Of Mice And Men Marxist Analysis

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The American Dream is the idea that "every United States citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success through hard work and determination" (Dictionary). John Steinbeck, the author of the Of Mice and Men novel, has shown the readers the reality of the Great Depression times, which began in 1930, through his novel, by using characters like Curley's wife, Crooks, and Candy. When the readers view the story through the Marxist point of view, which "in literature is used to show the difference between characters because of the different traits they posses", they learn the message of the story (Kakarelis, Marxist). Steinbeck's bigger message of the novel is that the American Dream was unachievable during the Great Depression and he uses minor characters to prove it. Firstly, Steinbeck uses the character of Curley's wife to show how being a woman made it harder to achieve the American Dream during the Great Depression. Curley's wife is the only female on the ranch and the novel, which resulted in her being sexualized by all the men instead of being treated like a human being. She would be called degrading names like "tart" and "jailbait" and she would be …show more content…

The American Dream is the ideal that everyone gets an opportunity to live their best if they try hard enough, but the author uses minor characters to show that during the Great Depression, if you were different, you would never be able to have your own American Dream. Characters like Curley's wife, who was under the possession of her husband because of her gender, Crooks, who was discriminated and left out of the society and the workgroup because of the colour of his skin, and Candy, who was a disabled individual without anyone to take care of him, prove that not everyone has the same opportunities to achieve their best and make their dreams a

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