OMAM quotes/themes Flashcards
The power George wields over Lennie:
‘“Give it here!” Lennie’s closed hand slowly obeyed’
George deluding himself about a better life:
‘“God a’mighty, if I was alone I could live so easy.’”
George caring about Lennie’s feeling:
‘He looked across the fire at Lennie’s anguished face, and then he looked ashamedly at the flames.’
The power the American Dream holds over them:
‘He repeated his words rhythmically as though he had said them many times before.’
Their ultimate dream:
“An’ live off the fatta the lan”
Lennie and George as parent and child:
‘“Good boy! That’s fine, Lennie! [..] Lennie choked with pride.
Bunkhouse having no care put into it:
‘Inside, the walls were whitewashed and the floor unpainted.’
Bunkhouse resembling a prison:
‘the sun threw a bright dust-laden bar through one of the side windows”
Candy having a disability:
‘He pointed with his right arm, and out of the sleeve came a round stick-like wrist, but no hand.’
Lennie needing George for assistance:
‘In a panic, Lennie looked at George for help’
The rarity of friendship on the ranch:
‘“Well, I never seen one guy take so much trouble for another guy.”
Candy’s age as a handicap embodied by his dog
‘At his heels there walked a drag footed sheep dog, gray of muzzle, and with pale blind, old eyes.’
The solitariness of the ranch:
“‘A guy on a ranch don’t never listen nor he don’t ask no questions.”
Slurs labelled at Curley’s wife to indicate the threat she poses:
‘a tart’; ‘what a tramp’; ‘that bitch’; ‘jailbait’; ‘poison’ ‘rattrap’
Curley’s wife’s flirtatious actions
‘She put her hands behind her back and leaned against the doorframe so that her body was thrown forward’
. Slim’s authority:
a majesty achieved only by royalty and master craftsmen…the prince of the ranch,
His authority was so great that his word was taken on any subject,
his slow speech had overtones not of thought, but of understanding beyond thought.
The consequences of loneliness/isolation:
“I seen the guys that go around on the ranches alone.
That ain’t no good.
They don’t have no fun.
After a long time they get mean.’’
Crooks’ lodgings symbolising the segregation at the time:
‘a little shed that leaned off the wall of the barn.’
Crooks relying on education to navigate racist society:
‘a tattered dictionary and a mauled copy of the California civil code for 1905.’
Crooks being denied a voice in society:
‘pain-tightened lips’
Racism being the sole reason for why Crooks isn’t wanted:
“Cause I’m black.”
Crooks not naturally aloof:
Crooks scowled, but Lennie’s disarming smile defeated him
What would happen to Lennie without George to protect him:
‘“They’ll take ya to the booby hatch. They’ll tie ya up with a collar, like a dog.’”
. The importance of companionship:
“‘A guy needs somebody to be- to be near him.” he whined, “A guy goes nuts if he ain’t got
nobody.”