Power and powerlessness Flashcards
This shows us that George, or anyone in the ranch, takes advantage of Lennie’s lack of confidence to speak up for himself, by injuring or intimidating him. This also happens when Curley is scaring Lennie, ‘
‘I’ve beat the hell outta him, and he coulda bust every bone in my body … but he never lifted a finger against me.’
‘backed until he was against the wall, and Curley followed slugging him in the face was too frightened to defend himself’
This depicted how Candy is fed up of being powerless as he is resistant to people such as Slim, who is higher up than him in the ranch hierarchy. This makes us wonder whether Slim always uses his power for good.
‘Candy looked helplessly at him, for Slim’s opinions were law’
Those with little power take any chance they get to abuse those further below them with even less power. Curley’s wife, for example, who has very little power because of her gender, takes the chance to threaten Crooks because of his race, to make herself feel better and feel like she has more authority/power.
I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain’t even funny.’ ‘Crooks’ face lighted up with pleasure in his torture’
The weak don’t survive in the ranch world. You need to be tough and harsh in order to live that kind of life. - Candy’s dog who is no longer useful gets killed, Slim drowns four of his weakest pups X and Lennie also eventually gets killed.
‘..I kept the biggest.’,
