In the novel men view the women as a thing you buy like drink so women didn’t have proper rights. Similarly Crooks the black cripple, has little or no rights. In Steinbeck’s book Curley’s wife is not given a real name she is simply referred to as “slut,” “whore,” or simply “Curley’s wife.” This can implies that she is a position of her husband it implies a harsh and limited existence and how badly the poor women of 1930’s America were treated in society.
Prejudice plays a significant part in John Steinbeck’s novel “Of Mice and Men” and is seen with some characters like Crooks, Candy and Lennie. All have some kind of disability. Crooks is crippled because he was kick by a horse this is made worse by the fact that he’s black so he is racially abused as well. The boss “Gave the stable buck hell” when George and Lennie were late arriving at the ranch. He knew that Crooks couldn’t complain because he has no rights. This shows how he is blamed for anything and can’t defend him self this show the harsh life of his. Candy is crippled because he lost his hand to a machine, so he can do little work and he is old. This sets him apart form the others and they see him as the old outcast. Lennie is mentally handicapped, he has a child’s mind so he isn’t very clever and he likes soft things like mice and puppies. This gets him into trouble in the novel. Firstly he stroked a woman’s red dress, she got confused and screams he got scared and holds on to the dress and wont let go. This led him to being accused of raping her so Lennie and George had to run away. Secondly Curley’s wife lets him stroke her hair because it’s soft, after a while she tries to pull away but he holds on and he ends up breaking her neck. For this Lennie has to run away. He is also really strong and this contributes to him getting in trouble because he doesn’t know his own strength, he kills many mice because he pets them to hard and he kills a puppy as well as Curley’s wife.
Many, if not all the characters in “Of Mice and Men” are lonely because they move from ranch to ranch making new friends and leaving old ones behind. Candy has an old dog that is his only companion. He has had him since he was a pup and is much attached to him. However some of the workers persuade him to shoot the old dog and by doing this he looses his only true friend.
This contributes to the theme of harshness; I believe that many of the workers were jealous of candy and his dog and envy him so they force him to put it down. This is also the same as George because he kills his only true friend and companion by shooting. Curley’s wife is also lonely, being the only woman on the ranch and Curley forbids her from talking to the workers. She breaks this by talking to the workers in doorways which gives her the reputation of a “slut.”
Many of the workers dream the American dream of having their own land. George and Lennie have a dream that they will own little plot of land with rabbits and fields and if it’s miserable weather they will light a fire and sit around it not working, “Guys like us….. an’ listen to the rain coming’ down on the roof.” When Candy’s dog is shot he try’s to muscle in on their dream. Many of them have dreams so that they can be distracted from the harsh lives of reality.
In conclusion, the title of this book tells the reader about the novel in a few words. The title of this book is taken from an Irish poem by Alfred Burns; “The best laid plans of mice and men always go wrong”. I believe that this is a good choice of title for the book because it shows how Steinbeck has used this to portray the harsh lives of the workers of the book and the dreams are what should happen in a fair world when it really all goes wrong.
By Olly de Garston
