Roles In Society In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

The novela Of Mice and Men was a story about two men George and Lennie who were trying to find a job on a ranch because of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. Of Mice and Men was based off of John Steinbeck 's personal experiences in the 1920’s. Since Of Mice and Men is during the Great Depression many aspects of society have changed or evolved over time.The characters in Of Mice and Men represent a role in society such as the disfranchised(Curley’s wife and Crooks), the handicapped(Candy and Lennie) , the affluent( Curley), and the caregivers(Slim and George).
Women 's roles in society have diversified immensely since the Great Depression. Women today have a say and are allowed to work and not just be supported by men. Unfortunately this …show more content…
People came to Slim for advice and gave Slim nothing but respect.”You hadda George. I swear you hadda. Come on with me.”(John Steinbeck 107) Even after George killed Lennie Slim was still there for George. Slim would be a therapist in today 's society he always listens and gives advice. The treatment of the mentally challenged was not yet developed and the recognition of male feelings was not a thing spoken light of in this time so male- friendship was a key theme in this book. George would be a caretaker as well as the bourgeois class because of his endearing and understanding ways but the way George fights to survive resembles that of the bourgeois class. “I used to have a hell of a lot of fun with ‘im ‘cause he was too dumb to take care of ‘imself. But he was too dumb even to know he had a joke played on him.I had fun.” (John Steinbeck 40)George used to abuse Lennie just for fun and he then wanted to change his ways for awhile and he did but Lennie messed up and there was no going back from that. Essentially George was doomed from the start but he took care of Lennie until it wasn’t okay for Lennie to be suffering anymore and he did what he had to do. In today George would be a middle class man working for a living struggling but not struggling enough to be …show more content…
These demographics were represented through the disenfranchised(Curley’s wife and Crooks), the handicapped(Candy and Lennie), the affluent(Curley), and the caregivers (George and Slim). These characters were vital to the whole story coming together as a whole representing society during the 1930’s Dust bowl and or the Great Depression.This representation of what society was like during the times of the Great Depression has changed horrendously since that era and it was clear that society changes throughout the course of time through