ain’t like that. We got somebody to talk to that gives a damn about us.
“I got you look after me and you got me to look after you.”
“I seen the guys that go around on ranches alone … after a long time, they get mean.”
George + Lennie: American dream. 2 Quotes (+ve & -ve).
“I think I knowed we’d never do her. He usta to hear about it so much I got to thinking maybe we would.”
“Tell me - like you done before.”
George loves Lennie.
“I never been mad [at you], an’ I ain’t now. That’s a thing I want ya to know.’”
“Catch Me If You Can” - themes
- Opulence (wealth, decadence) cannot satisfy belonging (F jnr)
- Wealth isn’t a good foundation to build relationships on (F Snr)
- Role models play an important role in peoples’ lives (ie. compared Frank Snr with Hanratty)
- The desire to belong can motivate people to do bad things.
- Broken homes have negative effects on children.
- The way a person presents themselves can influence how others treat them.
