The Downfall Of Women In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

In today’s world, oppression of women, African Americans, and disabled people is still a problem, but since the era of the Great Depression society’s views of these people have greatly improved. In the novel, Of Mice and Men, written by John Steinbeck it is shown how oppression among these types of people was commonplace. This novel begins with two men named Lennie and George; these men travel together and George takes care of Lennie who is mentally disabled. George and Lennie have to flee out of the town, Weed, after an incident happened. They travel to a different town and begin working on a ranch, and shortly later another fatal occurrence happens. In the end, George is forced to make an extremely difficult decision that results in him taking on the rest of his life solo. This novel explores the effects of oppression on women, African Americans, and people with disabilities.

John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men is the story of two migrant workers, George and Lennie, who are on a mission to live off the “fatta the lan’.” The story is based in 1930s Salinas Valley, California, and shows the troubles that George and Lennie meet while they work on a ranch to earn enough money to buy their own land. After a mishap leads to Lennie killing a rancher’s wife, George kills Lennie as an act of mercy for the safety of others and for Lennie himself. The differences and similarities between George and Lennie give light to what motivates their actions and how they function together.

Within the 1937 Depression-Era novel, Of Mice and Men, scribed by John Steinbeck, he implements complex, multi-dimensional characters in which they mutually possess an American Dream, yet they are distinctive in their most aesthetic, indigenous form. Characters including Curley’s Wife, Crooks, and George Milton have always theorized their life in Utopian lifestyles, in the setting of America, but is oppressed by external and internal means that is explored throughout the literature. Notably, George, the co-protagonist, has such ambition to live in a domesticated household in contradiction to the vagrancy he experience, while carrying the weight of having a fraternal-paternal relationship with Lennie, a man approximately his age with an evident disability. His

John Steinbeck’s Of Mice & Men is a novel packed with racial and gender inequalities. The way it portrayed the character of Curley’s wife is particularly interesting and spoken about, and for good reason. Throughout the novel, Curley’s wife – who, accordingly, was never called anything else – was consistently dehumanized, and forced to fit into certain stereotypes. It’s also worth noting that Curley is an abusive husband towards her. Curley’s wife is a victim of sexism, correctly depicted by Steinbeck’s illustration of how society used to be.

friend. In John Steinbeck’s book “Of Mice and Men” George and Lennie have been together since they were kids. Lennie idolized George and George, as often as he gets mad at him, still loves Lennie. They run from their old town of Weed to get a job as ranch hands in Salinas Valley. From there they meet many people, most of which welcomed them, while some had a harder time accepting them. Things start off well, but take a turn quickly. George and Lennie are the main characters, but some of the other characters can be deeply examined too, through different literary lenses.

In John Steinbeck's novella Of Mice and Men, the reader feels more sympathy towards George, rather than Lennie or Curley's Wife. Steinbeck depicts an authentic representation of the Great Depression's challenging times and how they impact people like George. The hardships he experienced surpassed those of Lennie and Curley's wife. George had Lennie, a responsibility which caused him unnecessary trouble. He ended Lennie's life and thus lived with it on his conscience.

In the novel “Of Mice and Men” John Steinbeck portrays the theme of social injustice throughout the story in the lives of several characters that include Lennie, Curley’s Wife, and the stable buck, Crooks. All of these characters are mistreated in some way, shape or form. The hardships that these characters faced help guide us to see the social injustice that is prevalent in the story.

John Steinbeck’s novella, Of Mice and Men, takes place during the Great Depression in the 1930’s, in the Salinas Valley, California. It establishes the prospect of the American Dream, discrimination,loneliness, and disenfranchisement through its characters. George and Lennie provided the value of the American Dream, to which the leading female role, Curley’s wife, represents how women are exempt from the American Dream, and appeared as less than equal to men. She developed a form of loneliness throughout the course of the novel. The novella seeks to demonstrate the way of which life was like for the characters of all different statuses and backgrounds. Through Curley’s wife’s character, we are able to see how life was like for a women during

“She’s gonna make a mess, they’s gonna be a bad mess about her. She’s a jailbait all set on the trigger”. Of Mice and Men show’s George and Lennie’s path to their American dream. They are starting off as laborers in California in the Salina’s Valley and live in a hand-to-mouth lifestyle on a ranch. The novel portrays many male characters than female. The women shown by Steinback are Curley’s Wife, Susy, and Aunt Clara and are given somewhat respect. Even though there are not many female characters, John Steinbeck symbolizes them as archetypes throughout the book he indicates sexism of women being at the bottom of the social hierarchy in a male workplace. Although all women in the novel are portrayed differently, on some level as authority figures, they differ in the amount of respect received

Due to the Great Depression, women’s rights took a back seat to employment and poverty. It was believed that women shouldn’t work but stay at home, clean, cook, and raise their children. The prejudice against women in the society was great back in the 1930s for they were degraded and underestimated. All the rights they had gained in the 1920s were neglected and the women were once again maltreated. In Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, the victim of sexism is Curley’s wife who is so insignifact that even a name was not provided for her. Sexism is shown in the book when Curley’s wife is regarded as a bitch merely owing to the fact that she is flirtatious and wears appealing clothes.

The book Of Mice and Men is full of puzzling examples of the human condition, from Lennie and his mental disability to Curley only caring about his social appearance. With characters like these two, the book exploits the human condition that concerns circumstances life has given you. John Steinbeck brings to life what being a laborer in the American depression meant to the men and one woman who had enough personality to stand out. Steinbeck shows the human condition of men while they survive in the American depression.

In the 1930’s having mental problems was seen as being unbright. People back then did not understand what being mentally challenged was they would treat them like any other person which would make it hard on the person who had the challenges.

Martin Luther King stated that “hatred paralyzes life; love releases it. Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life; love illuminates it.” Both love and hatred played a role in John Steinbeck’s novel, but in the end cruelty and hatred brought George and Lennie’s friendship to a tragic ending. Steinbeck wrote Of Mice and Men during the Great Depression of 1930’s. He was a Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winning author. Steinbeck was once a manual laborer. Steinbeck was familiar with the time period and could connect with the feelings of the migrant workers. His writings were about social and economic concepts. This novel illustrates the culture of violence and cruelty of that time. Steinbeck 's characters show different types of inhumanity. Every character feels isolated and lonely, which causes some to attack those who are weaker than they are. Loneliness and the cruelty of others caused George and Lennie to stick together during many hard years, but the violence of their fellow workers overcame George’s good intentions to care for Lennie.

The author Dean Koontz once said, “...the most identifying trait of humanity is our ability to be inhumane to one another.” Although there are many hopeful aspects in people, the inhumanity of people is inevitable. In the novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, Lennie Small and George Milton discover the hardships and the hope in life as migrant workers during the Depression era. Though their hope for a better life dwindles throughout their journey, Lennie and George’s dream of owning their own farm help to distract them from their harsh reality of despondency. Steinbeck reveals the bitter nature of mankind due to weakness and vulnerability through his use of symbolism, characterization, and imagery.

Of Mice and Men is one of the most widely assigned modern novels in high schools because of both its form and the issues that it raises. John Steinbeck’s reliance on dialogue, as opposed to contextual description, makes the work accessible to young readers, as does his use of foreshadowing and recurrent images. Equally important is the way in which he intertwines the themes of loneliness and friendship and gives dignity to those characters, especially Lennie and Crooks, who are clearly different from their peers. By focusing on a group of lonely drifters, Steinbeck highlights the perceived isolation and sense of “otherness”