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Curley analysis omam

Hello! Yes I am worried about the exam as well on Monday! Eek! Is it okay if you mark or just at least read my answer for Curley. I would be very grateful! Thank you very much! Also, tell me how you are feeling about the exam on Monday.

THE ANSWER TO 'How Is Curley Significant in OMAM?

Curley is significant in John Steinbeck's 'Of Mice and Men' for a number of reasons. Curley is the Boss' son on the farm and is a small, angry and aggressive character who has little to no authority over the ranch hands partly due to the lack of respect that he receives from everyone. He can be seen as disaffected by his isolation and loneliness on the farm by lacking the qualities of being a loving and caring husband. He uses his wife to show off on the ranch as an effort to gain respect from the ranch hands.

Firstly and most importantly, Curley is seen as the villain of the ranch. He is aggressive and 'he's alla time picking scraps with big guys'. He specifically targets 'big guys' because he wants to gain respect from the ranchers by showing them his fighting skills. This shows that he often feels insecure that no-one is friends with him and he tries hard to win their friendship by showing his power.His unpopularity can be seen by what everyone says about him. George states that he is a 'son-of-a-bitch' and even his wife says that 'he aint a nice fella'. This means that no one respects him partly because of his aggressive and dismissive attitude. George says that Curley is an example of what happens when people 'get lonely' and don’t have 'nobody'. Steinbeck is therefore using Curley to show why George does not want to leave Lennie and travel alone. This exemplifies the importance of their friendship in this microcosmos and other friendships in the isolated and individualistic society in which it is set.

In addition, he is married to Curley's Wife and there is a great deal of significance in this relationship. He has been married to his young wife for two weeks and is clear that he is simply using her as a 'trophy wife' to show off to the other ranchers that he is in a relationship. They are not happy together and they are never seen together in the novella apart from when she is dead and even then he is more worried about taking revenge and looking powerful than his cold dead wife. He uses her to exert his sexual authority in the ranch and that he has a relationship when all of the other ranchers do not. This relationship represents many situations in America during this time. Curley's Wife is repressed by Curley and she is property of Curley (because of the lack of a name) because he is a male and dominates the relationship.Steinbeck deliberately does not give her a name to take away a sense of freedom, individuality, identity and authority from her life. She feels trapped in this relationship and thinks that Curley ' Aint a nice fella' which shows that she has no power in the marriage as she cannot do what she wants, which is talk to people on the ranch. This links with Steinbeck's theme of women and how Curley does not understand his wife's needs in their clearly unhappy marriage. Also, the lack of attention he gives his wife could be seen as a reason why George and Lennie's dream comes crashing down. His lack of affection he gives to his wife leads her to become lonely thus she craves the attention from other ranch workers to compliment her and talk to her. This means that Lennie becomes interested in her and she talks to Lennie where she ends up dead. This is very significant as it shows that a mixture of both seeking respect and a lack of attention to his wife causes the events at the end of the novella. So he can be partly to blame for the deaths in the novel.

Penultimately, Curley feels threatened by larger guys because he is small (even when he is wearing high heeled boots). He has no authority on the ranch and tries to show people his power physically by preying on the larger (but mentally weaker) ranch hands, such as Lennie. This is because he feels intimidated by larger guys and shows his insecurities about what people think about him. This hatred he has for Lennie causes tension throughout the book and gives the reader a foreboding message that there is going to be clashes and collisions later in the novella.

Curley is isolated on the ranch. His whole demeanor is based on it. Curley picks fights and uses his wife to gain respect from the ranch hands, but it doesn’t work. Not working on the farm and his provocative attitude has driven of any potential ally ships on the ranch, leaving him just as lonely and isolated as every other character in the novella because no one reconsises his authority or efforts to make friends. He is trapped on the ranch and destined to run it one day. His position has moulded his personality and has made his the brute that he is, because no one sees his as a normal racher because of his high status. His dream is to be respected and popular but this will never be because of his position. This shows that everyone is isolated on the ranch some way or another. He conveys many of Steinbeck's themes and shows what people can become if isolated and what they will go to.

Reply 1

K K

this is a great response but i think you need to analyse the quotations more and go into more depth and back up your points with more quotations, i would give it a B/A

Reply 2

Ed Jeffrey

Original post by K K

this is a great response but i think you need to analyse the quotations more and go into more depth and back up your points with more quotations, i would give it a B/A

Thankyou for the response! Yeah, I totally agree. I do that sometimes without really thinking!

Reply 3

K K

you're welcome!! me too, i'm predicted A/A* but really not confident. what have you been doing to revise?

Reply 4

K K

a quick answer i wrote last year,

3. What are your first impressions of Curley?
Steinbeck presents Curley as a dislikable person from our first encounter with him. Curley is portrayed as a man who gets away with anything because he is the boss' son. George says "This guy Curley sounds like a son-of-a-bitch to me. I don't like mean little guys." Within the short space of time that George has met Curley, he has already assumed a dislike to him. Curley seems to be abusing his postion hence causing ranch workers to resent him. He is a very aggressive man who often threatens fellow ranch workers to obey him despite being of similar status within the ranch hierarchy. Curley's presence causes tension in the scene betwee himself and Lennie. "He glanced coldly at George and then Lennie. His arms gradually bent at the elbows and his hands closed into fists" This shows Curley's body language of clenching his fists to intimidate George and Lennie. Curley see's Lennie as an opponents he wants to fight in the boxing ring. "His glance was at once calculating and pugnacious" shows Curley examining them and scowling. Steinbeck makes it obvious that Lennie intimidated and threated by Curley's presence as "Lennie squirmed under the look and shifted his feet nervously." As Curley steps "gingerly" close to Lennie, he could also feel intimidated by Lennie's big size.

Curley analysis omam

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