How Does Steinbeck Obtain Power In Of Mice And Men

During the height of The Great Depression, one would feel cursed if he or she were not a white man. Prejudices against women and black americans were thriving, and ever prevalent in day-to-day life, particularly in the south. Attaining power was nearly impossible to these groups, and they were often left with torment and scorn. John Steinbeck captures the bigotry of the era with ease, throwing whomever is reading his books head-first into the inequity of life in the 1930s. Considered one of Steinbeck's greatest works, the novel Of Mice and Men distinctly illustrates through Curley’s Wife’s and Crooks’s behavior in the face of vilification, how those who seek power are often in a place of weakness. The most clear example of …show more content…
The reasoning behind this is a black man should never sleep in the same room as a white man, for that would be preposterous in this day. The men do not often interact with him, and he is often left alone, with no company, and a lack of friendship. When Lennie talks to Crooks about George, Crooks sees an opportunity to gain some power over the large man. He says: “ ‘Le’s say he wants to come back and can’t. S’pose he gets killed or hurt so he can’t come back.’ Lennie struggled to understand. ‘George won’t do nothing like that.’ ” (71) Crooks is aware of Lennie’s lack of intelligence and ability to be easily manipulated, so he uses a hypothetical scenario to get into Lennie’s head. He is jealous of George’s and Lennie’s close relationship, and feels compelled to attain power over Lennie, as if it would make him feel better about his loneliness. Similarly, when Curley’s Wife is lurking around the ranch once again, she walks into Crooks’s home without permission and inserts herself into the conversation. Crooks is annoyed, to say the least. How could a woman be so direct and yet he cannot? When she says something that particularly crosses the line, he loses all patience, coldly stating: “ ‘I had enough...You got no rights comin’ in a colored man’s room. You got no rights messing …show more content…
But when one is in a position that is under discrimination, he will do whatever it takes to rise above the rest. Curley’s Wife and Crooks are making a big mistake. Putting others down is not an honest way to receive and attain power, but their strategies is precisely what Steinbeck wanted the reader to realize; that those who seek power are often the weakest