Disenfranchisement In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

Of Mice and Men is a famous novel written by John Steinbeck. It was published in 1937. This novel is about two young men named George Milton and Lennie Small who move to a ranch to work during the period of The Great Depression. These two displaced men go through several situations at the ranch but still hope to work their best. Disenfranchisement is clearly presented in the society of this novel using gender and space through literary theories such as Foucault and Feminism.

Steinbeck creates the idea of disenfranchisement using Foucault. An example of a location where exclusion takes place is the bunkhouse. The bunkhouse is seen as the main social centre where all the physical violence and discrimination occurs. Examples of physical violence that take place in the bunkhouse in the bunkhouse are killing of Candy’s dog, and Lennie smashing Curley’s hand. This place is the only place where the guys can communicate with each other or make decisions. It is also seen as a place where it’s entirely masculinity and most of the weak ones are kept there. Therefore, disenfranchisement is applied here because it shows how the characters are segregated due to their social status and their race.

In addition, another place where disenfranchisement is obtained is Crook’s room. Crooks …show more content…
Foucault is space and the main character that was affected by Foucault was Crooks. In addition, feminism has also been shown to the readers throughout the novel using Curley’s wife as an example. Both literary theories have been used to display disenfranchisement within the society of the novel of ‘Of Mice and Men.’ Steinbeck committed his life to both socially interacting with and literary experiences of people who were discriminated during the period of The Great Depression and he is known as an honouring member of the working