How does the novel Of Mice And Men reflect life in the 1930s Essay

Question-‘How does the novel Of Mice And Men reflect life in the 1930s’ John Steinbeck was born in 1902 in Salinas, California. His mother was a teacher and the reason why he learned to love books and his father was a county treasurer. He attended his local school and in the holidays worked on farms and ranches, this is the reason he is able to give such an insight to how life was there. After school he went to Stanford university studying marine biology but did not get a degree. He then went to New York for a short time were he worked as a reporter for the American Newspaper, before going back to California to concentrate on is writing. He wrote many books including Sea of Cortez, Of Mice An Men and A Russian Journal Before winning a noble Prize for Literature in 1962. The novel I am doing this essay on I ‘Of Mice And Men’ by John Steinbeck, set in California. The book was written In 1936 and also based in this period. This is in the middle of the great depression, which started in 1930 when firms and 2298 banks went bust and losing everybodies savings and finished at the beginning of the second world war. During the depression millions of people were left wandering around looking for jobs and surviving any way they could. All this came just after the boom of the 1920s where it was easy to find work and everybody was paid very well. In the 30s Steinbeck was also one of the 13million people without a proper job, this is because his writing alone would not be able to support him. This is similar to page 11 in the book where Lennie and George are looking for jobs, they also didn’t have much money so they are unable so buy the simplest things such as ketchup for their baked beans. Steinbeck found a job and found out how hard the work is on a ranch, he uses is experiences on Lennie and George as they also found a job a ranch in California and had to work very hard, just to get there $50’s a month. The reason why Lennie and George kept working is because of their dream. The Dream was to own a small farm in the country side with animals and crops, they have this dream because it is the only thing they have to look forward to in life, and as they as they money to achieve the dream it gives them a reason to work. Because of the depression all the other plans have been ruined as there is not even enough money to buy food, they need a dream to keep them going. George and Lennie are the main characters in the story, Lennie is a very big strong man but when he was young he kicked in the head by a horse. This caused him brain damage and he now is unable to make his own decisions and generally acts like a small child, this story was one told by George so people didn’t think Lennie was born this way. He is described by George as a ‘big dumb bastard who is no good for himself’. Even though George says this sometimes he is still always there for him. He had been looking after Lennie nearly all his life and always tries to help him. George is the person who keeps control of what they do. He takes control of everything from getting them both jobs to what they eat. He even speaks for Lennie, like when they arrive at the ranch they have to go and speak to the owner, before they go in George even tells Lennie not to speak, and any questions that Lennie does get asked George answers for him. Crooks is the only black man working on the ranch. He is treated with the least respect and is made to sleep on his own in a little shed next to a dung pile. He knows where he stands, which is at the bottom. He is shown no respect except for his job as he is very good at it and when he is playing horse shoe as he is also very good at that. At the time the book was written in the 1930s in the height of the Klu Klux Klan (kkk) who wanted total segregation and destruction of other races. They referred to blacks as niggers and would hang them for anything and sometimes nothing. Crooks knew to stay out of the way and to be careful. He is called crooks because of his crooked back, he has this disability because he was kicked in the back by a horse. When Lennie walks into Crooks’ bunkhouse, he tries to get rid off him but when he can’t he takes advantage of his slowness. He tries to speak to Lennie and treat him like the other white men treat Crooks. He to get Lennie to understand what life is like for him by saying suppose George didn’t ever come back from town, because then he would be on his own like Crooks. But Lennie didn’t her the suppose at the beginning of the sentence and got very angry towards Crooks and got very worried. Out of life Crooks wanted to be treated equally and be given the same rights, like when he used to play with the white children when he was a child before he knew it was wrong. He wanted to be a lawyer, it was his dream but he couldn’t because he was black. He wanted to be able to live in normal accommodation like the other workers instead he lived in a small room the connected to the harness room next to a dung pile. In his room he had many possessions, he more than he would be able to carry, this shows he had good job security. Many of his possessions were books, he had lots because he had collected them but mainly because he is extremely clever and liked to read. Crooks is very lonely in the book, and it probably related to real life as well. He was very lonely because he had no friends because the whites weren’t allowed to speak to him a most of the blacks had move away from the southern states, and he also did not have any family in California. Overall I think Crooks’ character reflects life in 30’s very well. Like in life he is separated from the whites and is given no respect and looked down upon. Curley’s wife is also an icon for life in the 30’s. She does not have a name and does not work. In the book she is put across as less important than the men, and a lot of time she is told what to do by the men. Her character is vain and also gets angry and defensive very quickly. She also is very sarcastic and doesn’t seem to be very bright. She like crooks is separated, she is separated from other women and doesn’t seem to be very bright. She like Crooks is separated, she is separated from other women. Not once in the book does she leave to see any friends or leave the ranch at all. Also like Crooks she can’t fulfil her wishes or dreams. Crooks wants to be lawyer but can’t, because he’s black and Curley’s wife wants to be able to go to Hollywood and be an actress. She has been denied the opportunity by being forced to stay on the ranch. There are so important because it gives them something to look forward to in life, it keeps them going. In the novel Curleys wife represents how women were not as important as men. She comes across as very silly, not very bright and the other men think that she could get someone in serious trouble. She has also not been given a name in the book, she is always referred to as Curleys wife, this is to show that she is insignificant and not as important as the men. She is the only women on the ranch and has no job, her only role is being a house wife. On the ranch all the men want to stay away from her because they think she will get them into trouble. Therefore She has nobody to talk to or tell about her dream to be a big time movie star. But when Lennie turns up she realises that he is to slow and nice not to listen or to walk away if she talked to him. So when she realises this she confides in him and tells everything she hasn’t told any one else. Although she is very unhappy with Curley and says that he is bad man, she stays with him. This could because she knows one day he will get the ranch and have quite a lot of money compared to everyone else. She knows that if she sticks with him she will have a secure future. However one of the reasons why the men stay away from her is because she is a flirt and could get them into trouble. For example when Lennie and George first started working she came over to George and flirted with him. She would have to be careful because if she did get caught with another man she could be kicked out, and then would not have such a secure future. The men mainly see women as people they tell what to do and sleep with. They don’t treat any women with respect except for Susi who runs the brothel in town, they tend to teat her with some respect as she shows them a good time, is nice and is honest. The men go town to go to the brothel to sleep with women at the end of each month when they get their pay. On page 55 they talk about Susi’s place saying things like’ Susi’s a laugh’, ‘Theres no water in her whisky’ implying that she is honest. They generally talk about what a nice place it is and how nice Susi is. From this you can tell that she is the only women they give any respect. Although Curley never really showed his wife any respect or showed he loved her. When Lennie killed her he goes cold and gets very mad and upset. He immediately gets his gun and organises two teams to find Lennie and shoot him. This shows that he did love her even though he didn’t treat her very well. Another character is Slim, he tends to keep to himself and is very calm and quiet. Although he is quiet he has natural authority on the ranch, all the other men listen to him and take his advice. Even Curley listens and is scared of him, for example when Curley came into the bunkhouse looking for a fight Slim just stood up and Curley backed down. Also when Lennie Crushed Curley’s hand Slim tells him to say that he hurt his hand in a machine. Curley is the boss’ son, he has a big ego and is very aggressive and quick tempered. He tries to pick fights with every one possibly because he wants control. The reason why he has a big ego and is quick to start a fight is because he is a good boxer, he even got a golden glove trophy for winning a tournament. Because his father had quite a lot of money compared to other people in the 1930’s and the fact that he is white makes him feel superior and more important than any one else. The last character is Candy, the swamper. His job on the ranch is to go around and sweep up. The reason he does this job is because he is very old and has only got one hand, after losing his other in an accident with a machine. His best friend is his dog, which he has had all his life. However the other workers don’t dog like the dog and say ‘it’s no good for it’s self and smells. It would be better to put it down. Candy is also very keep to get in with George and Lennie’s dream as he is getting old and afraid the boss will just get rid of him when he is no good. Lennie and George among the other millions of people move around from job to job because when the job is done there is nothing else to do in this place. However Lennie and George tend to travel round more than others do because Lennie is always getting them in trouble. For example when they were in Weed digging the cesspit they had to leave in a hurry because Lennie had been accused of rape. Although what really happened was (from the book) ‘Lennie saw a girl wearing pretty red dress which he liked the look of. And because he liked the look of it he grabbed it.’ – ‘the girl started to panic and ran out to a field where lots of men were walking screaming rape.’ George talking in the bunk house. ‘Soon the men were chasing Lennie and George across fields and they ended up hiding in an irrigation ditch. None of the characters in the story talk much of their families except Lennie and George who briefly mention Lennie’s aunt Clara. I think this is significant because many of the mean had to leave their families to find work and if they do think of them they will begin to miss them which could effect their work, which could cause them to lose their job. The workers accommodation is very poor. All they have is a very small bed and a shelf. When George first went to his bed he found a bar of lice killer. All the workers get $50’s a month, most of the men spend the majority of their money a the cat house in town where they pay for sex and alcohol. The boss looks down to the men as just workers, he doesn’t interact with the men. The workers see the boss as very quick tempered but generally okay. On page 21 George asks Candy about the boss, he says ‘what kind of a guy is the boss.’ Candy replies ‘well, he’s a pretty nice fellow. Gets pretty mad sometimes but nice.’ All the men dress in denim jeans and jacket. They wear these because they are very hard wearing and lasts along time. The way they dress reflects on how they are living. They are wearing tough clothes which relates to the fact they are sleeping rough and in they jobs they are having to do a lot of hard labour. Also they last for a long time because they don’t have the money to buy more. Curley and his father have more than one set of clothes, and even suit but compared to every one else including Lennie and George this is a lot as they only have one set of clothes, all denim so they will last a long time. None of the men have many possessions, they only have what they can carry as they have no job security so if they get to much Stuff and get fired they would have to leave it behind. The only person who has a lot of possessions is Crooks, he has lots of books magazines and even a shotgun, this is because he is likely to keep his job because he is the best. None of the men have luxury items as none of them can afford any, this is because of the depression as there is no extra money. Lennie and George among all the men have a dream for better things. The dream is for them to own their own piece of land with their own animals to look after. To Lennie hearing the dream is like a small child hearing it’s favourite story. He knows how it goes but wants to hear it. He’s always asking George (like on page 16) to tell him the dream and how he is going to tend the rabbits. It seems that George doesn’t really think the dream will happen, that its just something to keep them going but when Candy offers to put all his money into it he really begins to believe it can happen. But when Lennie goes into Crooks’ room and tells him the dream Crooks’ reaction is ‘you nuts’ as he knows there is a very small chance of it happening. When Curleys wife enters she says ‘ I seen too many guys sayin they are gonna get their own piece of land and not one of em has’. I think the story reflects life in the 30’s brilliantly, all the characters show how life is, from Crooks showing how life was for blacks to Curley’s wife showing how it was for women. In a way women are important in the story because they represent how they were treated as less important than men and there role in the 1930’s. But in another way not thought as important characters in the novel because they are women and in this time the men didn’t think they were as important as them. I think the story represents what life was really like for women in the 1930’s correctly. In the story Crooks, Candy and his dog represent a world of intolerance quite well. In the book Crooks is a very useful person as he is very good at his job but is not tolerated by the other workers because he is black, compared to Candy who is old and not really any use to any one as all he can to is sweep the floor, but he is tolerated. This maybe because he is white, also because he is a human. When the other workers decide that Candy’s old dog is no good for it’s self, they take it out side and shoot it because it is only a dog. Candy says’ They wouldn’t shoot me when I’m no good’, suggesting that white humans are tolerated more than dogs or black people. The workers respect each other and are polite to each other but at the same time it’s every man for him self as they cannot rely on anyone else to help them to much. The workers know its every man for himself as they no if they want anything such as to follow their dream they have to work for it themselves and not hope that other people will help them. Even though they know they are on their own all the workers are friends and watch out for each other on the ranch. Most of the men don’t mind Lennie as they no he means well and is no trouble but Curley shows a more realistic view of him, which would better represent the 1930’s better. Curley shows a lot of intolerance towards Lennie as he is seen as not normal, he shows this intolerance by continuously threatening him and in the end starting a fight with him. From looking over my work I believe the characters in the novel ‘Of Mice And Men’ show that they were living in the 1930’s very well. Their belongings jobs and actions all show that they were living in this period. I also believe the character of Crooks, Curleys wife and the boss all show how different people were treated at this time.