The book is full of representations, Lennie and George the unsatisfied worker aiming for better things. They have there very own American dream, this dream is brought up through out the book as they book seem to use it as justification that there is a point in what there doing. This is particularly true of George, as when he tells Lennie of the dream he appears to be doing it as much for himself as he is for Lennie. Lennie whenever he has the chance tells everyone of the dream, much to George’s annoyance, as he is untrusting thinking, that others might put a stop to it. As the book progress’s it appears that they are getting closer to there dream. Candy joins them and contributes three hundred dollars drawing them closer to the required 600. But just as everything seems destined it all comes crashing down and the dream is over. When George shot Lennie it signified the end of their dream, destroyed like all others, which had appeared in the book. Every character except slim had had a dream. For example Curly’s wife had had dreams of being a Hollywood actress while curly wanted a family with his wife and crooks wanted equality. Though the book hints that not every aspirations fail, the allegorical story of the water snake at the beginning of chapter 6 in which a bird eats the first water snake but the second one isn’t as lennie frightens off the bird. If you take the water snakes to represent the aspirations of men the story illustrates the potluck nature of whether or not the dream succeeds.
The American dream of breaking free of the circle, which encapsulated the whole of the working class, was in the mind of nearly all the workers. Many were migrant workers coming from Eastern Europe in search of a better life. All wanting to have there own little piece of land and there own ranch, being there own bosses. For most this was not to be, and when the grim reality hit them in the face they realised that they were probably better staying put. These workers would have to work till they were old and not needed any more. Candy’s dog represents the old workers and how replaceable the workforce is. Once your unable to do the job you are kicked out irrespective of how long you have been working there.
Curly is used to represent the misuse of power as he is the boss’s son and often gets into fights. He is of slight build but starts fights on big people due to his hatred of those bigger than him and that it’s a win/win situation for him. If he beats the bigger guy everyone praises him for being such a good fighter. But if the big guy beats Curly then the other ranch hands will beat up the big guy for picking on someone smaller than them and will probably lose their job. Most of the bigger guys won’t fight back out of fear of losing their job.
Another example of doomed aspirations is the hope of crooks the stable buck of having equality and people seeing beyond racial lines. He is segregated from the other ranch hands with no companionship. He was so desperate for companionship that he actually talked to Lennie. It was obvious from what he said to Lennie that the isolation got to him, he couldn’t go to the town with the others, he couldn’t play horseshoes with the others and the only time he had ever been invited into the other ranch hands mess was on Christmas day but he knew where his place was. Steinbeck obviously frowned upon the racist attitude, which was ripe throughout America at this time. The Ku Klux Klan was still going strong with over 4 million members in the 1930’s.
Lennie and Georges relationship may have appeared to be mismatched but they both needed each other. On first glance it may seem one sided with Lennie being a burden on George and needing George for survival but really George needs Lennie for companionship. They had a unique relationship, which made them stand out from the others. Most men travelled on their own, but these two travelled together, slim noticed their special relationship however odd it may have appeared. This is probably why slim actually believed that George and Lennie might have actually achieved their dream. When George shoots Lennie he does it out of friendship, he knows that the alternative for George is worse. George had the choice of killing Lennie peacefully himself or letting curly shoot Lennie in the gut, which would have been a painful and agonising death. When george shoots lennie is represents the end of their “American dream”.
Steinbeck portrays women as the cause of mans downfall throughout the book, it was because of a girl that George and Lonnie were run out of weed and if Curly’s wife had never told Lennie to stroke her hair George would not have shot Lennie. The only women we meet in the book is Curly’s wife, She isn’t given a name in order to symbolise all women. She acts like a tart trying to tempt men on the ranch other than her husband and is constantly stirring up trouble. She draws similarities between herself and eve, which by tempting Adam got mankind kicked out of heaven. Steinbeck sees women as the curse of men; this is not only shown by the actions of Curly’s wife but also by Georges attitude towards women. He mentions that his friend Andy
Cushman is in jail because of a woman saying:
“Andy’s in San Quentin right now on account of a tart”
This attitude is consistent throughout the book with George regularly commenting that “whore houses” are the best way to have a relationship with a women.
Steinbeck includes meticulous descriptions of the environment and nature surrounding the central characters at every given opportunity. The writer’s descriptions of nature are connotations and metaphors to the life of the characters. For example he opens the book with the description of the Salinas river travelling west through the countryside this represents the journey of George, Lennie and many others before them travelling west, While the stagnant water represents the end of their journey. Steinbeck does this to illustrate the relationship between man and nature and how man is reliant on nature. These men earn a living off the land yet their bond with it is deeper than this.
When Steinbeck wrote “of mice and men” the whole of America was in depression in the wake of the 1929 Wall Street crash. By 1933 14 million Americans were unemployed and millions of acres of farmland had been turned into dustbowls. This signified the end of the American dream for most. Between 1901 and 1910 8.5 million people immigrated to America mainly from Europe in search of a better life. Most found that life was no better in America than it had been back home and in some cases it was worse. All the different ethnic backgrounds coming together created a hierarchy, the established immigrant groups Irish Americans, French Canadians and German Americans were at the top and they looked down on the more recent eastern European and Italian migrants who in turn looked down on the Black Americans and the Mexicans. Many of these new emigrants migrated west to follow their American dream but by 1930 all hope of this was lost as they realised how naïve they had been. Racism was ripe through out the 1930’3 with racist anti black groups like the Ku Klux Klan going strong. The blacks had a hard time getting a job and were segregated from there white counterparts. Steinbeck was appalled by the abuse of power by the rich; the richest 5% possessed 32% of the wealth while the poorest 42% possessed only 10%. Company profits and dividends had shot up by 60 percent between 1920 and 1929 while the Average wage had only increased by 10%. This Mismatch meant that the poor were getting poorer while the rich were getting richer. Steinbeck wrote “of mice and men” because he was shocked by the attitude people had towards one another and the hardships many were facing and having to come to terms with. His book is of America as a whole challenging the way the Americans treated one another and the downfall of his great country. Having worked on a ranch he could hear from the ranch hands first hand what life was like. This enables him to create such a vivid picture of life in the 1930’s. Steinbeck’s choice of language also allows him to do this. He uses vast amounts of strong descriptive language causing the reader to become entangled in the story. This allows the reader to actually see what is happening and creates a stronger feeling of empathy for the characters as you have a greater sense of what they are going through.
