John Steinbeck wrote "Of Mice and Men" during the 1930's when the Great Depression would've started.

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Of Mice and Men

John Steinbeck wrote “Of Mice and Men” during the 1930’s when the Great Depression would’ve started. The dustbowl was wiping off all the good soil so all the farmers lost there jobs and they lost all their money. Also loads of people lost money in the Wall Street Crash when the stock market crashed. Many men had the dream like George and Lennie and work like them so they can get their fifty bucks or work up a stake to buy some land of their own. Many people were racist so Crooks had a very hard life even though he had nothing different about him but his skin colour. Also he is a cripple so he can’t do too much work except tend the horses. Candy is a bit the same because he has a busted hand and got a bit of compensation but nobody else would employ him so he has to stay there. Lennie is really dumb and even though he is strong no one would employ him because of his intelligence. He is lucky that he has George because it was George that would have probably got him the job. George is a very intelligent person who is a hard worker but can never live the life he wants to because Lennie keeps ruining it. Slim is a very good worker and is very efficient and is essential to the ranch. He is the only one who can speak to Curley’s wife and get away with it.

“This is just a nigger talking’, and a busted back nigger. So it don’t mean nothing, see?” this shows how disrespectful Curley’s wife and other people can be to Crooks. Crooks are portrayed in the book as a black, enabled person who is beaten and tortured for fun. He has only a few human rights like being able to live and do what he wants to a certain extent but is beaten by the boss when it’s not even his fought and he is used for games. Just like when they set dogs on a bear even though the bear is chained up, one of the workers will have his hands or legs tied together so that poor old Crooks has a chance. Crooks is always mentioned by the Boss and the workers as the nigger, a bit like an animal, like you call a dog, dog when talking about it, they do the same to Crooks. They treat him like an animal. Smitty was the guy that had the fight with Crooks but lost. He said “If he coulda used his feet, Smitty says he woulda got the nigger” which proves the point that he was treated like a game. Crooks will never fit in the 1930’s because of all the racism with the KKK. He is also enabled so he has got two main problems with him that is why he is pushed around and beaten. Crooks is placed in the novel by Steinbeck to show another aspect of how not being strong, young, male and intelligent can cause loneliness and discrepancy about whether they can really enjoy themselves without a little bit of help. Crooks don’t like white folk as we see when Lennie goes into his room. He says “You got no right coming into my room” Crooks tries to get back at Lennie for him not being able to go into the Bunkhouse. He wants to make Lennie feel left out by saying things like “Sometimes he talks, and you don’t know what the hell he’s talkin’ about?” shows this in a way that Lennie doesn’t understand. Lennie is probably cautious of that because it’s true, he then tries to scare Lennie by saying “What would you do if George don’t come back tonight?” and Lennie gets all worried and scared. In the end Crooks stops doing it because he wants someone to talk to. He tries to act normal but his anger is let out he complains how “Books don’t keep a man company. They gotta have a person to talk to or they will go mad” shows this, he can’t control himself. He portrays a lonely man with no friends or anyone to talk to and it isn’t his thought. He is like an untouchable.

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      The other characters in the book which are marginalized are people like Lennie, Curley’s wife and Candy. Lennie is marginalized because even though he is young and strong he is so dumb. People realize he’s so dumb they even play tricks on him, like when George is talking to Slim he says “He was so dumb one time I told him to jump into the water, he jus’ jumped and when we pulled him out he was so God damn grateful he was being all kind again” proves this, Lennie being so dumb must make it hard ...

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