Of Mice And Men Good And Bad Analysis

Good and bad: there always seems to be a choice and an extensive gap between them, as if there is no grey area whatsoever. In literature and film, this frequently leaves two distinct and defining characters within them: the “good guy”, the protagonist, and the “bad guy”, the antagonist. Contradictive of the prior point, is the reality of life and people’s ability to choose right over wrong. Given the choice, most tend to do wrong for the simplest reasoning of having the ability to do so, or the fact that they believed they were justified in doing so, despite others believing the opposite from an overview of the situation. Although others may not agree with the reasoning, everything is justifiable and therein lies the grey area that confuses
This idea is carried through in Of Mice and Men, although not in the same fashion. When Lennie accidentally murders Curley’s wife, Curley feels the need to avenge her tragic death, as a way of honoring her short life. Steinbeck writes, “He worked himself into a fury. ‘I’m gonna get him. I’m going for my shotgun. I’ll kill the big son-of-a-bitch myself. I’ll shoot ‘im in the guts,’” (96). This quotation illustrates Curley’s immediate desideratum to deliver some form of revenge onto Lennie for the fate he sealed for his wife. Although it does not show sadness, it portrays the feeling of anger, such as one may feel in the process of grieving. It must also be noted that despite Lennie also doing wrong onto himself, Curley only wants revenge for what he had done to his wife. This causes the reader to conclude that the act of revenge upon Lennie is one of passion and love in the process of grieving in his own
They merely feel the need to show their superiority over something they consider to be of a lesser standard than themselves. At the time Of Mice and Men was written in the 1930’s, women were seen as inferior to men and were expected to undividedly obey their husbands orders, as Steinbeck portrayed through Curley and his wife. Notwithstanding, Curley’s wife continually disobeyed his orders to fulfill her own desires. The text states, “‘I get lonely,’ she said. ‘ You can talk to people, but i can’t talk to nobody but Curley. Else he gets mad,’” (Steinbeck 87). This quotation directly displays Curley’s wife’s evident disregard of Curley’s orders for her to not talk to anyone except him, as she tells this to Lennie in