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English OMAM Marking Needed

Hi

I am about to resit my english assessment for Of Mice And Men (got a B but needed an A) on the welsh board and was just wondering if anyone could help me out by marking this?

The question was:

How typical is this of the way Steinbeck presents Curleys Wife throughout the novella?

The extract is:

She looked from one face to another, and they were all closed against her.
And she looked longest at Lennie, until he dropped his eyes in embarrassment.
Suddenly she said, “Where’d you get them bruises on your face?”
Lennie looked up guiltily. “Who—me?”
“Yeah, you.”
Lennie looked to Candy for help, and then he looked at his lap again. “He got
his han’ caught in a machine,” he said.
Curley’s wife laughed. “O.K., Machine. I’ll talk to you later. I like
machines.”
Candy broke in. “You let this guy alone. Don’t you do no messing aroun’
with him. I’m gonna tell George what you says. George won’t have you messin’
with Lennie.”
“Who’s George?” she asked. “The little guy you come with?”
Lennie smiled happily. “That’s him,” he said. “That’s the guy, an’ he’s gonna
let me tend the rabbits.”
“Well, if that’s all you want, I might get a couple rabbits myself.”
Crooks stood up from his bunk and faced her. “I had enough,” he said coldly.
“You got no rights comin’ in a colored man’s room. You got no rights messing
around in here at all. Now you jus’ get out, an’ get out quick. If you don’t, I’m
gonna ast the boss not to ever let you come in the barn no more.”
She turned on him in scorn. “Listen, ******,” she said. “You know what I
can do to you if you open your trap?”

And my answer is:

In the extract Steinbeck presents CWtypically as she is presented as discriminative. This is showed whenCW says that “they left all the weak ones here” and when she saidto “Listen, Nigger”. By telling Crooks to “Listen, Nigger” itimplies that Crooks is socially below her and is the only one shespeaks to this harshly because of his ethnicity. This could also backup that she was trying to provoke Crooks into speaking up as she didnot answer back to Candy as she wanted to take her anger out onCrooks and then said this to savour the moment and make it last aslong as possible. This is supported by the comma separating the 2words which shows that she is trying to make the moment last.Steinbeck could also have put it there to add effect on thederogatory, racist word “Nigger”. There is a capital letter onthe word “Nigger” therefore showing that CW used it as his name.Steinbeck may have done this to show that in that time period racismwas as common as using someone's name. He may also have done this toshow that CW is naïve because she is insulting him by naming himbased on appearance (his skin colour) whereas she is also named basedon her appearance by all of the other characters. The word “Nigger”is the term used for black slaves and Steinbeck may have used this toinfer that Crooks is just a slave at the ranch where his only purposeis to do manual work and has no social value therefore making thereader feel sympathy for him. I believe Steinbeck used the characterCW who is arguably the socially weakest to say this and the fact thatit was in his own territory where he feels most powerful (his home)show that he has a lot less power than he thinks therefore exaggeratethe sympathy the reader feels and show that in the 1930's blackpeople had less rights than women. By CW saying that “They left allthe weak ones here” it shows that she is discriminative as shecalls them a “nigger” and a “dum-dum” therefore picking onthem based on Crook's ethnicity and Lennie's potential mentaldisability therefore being discriminative. By calling them 3 “weak”as they have been left out it could be seen as hypocritical as she isalso one of the weak ones as she is left out of going to the baramong most things and is not loved for by anyone. The big differencebetween these 4 are that CW wants to try and gain power whereas theother 3 are retired at their social level therefore she will be theonly one on the offensive in the conversation and therefore subjectto using discriminative words to try and put them down and overpowerthem with her bitterness. By using the word ”left” it links backto the harshness of the novella and the underlying theme ofdisposability because when you dispose of something you leave it. ByCW picking on Crooks because of his ethnicity and picking on theother 3 because of their characteristics it shows that the extract istypical of CW because she is discriminative.

Thanks


Josh
Reply 1
BANTER!!!!!!
I know, my essays are very banterous.....
I don't know why some of the words are stuck together.

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