In the more intense passages of Of Mice and Men, how does Steinbeck use language to create the mood?Regarding situations such as Curley's wife...

In John Steinbeck's novella, Of Mice and
Men, the author uses language in several of the more emotionally intense
passages, to enable one character to "beat down" a weaker character in a show of
superiority.

When Crooks confronts Lennie out of Crooks'
own sense of isolation and loneliness, his tone is threatening, and
fear is a major component of the
discussion between the two men. Crooks uses his words to exercise power and control over
the weaker Lennie, at least until Lennie's erratic emotions frighten the older man.
Crooks suggests that George might abandon Lennie, awakening in Lennie a sense of
terror.

His
voice grew soft and persuasive. 'S'pose George don't come back no more. S'pose he took a
powder and just ain't coming back. What'll you do?...I said s'pose George went into town
tonight and you never heard of him no
more...'

Crooks suggestion of
the fear of loneliness not only reflects Lennie's fear, but the
fear of members of American society after the Great Crash of 1929. Lennie denies the
possibility, but Crooks, knowing he can bully Lennie, continues until Lennie grows
frightened and angry, denying the possibility:

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'I don' know. Say, what you doin' anyways?' he
cried. 'This ain't
true...'

Crooks presses on
threatening Lennie with life in an asylum until Lennie scares
Crooks.

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Crooks bored in on him. 'Want me ta tell ya
what'll happen? They'll take ya to the booby hatch. They'll tie ya up with a collar like
a dog.'

Crooks has gone too
far, and backs off at Lennie's aggressive response:

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Suddenly Lennie's eyes centered and grew quiet,
and mad. He stood up and walked dangerously toward Crooks...Crooks saw the danger as it
approached him.

Crooks backs
off and tries now to explain his own loneliness without resorting to the intimidating
tactics he has used till now. Lennie's fear is
palpable.

Curley's wife, ironically, does the same thing to
Crooks when the black man tries to stand up to her. She is almost
as powerless as Crooks, but she reminds him that he is
black and that she holds a greater power over him than she does
anyone else: that of death. She manipulates Crooks with fear, but in this situation she
does so to exercise authority in a world where she has no power at all. She, too, is
isolated and lonely, but her mean streak is more deadly than
Crooks'.

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'Listen...,' she said. 'You know what I can do
to you if you open your trap?'

Crooks stared hopelessly at
her, and then he sat down on his bunk and drew into himself...[he] seemed to grow
smaller, and he pressed himself against the wall.

'Well,
you keep your place then...I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain't even
funny.'

Crooks had reduced himself to nothing. There was no
personality, no ego...'Yes ma'am,' and his voice was
toneless.

Steinbeck uses the
words of Curley's wife to strike terror into the heart of Crooks, knowing that she can
easily destroy him—he will not only be quiet and accommodating, but
she can feel the power she wields only with
him because with her husband and the rest of the men, she is
nothing.

Steinbeck uses the language of these two
characters to instill fear within other, weaker characters. Whereas Crooks demonstrates
power over Lennie, he becomes the target when Curley's wife does
the same thing to him.