Conflict in Of Mice and Men

Brainstorm the different types of conflicts via your Google doc, creating a chart that addresses the conflict, types of conflict, and the effect that the conflict has had on the plot so far.

From your brainstorming session, choose at least two conflicts to explore more in depth in this blog. Be sure to include textual evidence and support and also identify the effect that the conflict has had on the plot so far.

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There are 4 common types of conflict that appear in stories. Man vs Man, Man vs Society, Man vs Self, and Man vs Nature.

In OMAM, most of the conflict comes from characters negatively interacting with each other -- Man vs Man. One character that often creates conflict with others in OMAM would be Curley, he acts very aggressively towards the other characters, especially Lennie. We see this right away when he is introduced, “His eyes passed over the new men and he stopped. He glanced coldly at George and then at Lennie. His arms gradually bent at the elbows and his hands closed into fists” (page 25). This gives George and Curley a bad impression of Curley - He’s a guy they shouldn’t be around. This back and forth friction eventually results in a violent “fist” fight between Curley and Lennie, “Curley’s rage exploded… Curley followed, slugging him in the face… Lennie covered his face with huge paws and bleated with terror” (63). Lennie becomes traumatized by the event, and Curley is forced to become even more filled with anger.This affects the plot later in the story by making Curley feel inclined to straight up kill Lennie rather than turn him in. This creates a dilemma for George when he finds Lennie, he can either kill him himself or let Lennie suffer at the hands of Curley. This conflict affected the circumstances of a situation later in the story.

The second most common conflict that appears is Man vs Self. For example, Lennie struggling with his mind, and Crooks, Candy, and Curley’s wife struggling with isolation and their lack of power on the farm. Crooks tries to stay in his own “shell” in order to prevent him from being treated unfairly. He knows that he is weak, but doesn’t like it. When Lennie tries to interact with him, Crooks is hostile, “I ain’t wanted in the bunkhouse, and you ain’t wanted in my room” (pg 68). Due to Crook’s disposition, we rarely see him in the story. Crooks' self-struggles lead him to barely appear in the main plot of OMAM. Another example of Man vs Self conflict affecting the plot of OMAM would be in Curley’s wife. Curley’s wife constantly regrets her life decisions and due to them, she is isolated and cannot converse with anyone else. This causes her to confide in other characters. This confiding gets her and Lennie in trouble, “I coulda made somethin’ of myself… So I married Curley… I don’t like Curley…” (pg 88-89). She wants to interact with others. She offers for Lennie to pet her hair, as it is the only human interaction available to her at the moment. Her choosing to do this gets her killed and Lennie in deep trouble. If Curley’s wife could normally interact with the other ranch hands (instead of having to be sneaky), Lennie could still be with George, they (him, George, and Candy) may have gotten their American Dream, and Curley’s wife would still be alive.