Of Mice and Men is a realistic fiction novella written by John Steinbeck that takes place during the Great Depression of the 1930’s. The protagonists of the story, George and Lennie, are two migrant workers who venture from place to place looking for labor. Throughout the story, Steinbeck uses the literary device, setting, to develop the central idea, dreams are hard to achieve when certain limitations are barricading you from reaching it. Migrant workers, in this time period, were alienated, segregated and discriminated since they were unsanitary and dirty because of the difficult past they have suffered. They received no advocates and experienced loneliness however, George and Lennie were two unnatural pairs who sought
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Women, in the period that takes place in of Mice and Men, still suffered from patriarchal beliefs of men and were very limited and constrained to their freedom. In of Mice and Men Curley’s wife is one of the few characters who seeked out dreams and had tried to work towards it. Curley’s wife’s dream was to obtain fame by becoming an actress and cease the belief of women 's inferiority. Before Curley’s wife had died in the hand of Lennie, Curley’s wife began to reveal someone of her true personalities and she had said to Lennie, “He says he was gonna put me in the movies. Say I was a natural. Soon’s he got back to Hollywood he was gonna write to me about it.’ She looked closely at Lennie to see whether she was impressing him. ‘I never got that letter,’ she said ‘I always thought my ol’lady stole it. Well, I wasn’t stay no place where I couldn’t get nowhere or make something of myself…”. (Steinbeck 88) Curley’s wife had though her letter had been stolen ,but she never had a chance at becoming an actress from the first place. Steinbeck is able to show that Curley’s wife’s dream was impossible because since women were weaker and ignored during the 1930’s they were unable to become lead roles or significant part of society and therefore unable to achieve
Women, in the period that takes place in of Mice and Men, still suffered from patriarchal beliefs of men and were very limited and constrained to their freedom. In of Mice and Men Curley’s wife is one of the few characters who seeked out dreams and had tried to work towards it. Curley’s wife’s dream was to obtain fame by becoming an actress and cease the belief of women 's inferiority. Before Curley’s wife had died in the hand of Lennie, Curley’s wife began to reveal someone of her true personalities and she had said to Lennie, “He says he was gonna put me in the movies. Say I was a natural. Soon’s he got back to Hollywood he was gonna write to me about it.’ She looked closely at Lennie to see whether she was impressing him. ‘I never got that letter,’ she said ‘I always thought my ol’lady stole it. Well, I wasn’t stay no place where I couldn’t get nowhere or make something of myself…”. (Steinbeck 88) Curley’s wife had though her letter had been stolen ,but she never had a chance at becoming an actress from the first place. Steinbeck is able to show that Curley’s wife’s dream was impossible because since women were weaker and ignored during the 1930’s they were unable to become lead roles or significant part of society and therefore unable to achieve