Sunday, January 23, 2011

Of Mice and Men Chapter. 5 Response

In the book Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck illustrates through Curley’s wife that a person might act evil to other people but sometimes it’s because they are misunderstood.  Some of the men on the ranch thought that she was jailbait and tried to avoid contact with her.  She constantly tried to flirt with other men on the ranch despite her marriage.  Because she did these things doesn’t necessarily make her evil.  “Well, I ain’t told this to nobody before.  Maybe I ought’n to.  I don’t like Curley.  He ain’t a nice fella.”  This is what Curley’s wife said to Lennie when they were alone together in the barn.  It shows that she wants to get way from Curley which is why she always is flirting with many other guys on the ranch.  “I lived right in Salinas.  Come there when I was a kid.  Well, a show came through, an’ I met one of actors.  He says I could go with that show.  But my ol’ lady wouldn’t let me.  She says because I was only fifteen.  But the guy says I coulda.  If I’d went, I wouldn’t be livin’ like this, you bet.”  “ ‘Nother time I met a guy, an’ he was in pitchers.  Went out to the Riverside Dance Palace with him.  He says he was gonna put me in the movies.  Says I was a natural.  Soon’s he got back to Hollywood he was gonna write to me about it.  I never got that letter.  I always thought my ol’ lady stole it.  Well, I wasn’t gonna stay no place where I couldn’t get nowhere or make something of myself.  These two quotes shows that she was always held back by her mother during her life.  They emphasize the fact that her whole life, others were trying to keep her grounded, and Curley is just another one of those people who is restricting her from doing what she wants.  In all, her actions didn’t make her deserve getting killed by Lennie.  She was misunderstood for having bad intentions, when what she really wanted was just to be free from Curley and be free for once in her life.

3 comments:

  1. I like the way you used the quotes. You used them at the right time to help your argument. You really summed it up at the end with your conclusion. It was a very strong point that was proven.

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  2. I agree that Curley's wife acted evil, but was misunderstood. You made good points in your essay to back up your thesis. I last sentence it concluded the paragraph and your thought very well.

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  3. I thought that you had a strong thesis statement and I agree that Curley's wife was misunderstood. You had good quotes and backed them up with evidence. I also like how you put the quotes in order according to the story. This is a really good response, keep it up.

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