Studied by 13 people
Candys dog
“Grey of muzzle…moth eaten”
Candy discrimination - Talking about how nobody will listen to him because of his unique struggle to crooks.
“Nobody’d listen to us”
Candy - Powerlessness as he looked for help w/ his dog
“Candy looked for help from face to face”
Candy - Feeling powerless and regret over the fate of his dog which also symbolises his lack of power over his own fate and future
“I shouldn’t ought to have let no stranger shoot my dog”
Candy - His fate over his place to stay
“I won’t have no place to stay”
Candy - his fate over his future jobs
“I can’t get no more jobs”
Candy - internalised belief that he is useless to the ranch because of his age and disability
“I ain’t much good”
Candy - hope for the future
“S’pose I went with you guys”
Candy - description of his appearance
“out of the sleeve came a round sticker like wrist but no hand”
Crooks - loneliness
"A guy goes nuts if he ain't got nobody."
Crooks - Dreams
"nobody gets no land."
Crooks - discrimination/power relating to the bunkhouse
S'pose you couldn't go into the bunkhouse and play rummy 'cause you was black...
Crooks - Dreams/Power in regards to other ranch workers who have come and gone
"Ever'body wants a little piece of lan'."
Description of Crooks’bunk
“a long box filled with straw”
Crooks - discrimination / reduction of his feelings, tone, opinions all because of the discrimination against him
“Crooks had reduced himself to nothing”
Crooks loneliness
“There ain’t a coloured man on this ranch”
Curleys wife - discrimination / these words are used by the ranch workers to describe curleys wife
“tart” “jail bait”
Curleys wife - loneliness / about how she personally feels
“I get awful lonely”
Curleys wife - power
“I could get you strung up on a tree”
Curleys wife desciption
“Pretty and simple…curls, tiny little sausages”
Curleys wife dreams
"I coulda been in the movies..."
Curleys wife discrimination from other ranch workers about the way she looks at people
“She got the eye”
Slim - friendship - relating to ao4 and how not many guys travel together
"Ain't many guys travel around together”
Slim - power (his opinions)
"Slim's opinions were law."
Slim - authority
"His authority was so great “
Slim - fate / he comforts george after he makes the decision to shoot Lennie at the end of the novella
"You hadda, George. I swear you hadda”
Friendship slim to george
"Hope you get on my team,"
Lennie - character description / bear animal imagery
“A bear drags his paws”
Lennie - Dream
"tend the rabbits"
Lennie - friendship
“I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you”
Lennie - Power (juxtaposition of how he is so powerful yet it makes him powerless in a way because he has no control or power over his strength, preventing him from reaching his dreams.
Lennie’s unintentional actions result in tragedy - this highlights the fragile nature of human connections and the consequences of misunderstandings and miscommunication.
"I pinched their heads a little and then they was dead... I don't know why..."
George
“Restless eyes and sharp strong features”
George - power over lennie
“I want you to come an’ hide in the brush”
George - Dreams
"We're gonna have a little house"
George loneliness
"Guys like us… are the loneliest guys in the world"
Soledad description of water
“the water is warm too”
Cycles - the setting
"Willows fresh and green with every spring, carrying...the debris of the winter's flooding"
Curley - isolation
“Curley ain't givin' nobody a chance"
Curley - lack of friendship/isolation/insecurity
"He’s mad at 'em because he ain't a big guy"
Curleys wife - lack of friendship
"I can't talk to nobody but Curley...”
Curley - discrimination (towards his wife)
“you answer when you're spoken to"
Curley - power over his wife / constantly asking for her location so that he can control his wife
"You seen a girl around here?”
Curley - insecurity
“What the hell you laughin' at?"
Lennie - intellectual disability and power (he is unaware of the mistakes he made)
“Like I done in Weed?”
Curleys wife - This quote highlights the uncertainty surrounding Curley's wife's fidelity and the lack of trust and companionship between Curley and his wife, as well as the other ranch workers.
“Glove fulla vaseline”
Crooks - uncertainty / Crooks's existential uncertainty and the toll that loneliness takes on his mental and emotional well-being
"I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an' he gets sick"
George - regret / George expresses regret for believing in the dream of owning land with Lennie, realizing the impossibility of their dream after Lennie's actions lead to tragedy.
“I think I knowed we'd never do her."
Curleys wife - broken dreams and regret
"I coulda made somethin' of myself"
Curley - animal imagery / terriers are a smaller breed of dog, which are widely known for their relentless and fearless pursuit of vermin and prey - regardless of how big its opponent is
“like a terrier”
Cycles - setting / The snake and the heron symbolise the predatory nautre of the world, and foreshadows Lennies imminent death.
"A water snake glided up the pool... and came to the legs of a motionless heron”
Curley - pride and revenge / Lennie killing Curley’s wife wounds his pride and ego. Curley no longer has someone to keep control over and has lost his authority over his wife. So in order to restore his pride, Curley turns to wickedness and vengeance; he becomes determined to assert his dominance on the other ranch workers by killing Lennie.
Curley does not mourn the loss of his wife; he instead grieves his pride and the authority he had over his wife. Curley’s actions are all routed in his insecurities about his stature, his ability to fight, his wife. Each of these being represented through a different character (Slim, Lennie, and Carlson respectively)
“I’m gonna shoot the guts outta that big bastard myself”
Curleys wife - broken dreams and love / The relationship between Curley and Curley’s wife is fraught with tension and dissatisfaction. Curleys wife feels isolated, and unfulfilled in her marriage which is implied to have been a contractual marriage.
Their relationship serves as a cautionary tale about the destructive effects of jealousy and possessiveness.
“I don’t like him”
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