Friday, July 26, 2013

I have to write a letter to Curley from the book Of Mice and Men with advice. What should I write about?

Curley is the belligerent and insensitive boss's son in Steinbeck's novella Of Mice and Men. When the reader first meets Curley he is looking for his wife and throughout the novel there is a disconnect between the two. It is revealed in chapters four and five that his wife doesn't even like him. The reader can assume that he is authoritarian and maybe even abusive toward her. We also know that he sometimes goes into town on Saturday nights without her, maybe even to a whorehouse. When she is found dead he flies into a rage and seeks revenge against Lennie. The reader may assume that his quest for revenge is more a product of the humiliation he suffered at Lennie's hands in the bunkhouse fight than any true feeling of sorrow over his wife's death.

If I were to write a letter to Curley I would tell him to pay more attention to his wife. After all, we know that she is quite pretty, and it is revealed in chapter five that she has dreams and is really not the terrible "floozy" or "tart" that the men on the ranch thinks she is. Instead of going into town with the men on Saturday night he should take his wife out instead of leaving her behind in their "two-by-four house." His wife is obviously lonely, but that could be solved if he spent time with her and wasn't always looking to pick a fight with one of his workers.


Curley should treat his workers with respect. They seem to hate him and there is no sympathy when Lennie crushes his hand in chapter three. He has good workers, including the skinner and leader of the men, Slim. Instead of accusing Slim of trying to be with his wife, Curley should develop a relationship with him in order to improve the sometimes hostile atmosphere on the ranch. He should avoid picking fights and look to control his naturally angry disposition. If Curley were to improve communication with his wife and treat his men more amiably the problems on the ranch might go away.

No comments:

Post a Comment

What is the Exposition, Rising Action, Climax, and Falling Action of "One Thousand Dollars"?

Exposition A "decidedly amused" Bobby Gillian leaves the offices of Tolman & Sharp where he is given an envelope containing $1...