Danger in Of Mice and Men

DANGER (think also THREAT, TENSION, STRIFE, AGRESSION...)

i) Curley and his behaviour towards the other men. His presence in a room is often accompanied by feelings of uneasiness and tension.

ii) The fight scene with Curley and Lennie. The fact that Lennie holds back from fighting until George gives him the go ahead builds tension and a sense of impending violence.

iii) The way Curley's wife is presented as a dangerous character - a siren (see below). She is the ultimate 'jail bait'; she wears red which is symbolic of danger; she creates a reason for Lennie to get into trouble because she has soft, tactile hair and clothing. Her function in the novel is to destroy the dream and therefore she is built up as a dangerous character.

SIREN - a mythical seductress who would lure sailors to their doom by making them crash on the shore.

Overall, there is a feeling of danger because all these men are living in close, tense quarters with people they don't know, there is the threat of poverty around every corner and the danger that, because of the Depression, your job may not be there in the morning.