‘Of Mice and Men’ is written by John Steinback in 1937, when the American society is still recovering from the Great Depression. Through his minor characters, Steinback shows the fall of the American Dream, with prevalent discrimination, a lack of hope and low social mobility in the post-depression American society.
First, Steinback’s minor characters and their dreams reflect the post-depression society’s lack of hope. When Lennie and Candy visit Crooks and talk about their dream, Crooks initially called them “nuts”, he then seems convinced to join them as he learns how close they were to owning their own place, but he changes his attitude at last, telling them to “jus’ forget it” after Curley’s wife mocks him and tells him to “keep his place”. …show more content…
Crooks is a victim of racial discrimination. Throughout the book, Crooks was derogatorily called by the other characters as the “nigger”. The other ranch hands apparently view African Americans as inferior, hence the derogatory name. He also lives in the harness room, while the others live in the bunk house. The physical isolation Crooks faces suggests he is treated unfairly simply due to his race. When Crooks tries to drive Curley’s wife out of his room, he was threatened to be “strung up a tree so easy it ain’t even funny”. Her threat illustrates the difference in social status between whites and blacks. Similarly, Curley’s wife faces gender discrimination in the book. Steinback conveys this idea by not giving her a name, suggesting she is merely Curley’s belonging. Moreover, she is deemed a “tramp”, a “bitch”, “jail bait” and “has the eye” for simply trying to talk to the ranch hands, while nobody judges the ranch hands for going to the brothel. Near the end, Candy rages at Curley’s wife’s corpse, blaming her for “mess things up” and caling her a “God damn tramp”. He is blaming Curley’s wife for seducing and eventually being killed by Lennie. To the ranch hands (except for Lennie), she is nothing but an object that only wants to seduce men and eventually ruining men. This shows the low social status of women and the objectification of women at the …show more content…
Curley’s wife is a good example. Near the end, she tells Lennie she “coulda been in the movies” and she “made a small grand gesture... to show that she could act”, but she can’t as “[her] ol’ lady wouldn’ let [her]” and “[she] never got that letter” from the guy working in the movies she met. Instead, she married Curley, who she “don’ like”. Her misfortunes demonstrate the difficulty of climbing up the social ladder at the time, to seek for a better life, even if they have the prerequisites, which is, in this case, beauty and the ability to act. Candy dreams with Lennie and George to “be on [their] own place” and to “work on [their] own place”, but ultimately fails following Curley’s wife’s murder and subsequently George’s loss of motivation. Candy works hard all his life, saving up lots of money. George and Lennie’s dream inspires him to use it for a shared farm with them, for a better life, for a higher social status, working for no one but himself. The failure of the dream shows the impossibility for such a wish to come true at the time. The lack of social mobility in the society at the time is shown through the characters’ adversities.
To conclude, ‘Of Mice and Men’’s minor characters depict the fall of the American Dream.The American Dream is all about the hope of a better life through hard work with few barriers. In ‘Of Mice and Men’, Steinback describes a lack of hope,
First, Steinback’s minor characters and their dreams reflect the post-depression society’s lack of hope. When Lennie and Candy visit Crooks and talk about their dream, Crooks initially called them “nuts”, he then seems convinced to join them as he learns how close they were to owning their own place, but he changes his attitude at last, telling them to “jus’ forget it” after Curley’s wife mocks him and tells him to “keep his place”. …show more content…
Crooks is a victim of racial discrimination. Throughout the book, Crooks was derogatorily called by the other characters as the “nigger”. The other ranch hands apparently view African Americans as inferior, hence the derogatory name. He also lives in the harness room, while the others live in the bunk house. The physical isolation Crooks faces suggests he is treated unfairly simply due to his race. When Crooks tries to drive Curley’s wife out of his room, he was threatened to be “strung up a tree so easy it ain’t even funny”. Her threat illustrates the difference in social status between whites and blacks. Similarly, Curley’s wife faces gender discrimination in the book. Steinback conveys this idea by not giving her a name, suggesting she is merely Curley’s belonging. Moreover, she is deemed a “tramp”, a “bitch”, “jail bait” and “has the eye” for simply trying to talk to the ranch hands, while nobody judges the ranch hands for going to the brothel. Near the end, Candy rages at Curley’s wife’s corpse, blaming her for “mess things up” and caling her a “God damn tramp”. He is blaming Curley’s wife for seducing and eventually being killed by Lennie. To the ranch hands (except for Lennie), she is nothing but an object that only wants to seduce men and eventually ruining men. This shows the low social status of women and the objectification of women at the …show more content…
Curley’s wife is a good example. Near the end, she tells Lennie she “coulda been in the movies” and she “made a small grand gesture... to show that she could act”, but she can’t as “[her] ol’ lady wouldn’ let [her]” and “[she] never got that letter” from the guy working in the movies she met. Instead, she married Curley, who she “don’ like”. Her misfortunes demonstrate the difficulty of climbing up the social ladder at the time, to seek for a better life, even if they have the prerequisites, which is, in this case, beauty and the ability to act. Candy dreams with Lennie and George to “be on [their] own place” and to “work on [their] own place”, but ultimately fails following Curley’s wife’s murder and subsequently George’s loss of motivation. Candy works hard all his life, saving up lots of money. George and Lennie’s dream inspires him to use it for a shared farm with them, for a better life, for a higher social status, working for no one but himself. The failure of the dream shows the impossibility for such a wish to come true at the time. The lack of social mobility in the society at the time is shown through the characters’ adversities.
To conclude, ‘Of Mice and Men’’s minor characters depict the fall of the American Dream.The American Dream is all about the hope of a better life through hard work with few barriers. In ‘Of Mice and Men’, Steinback describes a lack of hope,