Difference between the movie “Of Mice and Men” and the book “Of Mice and Men”

The book, Of Mice and Men, is one that invokes thought in the reader. Although the book is well written, the movie does not come close to those same standards. After reading the book, then watchisng the movie, I saw some major differences as well as some insignificant differences. However, there were a few that were very obvious. One glaring difference that I saw involved the character simply known as “Curley’s wife”. One difference transpired during a scene that greatly influenced what I thought of her. However, in the movie, this scene never took place. This difference drastically altered my opinion of Curley’s wife.

In the book, Lennie, Candy, and Crooks are gathered in Crooks’ room. After a while, Curley’s wife arrives, and the situation became a bad one. Crooks gathers the nerve to stand up to her, and when he does, she verbally cuts him down. She tells Crooks that she could have him hanged, and no one would object. After she says this, Crooks “…reduces himself to nothing…” (81). Soon afterward, Curley’s wife leaves the room, leaving behind her the demoralized Crooks, Lennie, and Candy.

In the movie, Lennie, Candy, and Crooks never met in his room. A meeting between those three never took place throughout the entire movie. This is one of the reasons that I do not believe that the movie was nearly as good as the book. By eliminating this scene, Curley’s wife’s destructive nature is not revealed. Only those who have read the book would know this part of her personality.

The impact of the difference of the movie completely changed how I feel about Curley’s wife. While reading the book, I saw her as an unfaithful wife and a troublemaker. She was the only woman on the ranch so she immediatly was set apart from everyone else. So every attempt at making conversation is gone because the men don’t want trouble from her husband. She has no one to talk to besides Curley and all she wants is to be able to talk to someone during the day (87). Judging by the way that she conducted acted, I figured that she was both lonely and unhappy with herself, or that one man just wasn’t enough for her. In the book, she tells Lennie “I don’ like Curley. He ain’t a nice fella.” (89). Although she feels that her husband is unkind to her, I still didn’t feel any sympathy for her, mostly because of what she had said to Crooks in his room . When the movie did not have that scene all she seemed wrong with her was she was lonely and had a horrible husband. She no longer seemed like a vicious and cruel woman anymore. I no longer viewed her as a flirtatious and unfaithful wife.

Despite the many differences between the book and the movie, I believe that the one I pointed out is the most important. It is very influential when determining an opinion of the characters. The omission of that one particular scene changed my entire perception of the character. It helps to minimize the bad aspects of Curley’s wife’s personality, and underlines the fact that she is very lonely and in need of someone to befriend. This goes to show that any difference between a movie and a book can change one’s entire opinion of one more characters.