Hollinger: 5 Fall 2011 discussion

1. What are the conflicts in Of Mice and Men? What types of conflict (physical, moral, intellectual, or emotional)?

2. Why do you think Curly's wife never gets an actual name?

3. Does the story end the way you expected? How? Why?

1.-The main conflict here is somehwere by the end of the story, and what happens here lennie kills curley's wife, and that gets him in trouble with everyone in the ranch,this would be a physical conflict, and the other main conflict would be the second to last page that moment when george has to kill lennie, it says how he keep grabbing the gun then leting it go then at the end just do it.. you can see he doesent WANT to do this to his friend lennie its more of a emotional conflict.

2.-In my opinion, curley's wife never gets a name maybe to make the reader to think that she is not that important to the story and the reader not to expect the ending

3.-honestly, no it did not end the way i thought, i was expecting for Lennie to finally calm down when touching soft things when he touched curley's wife hair, but it did the oposite, she started screaming and lennie shut her up and it was so much that killed her,, and at the very end i was expecting for george to run away with lennie or something, but i guess not.

1. I think the main conflict in the story is that
Lennie has mental problems and he ended up killing Curley's wife, it is a physical/mental conflict. The other conflict would be George protecting Lennie and them two trying to stick together and not get into trouble, which would be emotional/physical/

2.I think she never gets a name because she is a tramp and no one seems to care for her or what she does, so no one acknowledges her.

3.I figured Lennie was going to do something, but right when Curley's wife told Lennie to feel her hair, I knew that was going to get Lennie in trouble. When he began to shake her and cover her mouth, I suspected she was going to be accidentally killed.

Javier wrote: "1.-The main conflict here is somehwere by the end of the story, and what happens here lennie kills curley's wife, and that gets him in trouble with everyone in the ranch,this would be a physical co..."

That makes sense that the author wanted us to think of her as a "not important" person, then her becoming one of the main conflicts in the story.

1) I think there are physical conflicts, intellectual conflicts and emotional conflicts. One conflict was the fact that George and Lennie were out of a job. Another conflict was that Curley didn't like big people and always wants to fight.

2) I think Curley's wife never gets a name because it acts as a reminder that she's a dangerous character if another is caught with her.

3) Not really. I didn't expect the story to end the way it did. I actually thought George and Lennie would actually get their land and live "happily ever after." I guess that's only in fairytales.

@Javier

I agree. I was expecting something of that sort of an ending too. :'(

@Elinni

I agree. The main conflict WAS that Lennie had mental problems.

1. Conflicts that appear in "Of Mice and Men" are repetitive. I believe that the emotional troubles throughout the story concern George and Lennie. George is always putting Lennie down and making him feel bad about himself and his actions whether they are right or wrong. One of the physical conflicts throughout the book begins with how George and Lennie are broke. They dream throughout the story of a place to live that has everything they could ever imagine even though it costs a lot more than they have to spend.
2. I belive Curley's wife never gets a name due to the time period the story takes place in. Women had very little rights back then and it helps the reader better understand the setting. Being called "Curley's wife" instead of having an actual name come off as something Curley owns. This may be why the author decided not to give her a name. He wanted his readers to experience the kind of hardships and lifestyle back then.
3. No, the story ended a completely different way than I expected it to. I realized from the very beginning of the story that George had a bit of hate built up toward Lennie but I never thought he would take it so far. Even though that the main reason for shooting Lennie, the author still surprised me. I was a little bit disappointed that the story was cut off because it leaves imagining different senarios that could have happened if the book had a different ending.

@Elinni i completely agree with your opinions according to the conflicts throughout the book. It seems that almost all of the conflicts have something to do with George and Lennie and it isn't just one major conflict throughout the entire story. Multiple "small" conflicts appear throughout the story.

@Javier I don't think I agree with you when you formed your opinion about why Curley's wife doesn't have a name. She is a very important character because if she wasn't then she probably would'nt have gotten such a major part in the book. If Curley's wife was not an important character then she would'nt have died and Lennie wouldn't have had to run away. This could have caused the story to have a totally different ending.

@ Andrea

I forgot the women had little rights back then, that honestly could be the reason why the author didn't give her a name.

1.Some of the main conflicts were Lennie and Georges versus the plan of livin' off the fatta' the lan' Curly versus Lennie and the Final conflict between George's love for Lennie and his Concience,some phisical others moral and the others intellectual.

2.Curly's wife doesn't get a name because she plays about three parts in the the book ending with her death. All the other men play almost all the book.

3.The Story did not end like i tought it would. i pictured it ending with George and Lennie running away and getting the land they dreamed about.

1 the conflicts are mostly on lennie cause of curly and his wife.i believe the conflict is both physical and intellectual
2 maybe she dosent have a name because the author thought it wasn't important to give the only female a name
3 no because i actually expected george lennie and candy to get that little peice of land that they talked about

1. I think the main conflict in Of Mice and Men was that Lennie had mental problems making that a mental and physical conflict. Another conflict was George always having to look out for Lennie and making sure he doesn't get himself into bad situations.
2. I think Curly's wife isn't named because no one seems to really acknowledge her being around so the author trys to show how she really isn't noticed.
3. I didn't think wheni first started reading the book that it was going to end with George killing Lennie but i changed my mind when Curly's wife asks Lennie to touch her hair that's about the time i changed my mind.

Elinni wrote: "1. I think the main conflict in the story is that
Lennie has mental problems and he ended up killing Curley's wife, it is a physical/mental conflict. The other conflict would be George protecting..."

I agree with elinni your answers are very straight to the point and clear.

Javier wrote: "1.-The main conflict here is somehwere by the end of the story, and what happens here lennie kills curley's wife, and that gets him in trouble with everyone in the ranch,this would be a physical co..."

I agree with your main conflict, Lennie killing Curly's wife was a major conflict.

1. Physical, moral, intellectual, and emotional. Lennie is strongly emotionally attached to George and George has somehow become attached to him. While this isn't a problem near the beginning, it develops into a hindrance. We all understand that Lennie is mentally retarded, he has the mind and understanding of a child, but the strength and body of a large adult. Only a few people understand how young his mind is, the rest think he's simply "not that bright." Many of the major conflicts revolve around Lennie. His emotional attachment to George causes him to accidently kill Curly's wife. He didn't mean it of course, but his physical strength attributed to this.
In the end, the cause of all major conflict was elminated by George. Some may say that this was morally wrong, but on the contrary, it was abiding by the mroal's George himself had set himself up to live by and it was humane. The main conflict is undoubtedly Lennie, though the saddest part is that all he ever tried to do was set up a life with George.

2. It might have been the times, or it might have been the way she was depicted. Curly's wife was the only woman, on a ranchful of men. I mean, that's a bad combination to start off with. To add fuel to the fire, she's lonely, pretty, flirtatious, and has a mean, jealous husband. The mean know better than to get too friendly with her. So they might know her name, but simply choose not to call her by it.
What happens when you begin to warm up to a found animal? You name it. Not naming it gives distance. That's what they wanted.
In the eyes of the men in the story, Curly's wife was "a jail bait waiting to happen." It might no have been intentional, but she did cause many problems. It was best for themselves and for her that they kept their distance.

3. I could guess where the story was going when I first read George's reaction. If he had been intent of saving Lennie he wouldn't have been as monotonous as he was. I admit though, that the way George killed him was... very hard. His resolution wavered near the beginning, but as he understood what would happen if the men got to him he did what he had been doing since the beginning of the book. He protected Lennie.

Elinni wrote: "1. I think the main conflict in the story is that
Lennie has mental problems and he ended up killing Curley's wife, it is a physical/mental conflict. The other conflict would be George protecting..."

It's never actually proven that she was a tramp. She was called one, but all she did was try to make conversation. I don't recall her coming on to one of the men at any point in the story.

John wrote: "1 the conflicts are mostly on lennie cause of curly and his wife.i believe the conflict is both physical and intellectual
2 maybe she dosent have a name because the author thought it wasn't import..."

I strongly disagree. She wasn't the sole female of the story. There was Lennie's aunt, Aunt Clara, she had a name. There's also Susy, the owner of the whorehouse. I don't see how he would name two other woman who had less importance than Curly's wife, yet not name Curly's wife herself.

1. The conflicts in Of Mice and Men are physical and intellectual, because Lennie was "slow" and that was a big conflict mainly because of Lennie didn't really know what was right and what was wrong.George always had to watch Lennie to make sure nothing bad ever happend to Lennie, and when George stopped Watching Lennie for a second he ends up killing both the puppy and Curleys wife.
2.I think Curleys wife never gets a name because, she is trampy and why would you want to name a character like her. She was also the only girl on the ranch, and maybe the author didn't really want to acknowledge her.
3.The story did not end how i thought it would end.I thought George and Lennie were going to end up owning there own ranch, and being successful. But the way the author ended the story I still do not know if George ends up getting the ranch, now that Lennie is gone.

Question 1: I think the main conflict was that Lennie had done something in Weed. This starts off ALL problems that the have int he story. They wouldn't have had to go to the new ranch had Lennie not grabbed that woman. This would be a physical conflict. One emotional conflict presented in the story is at the end. George didn't want to shoot Lennie. He would pu the gun up and the down and then finally he shot Lennie.

Question 2: Curley's wife was not given a name for 2 reasons. One, she wasnt really important to the story besides the fact that Lennie kills her, maybe she has no name because Steinbeck didnt want us to suspect anything happening. Another could be that at the time the story takes place, women were undermined and thought less of. They were looked upon as a mans property, so the title of CURLEY'S wife, fit appropriately for the time period.

3. The ending happened just like I thought it would. Not that George would Lennie, but that Lennie would end up doing something bad that would get everybody mad at him.

Q1.)the main type of conflict seen throughout the novel is both physical and intellectual problems the physical conflict when he breaks curleys hand and when he killed curleys wife, the intellectual problem is lennie being slow and having to deal with people like curley.
Q2.) because she wasn't really important since she was going to die anyway at the end.
Q3.) the story did and did not end like i expected, i was expecting lennie to die but i was not expecting george to give up on his dream of getting his own land i was hoping that he would at least try to realize this dream with candy

1. There is physical conflict between Lennie and Curley, as well as moral conflict when George and Candy try and decide if it's right to kill their best friends, even if it is in their best interest.

2. Curley's wife never gets a name because then she would be talked about as a person, when Curley actually treats her like an object.

3. I didn't think the story would end in Lennie's death. I thought their plan to buy a little land would end when Lennie got into trouble and they had to run away without pay. Instead Lennie paid for his mistake with his life rather than his money.

Andrea wrote: "@Javier I don't think I agree with you when you formed your opinion about why Curley's wife doesn't have a name. She is a very important character because if she wasn't then she probably would'nt h..."

i did not say she was not important what i ment was that the author wants us to think that she is not important for us not to expect the ending.

1.What are the conflicts in Of Mice and Men? What types of conflict (physical, moral, intellectual, or emotional)?
the problems were many but the one that really caught my attention was lennies mental problem he wasnt all there if u kno what i mean
2. Why do you think Curly's wife never gets an actual name? soo you can fill it in with a name u choose who ever reminds you of her

3. Does the story end the way you expected? How? Why?
no i thought they would run away and live a better life but it had to end sometime lennie was just not safe he was a hazard to the world

@Maggie
I completely agree with your opinion on why Curley's wife didn't have a name.

1. What are the conflicts in Of Mice and Men? What 1.The types of conflict are physical and intellectual.Lennie killed Curley,s wife which was sad.Also intellectual beacuse Lennie acted really dumb throughout the book.
2. I feel that it showed that she didnt matter to the story at all thats why she didnt get a name
3.No beacuse instead of George killin himself he shot his own friend .That showed he had no respect for him.

1. The type of conflict in "Of Mice and Men" is emotional. There are other conflicts like physical, but emotional is the main conflit. When George had to kill Lennie was an emotional conflict, because Lennie was George's best friend.

2. Curley's wife never gets a name, because if she had one the story would be different. Throughout the story, everyone thinks of her as a women who just wonders, if she had a name then she would had purpose in the farm.

3. The story did ended the way I thought it would, because it foreshadows a lot on Lennie's death. It mainly showed when Candy's dog got killed it symbolizes the dog as Lennie.

Cole wrote: "1. There is physical conflict between Lennie and Curley, as well as moral conflict when George and Candy try and decide if it's right to kill their best friends, even if it is in their best interes..."

I agree with you on number 2, Curley's wife was just an object in the story.

1. One conflict is the conflict between Lennie and Curley(physical). Lennie's mental problem is definitely a main conflict.
2.I think that the fact that she is the only woman on the ranch plays some part. Plus Curley doesn't seem to really care about her and she is known as a tramp in the novel.
3.When I researched the title and saw the symbolism between the mice and Lennie, I had a feeling that something would happen to Lennie. The ancient dog being killed also influenced my opinion about what would happen.But I did not expect George to shoot Lennie at all.

1. One conflict found throught the text was Lenny. Lenny caused many physical problems for everyone because of his "mental disorder", but other than that without Lenny the story line could have gone differently without any disruptions.

2. Mainly because she is just a background character.

3. No; I honestly believed things could have worked out better, but the story line was somewhat predictable although the reader didn't want things to end that way.

Baldemar wrote: "1) I think there are physical conflicts, intellectual conflicts and emotional conflicts. One conflict was the fact that George and Lennie were out of a job. Another conflict was that Curley didn't ..."

I agree with you on number one. All conflicts showed in the story.

Cole wrote: "1. There is physical conflict between Lennie and Curley, as well as moral conflict when George and Candy try and decide if it's right to kill their best friends, even if it is in their best interes..."

I agree with you on number 1. I definitely think there was a moral conflict between Candy and George.

Javier wrote: "1.-The main conflict here is somehwere by the end of the story, and what happens here lennie kills curley's wife, and that gets him in trouble with everyone in the ranch,this would be a physical co..."

I agree with your statments because in the end it is true wether it hurts to admit.

Maggie wrote: "1. Physical, moral, intellectual, and emotional. Lennie is strongly emotionally attached to George and George has somehow become attached to him. While this isn't a problem near the beginning, it d..."

I agree with your statements; because there is some causes of all this.

Maggie wrote: "1. Physical, moral, intellectual, and emotional. Lennie is strongly emotionally attached to George and George has somehow become attached to him. While this isn't a problem near the beginning, it d..."

Great job, Maggie. I agree with your answer to number 2 completely.

1. The emotional problem of the story, has deals with Lennie's obsession, "I like to pet nice things with my fingers, sof' thing". This emotional conflict leads to the physical conflict of Lennie and and George not being able to hold a steady job, in Weed or in the New farm. Lennie's obsession lead him to kill Curley's wife another big conflict.