Anger and Violence By Shannon and Matt : )

Curley Curley is the most violent character in the book, whenever he shows up there is a feeling of tension. Candy tells Lennie and George that Curley always picks on big guys. This is because he has a Napoleon complex in which he feels the need to prove himself to make up for his lack of height. This is why he is always ready for a fight. For example, Curley picks on Lennie in chapter three of ‘Of Mice and Men’ and “Lennie covered his face with huge paws and bleated with terror”. His violent nature is also evident at the end of the book when he wants to “… shoot (Lennie) him in the guts!”. Killing Lennie is the only way he sees to prove himself after losing the fight, it’s not about avenging his wife’s death.

Carlson Carlson is associated with violence as he is not phased by killing Candy's dog, he even cleans the gun in front of Candy which shows how insensitive he is. ”I ought to of shot that dog myself George. I shouldn’t of let no stranger shoot my dog”. This shows that Carlson doesn’t think anything of taking a life, even when it does wrong by others. Carlson is also quick to join Curley’s gang at the end of the novel and go after Lennie to kill him. Perhaps for Carlson, violence and getting rid of weak animals is his way of getting kicks and feeling powerful - which of course he isn’t really, he’s just a migrant worker.

Lennie Compared to the other characters Lennie reveals an unintentional violence; he never intends to hurt people. He doesn’t even think to fight back when Curley attacks him. “Lennie covered his face with huge paws and bleated with terror.“ But when he does fight back he does so with immense force and someone always gets hurt, e.g. Curley, the puppy and Curley’s Wife. Lennie has little control over his strength. We can see this when he accidentally kills the pup by slapping it, then minutes later he snaps Curley’s wife's neck. He does tend to be his most violent though when he’s angry – he kills the puppy when he gets angry with it and Curley’s Wife when he gets angry at her screaming.

George Even though George kills Lennie he does it with love and the best intentions because he wants to end Lennie’s soon- to-come pain and suffering if Curley gets hold of him. George tells Lennie that he's not mad and tells him about the dream, to reassure him. He also kills Lennie in a way so that Lennie doesn’t realise what he's doing.

George “you an me….everybody gonna be nice to you. Ain’t gonna be no more trouble. Nobody's gonna hurt nobody or steal from nobody… No Lennie, I ain’t mad, I’ve never been mad and I aint now. That’s a thing I want you to know.” And George raised the gun and steadied it and he brought the muzzle of it close to the back of Lennie’s head. His hand shock violently but his face set and his hand steadied. He pulled the trigger and the crash of the shot rolled up the hills and rolled down again. Lennie jarred and then settled slowly forward to the sand and lay without quivering. George shivered and looked at the gun and then he threw it from him, back up on the bank near the pile of old ash.”

Crooks Crooks is very lonely as he lives in the barn by himself because of his skin colour. This makes him very angry as he can’t take part in any of the group activities and is used for entertainment. “s’pose you didn’t have nobody, s’pose you couldn’t go into the bunk house and play rummy ‘cause you was black how’d you like that? S'pose you had to sit out here an' read books. Sure you could play horseshoes till it got dark, but then you got to read books. Books ain't no good. A guy needs somebody - to be near him. A guy goes nuts if he ain't got nobody. Don't make no difference who the guy is, long's he's with you. I tell ya, I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an' he gets sick.”

Crooks Crooks gets angry in chapter 4 with Curley’s Wife and Lennie because they are two people he can get angry with as he sees them as equals (outcasts). His anger is displayed verbally unlike the other men who display it physically in their actions.

Candy Candy is one of the least violent characters on the farm. In chapter 5 we see Candy lose his temper with Curley’s Wife when he finds her dead in the barn as he realises that the dream is over. This shows he isn't courageous in any way as the only person he takes his anger out on is a dead one.

Curley’s wife Curley’s Wife is angry because she is the only woman on the ranch and she isn’t given any attention. She has no friends, she’s in a loveless marriage and she’s lonely. Curley’s wife doesn’t show her anger in front of George, Slim, Carlson and Curley. However, when we are in Crooks’ room in the barn with Lennie, Candy and Crooks she shows her anger. This is because of her power due to her status on the ranch, so she can easily over power him." I could string you up in a tree it ain’t even funny". She also overpowers Candy because he hasn’t got both hands so he isn’t really needed round the ranch. All it takes is for her to say something. She therefore uses them to vent her anger because she knows there will be no consequences.

Why might there be a lot of violence in ‘Of Mice & Men’? We think that there might be a lot of violence ‘Of Mice & Men’ as the book is full of all men trying to make a living in the middle of a depression and the wall street crash: ‘every man for himself.’ Also, because times were tough, people were treated badly and nobody had friends so they would become very frustrated and this would be displayed with anger.

How do they display their anger ? People on the ranch take their anger out on each other but the only take it out on people that they feel are lesser than them. They do so in different ways though: Candy, Crooks, George – verbally Curley, Lennie, Carlson – physically

What does the anger & violence help to represent? It helps to represent the hard lifestyle of a migrant worker living though the depression. This books makes people see the truth of a normal day as a worker on a ranch. What point do you think Steinbeck was trying to make by including this theme? We think Steinbeck was trying to put the point across that in the 1930s life was hard and people quite often got frustrated as their life didn’t always go smoothly.