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Caroline Lopez

It Takes Two

John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men highlights relationships, but the novella also focuses on the loneliness of its characters. The main relationship in the novella is that of George and Lennie, two migrant workers who are very close friends. While working on a ranch near Soledad, California, the friends encounter the pugnacious Curley and his flirtatious wife. Curley and his wife have a different relationship than George and Lennie because they do not truly care for each other as George and Lennie do; however, both relationships end tragically due to Curley’s controlling actions.

George and Lennie’s friendship differs from Curley’s relationship with his wife because their friendship is based in care and trust. Almost all of George’s actions in the novella are done with the intent to care for Lennie and to keep him safe. In contrast, Curley’s actions throughout the novella are done with the intent to control or possess his wife. This oppressive, misconception of protection is very different from the protectiveness George has for Lennie because while George acts this way out of genuine care, Curley does it because he views his wife as a coveted possession. Curley’s controlling nature is shown by his wife’s words “I get lonely…You can talk to people, but I can’t talk to nobody but Curley. Else he gets mad” (87). Curley is so worried about the other men stealing his wife that he forces her into solitude, a state of being that is certainly not healthy for her. On the other hand, George acts more like a father or an older brother toward Lennie and is protective of him because he knows Lennie cannot care for himself. For example, in the exposition of the novella, George yells at Lennie for drinking stagnant water and forces him to remove a dead mouse from his pocket. Taken out of context, the manner in which he does this seems very harsh. However, once the reader is aware of Lennie’s mental condition, he or she is able to see that George acts the way he does toward Lennie because he strives to protect him from the world. In other words, George treats Lennie humanely, while Curley treats his wife like a toy that he has to protect from his classmates.

Furthermore, Lennie and Curley’s wife, the more vulnerable people in these relationships, have very different views of their partners. To begin with, Lennie is entirely dependent on George and trusts him completely. For example, Lennie says “George… Make ‘um let me alone, George” (63) while being attacked by Curley. Even when being assaulted, Lennie refuses to break George’s prior commandment that he not fight Curley. Lennie also goes to George for aid immediately instead of attempting to help himself first. Later in the novella, Lennie also has complete faith that George will save him from the consequences of his ruinous actions. Meanwhile, Curley’s wife feels trapped in her marriage, which certainly lacks love, respect, and trust. She chooses to marry Curley to escape an even worse life style. She reveals to Lennie that she does not  like her husband, and does not think he is a decent person. Their marriage, which should be characterized by romance and, at the bare minimum, respect, is more like that of a warden and his rebellious prisoner. Lennie has a childlike faith in George and needs him to survive, and Curley’s wife sees her husband as the lesser of two evils.

Ultimately, Curley’s possessive actions cause both relationships to end tragically. Curley’s wife is lonely because of her husband’s possessiveness. Her loneliness causes her to seek out companionship, and she finds someone to talk to by chance in Lennie. If she had been allowed companionship, she would not have been so thrilled to have someone listen to her. Instead, Curley’s actions and the other ranch hands’ subsequently indifferent attitudes prompt her to say “Seems like they ain’t none of them cares how I gotta live” (88) while she has her final conversation with Lennie. It is because of her gratitude for this much needed interaction that Curley’s wife offers to let Lennie touch her hair. That small act of gratitude leads to the climax of a domino effect started by Curley. His wife is not aware of how to act around Lennie, and Lennie is not aware of how powerful he is. His wife’s violent death causes Curley to hunt down Lennie, which convinces George to show his friend one more act of kindness by shooting him quickly and painlessly before Curley could find him. Many variables cause both relationships to end tragically, but the powder keg’s spark is how Curley treats his wife.

Lennie and George’s friendship and Curley and his wife’s marriage differ in the care and sincerity, or lack thereof, that define them, and it is this lack of genuine care that causes both relationships to end so horrendously. John Steinbeck uses Of Mice and Men to illustrate the effects of loneliness on people, and the novella also shows how one’s actions can affect other seemingly unconnected people. Of Mice and Men demonstrates true friendship, a sad imitation of a marriage, and the loneliness many people seem to bear.

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