Of Mice And Men

There are many people who make up society from bullies to businessmen. These people shape society in the good and worst ways. In the book Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck; certain characters represent different people who make up society in this story. Four characters that represent this the best are Curley, Slim, Lennie and Curley's wife.

Curley in this story represents the many bullies in the world. In the story Curley tries to make the workers know whose boss. Not many workers do fear him so in order for them to fear him Curley picks fights. A great example was when Curley thought Slim and his wife were together, when he tries to intimidate Slim he fails. The result is the other workers making of him. After everyone is laughing at him he becomes belligerent (U2), and looks for a scapegoat which ends up being Lennie. The problem is Lennie isn't laughing at him he's smiling about the ranch he's going to own. So Curley tries and picks on Lennie Curley says to Lennie "what the hell you laughin at?"p62. Lennie looks at him puzzled and then get hit in the face by Curley, they begin to fight then during the fight Lennie stands up for himself and grabs Curley's hand like a vice grip ends up breaking Curley's hand.

After the fight in order for Curley to keep his pride and Lennie and George not to get fired; Slim says to Curley "I think your han' caught in a machine". Curley agrees to in order to keep his reputation up. This example shows how Curley will pick a fight with someone for no reason just to feel tough and proud.

The next character is Slim, Slim represents two kind of people a hard worker and a good friend. He shows how he's hard worker by being almost the leader of the workers, which means that Slim has been there for a long time and shows detcation to his work. The more important representation is a good friend, he showed this two ways. The first was being a good friend to George by listening to him when he needed someone to talk to. When they were in the bunk George almost in a way confess to Slim how he used to be mean and hurtful to Lennie. Slim showed he was a good friend by listen and not judging George for his actions in the past. Another example was the end of the story when George had to shoot Lennie which was probably the toughest thing George has ever had to do, after this occurs Slim realizes this hardship that just occurs and he tells George lets go and get a drink. The other men on the other hand don't understand why George is sad.

Another character is Lennie one of main characters in the book. Lennie represents the mentally disabled. Lennie is a big man but has the mind of a ten year old. Lennie doesn't understand right from wrong. The first example that occurs is in the beginning of the story when Lennie goes up to a girl in a red dress and begins to pet her dress. The girl becomes scared tries to run then Lennie