Steinbeck presentation of the American society is shown mainly through the ranch workers and the way they act in the novel. He represents the depression and the society in America at the time by using the technique called Microcosm (where a small event or incident is used to represent events on a much larger scale) he does this by making each character represent a part of the depression and its effects on the society. He represents the ranch as the American society
For example If we consider the ranch to be a microcosm of 1930s American society, then Curley and his father the “boss” represent the landowners who compared to other characters are the happiest in the society, they have the power to hire or sack the poor ranch workers they are really benefiting from the depression, but Steinbeck doesn’t completely make it seem that way because in the end he makes Curley similar to the other ranch workers by making him lonely due to the death of his wife.
Curleys’ wife represents women at the time; she’s displayed negatively in the novel as trouble "I never seen no piece of jail-bait worse than her." "She’s a tat-trap if ever I seen one." This was what George said as his first impression of her which didn’t change. She isn’t addressed with a name only as Curleys’ wife which shows the unimportance of her in the society which I can argue is sexist way of presenting a woman, she’s also a victim of the society. She represents how woman were not important at the time of the depression and they too can have unfulfilled dreams.
Crooks represents the Black men at the time, as he was truly a victim treated badly by everyone being lonely and called “nigger” isolated from every one else, also a victim of racism. He is even overruled by Curleys wife or (woman) and that makes him very low in the status of all characters. Also he’s displayed as physically hurt "Got a crooked back where a horse kicked him." " a lean negro head, lined with pain, the eye patient." Is how Crooks was first described lined with pain. Here Steinbeck makes you feel a great deal of sympathy for him.
Carlson represents most men in the society, cold and harsh ranch workers which were affected by the society and it had changed them into the cold harsh emotionless people they are. He was different to Lennie and George, that’s why he couldn’t understand why Candy and George were so upset after each of them lost their companion saying “Now what the hell ya suppose is eatin’ them two guys?” when Lennie was dead, and easily killing Candys’ dog not understanding the importance of Candys’ relationship with his dog but this only shows him as a victim of the society that this life they’re living had made them into what they are.
George and Lennie could represent the rare people at the time, who had each other and still think a dream coming true is possible when then they were betrayed by their thoughts and society ending up lonely and in misery like the other ranch workers.
So actually Steinbeck is criticizing the capitalism and economic hardship during the American depression through writing about the ranch, this symbolises the ranch as America on the 1930’s .
To make Steinbeck’s criticism of the society more realistic and dramatic he showed the issue of both racism and sexism in the novel by making them seem victims and products of the society
.Crooks is a product of the society he had grown to hate life and have no hope in it, Crooks sees himself as nothing anything he says is not important "This is just a nigger talkin', an' a busted back nigger. So it don't mean nothing, see?" due to people ignoring he thinks he doesn’t exist this is because of all the inhuman ways of treating him that he has been suffering from. As you can see he has a bunk of his own he feels lonely and isolated living alone in the bunk .He feels rejected because of his colour "I ain't wanted in the bunk-house, and you ain't wanted in my room...'Cause I'm black." here is where Steinbeck shows his points of racism in the society how black men were treated badly just because of their colour. Also he states that he is even won by women (Curleys’ wife) " What she says is true." he has to accept that Curley's wife is right to say that he has no standing in this society. He seems to be one of the very few characters even the only character which knows that the society is very bad and achieving a dream is impossible as his quote “Nobody ever gets to heaven, and nobody never gets no land” he also tries to be strong when saying "Jus' foolin'. I wouldn't want to go no place like that." Crooks pretends that he does not want the dream but the real reason he says this is because he knows he could never have it. Crooks wasn’t only a victim in his late age but he was a victim of the racist prejudice since he was a little boy "The white kids come to play at our place...But I know now." He was abused as a kid and here you feel some sympathy for Crooks that he has to deal with this all through his life. Steinbeck was very successful in pointing out the theme of racism at the time of the depression but I could also argue if men didn’t care about how people from their own race felt why would they care about someone from a different race, all this was how the depression has affected the society in different ways and this is what Steinbeck was trying to show.
Another victim of society due to difference is Curleys’ wife, she was treated differently and displayed negatively just because she’s a woman, she’s the only woman on the ranch therefore she’s out numbered by men. She’s also displayed negatively and portrayed as danger. She also is the reason that Lennies’ and George dream was destroyed. She was displayed negatively, as a tart and flirty as she wears bright colours to attract attention "A girl was standing there looking in...red ostrich feathers." she needed attention but as we learn in the end she didn’t need attention for sexual reasons all she needed was company because she was really lonely. Candy also describes her as tarty and flirty “Well -- she got the eye." And this shows woman that they were up for the game to seduce a man and eye every man each time they had the chance. Although this wasn’t the case it made the reader feel a bit of hatred towards her. And Steinbeck accomplishes this by making other characters say negative things about her that’s one of the quotes that described her by Candy ."Well, you look her over, mister. You see if she ain't a tart." and this quote is Candy's opinion of Curley's wife., that she’s a tart, flirty and it makes her seem very evil and bad the bad presentation of her could easily make all the sympathy for her go, it doesn’t show how lonely and isolated she is and this is how he was very effective in showing the sexist community at the time. She wasn’t given a name all through the novel only Curleys’ wife like she was only some possession not a human being and it’s also a very effective technique to show the unfair treatment and prejudice of the society towards woman that they were only a possession for men and only had one job to do, keep men sexually satisfied as Curley shows this by wearing the glove and it makes you fell hatred towards them but also sympathy due to the unimportance of them in the society.
Loneliness and isolation are two major themes in the novel that really show the effects of the society at the time and how it had effected the characters it turned them into cold and un-sentimental people. My opinion is that, this was due to the atmosphere they were living in , it forced them to be that way it has a very huge impact on each person’s personality, giving an example of this is Carlson, when he simply kills Candy’s dog not caring or understanding how much this dog meant to him and he took the gun out in front of him, another incident is at the end where Carlson doesn’t know what it feels like to lose a companion saying “Now what the hell ya suppose is eatin’ them two guys?” , I think Steinbeck made the reader feel sympathy for both characters , firstly for George for losing a companion (Lennie) and secondly Carlson for not being able to have any sentimentality or sympathy for George this is because he doesn’t know what it feels like to have a partner or to care for someone and he cares back. This is very effective because he then makes the reader feel sympathy for two people in two different ways, I think what Steinbeck is trying to point out is that both are victims of society, at the end both have something missing weather it’s a friend or a feeling. Carlson acted that way toward both incidents because he was lonely he knew nothing about having a companion and having someone to travel with and care for he was really awkward towards the idea of Lennie and George being together, actually everyone in the ranch was "Well, I never see one guy take so much trouble for another guy." This is what the Boss said when he saw both of them together, “Ain’t many guys travel around together,” he mused. This was said by Slim. It shows how awkward people thought of this due to the society was very strange if people had partners and had people to be with them in goods and bads in life. A Ranch workers life would be based on moving from ranch to ranch in order to live and they had no aims in life no future to plan to no family to worry about, they spent their salaries on drinks in the town and in whore-houses. This what made this society very harsh, dark and lonely
A very effective way of language use to show the loneliness and isolation of the time is the name of the place they’re in “Soledad” which means loneliness in Spanish, and it also symbolises the theme of the story along with the atmosphere of the ranch making the reader sense the loneliness and isolation before he evens reads about this ranch.
Examples of Lonely characters are; Curleys’ wife “I never get to talk to nobody. I get awful lonely." This was said by her just before she died she explained that she feels lonely that she has no one to talk to and that she gets very lonely but due to the sexist view that Steinbeck has presented, you think she was put through this only because she’s trouble, but although you think she bad news through out the novel in this part of the novel you feel sympathy for her especially after she dies , the reader then thinks she died with us not knowing her name, by her not achieving her dream and being nothing but lonely and isolated the whole time always forced to sit in the house and not to talk to anyone but Curley, but sympathy isn’t there until she’s dead which in a way is more dramatic that no one could like her before she was dead only when she died the readers then feel sorry for her.
Crooks is lonely and isolated character is " A guy goes nuts if he ain't got nobody." Here Crooks is saying that it’s not good to be alone that people might go crazy if they are alone he’s indicating he doesn’t want to be alone and he needs a companion and this makes you realize the loneliness that he’s in and how the society has affected him and in that you feel sympathy for him. Also Crooks indicated that he needs a companion like Lennie has “f some guy was with me, he could tell me I was asleep, an' then it would be all right." It also shows that Crooks is afraid to be on his own he’s isolated from the others he doesn’t have ANY ONE AT ALL, he has no one to talk to whereas the other ranch workers get to see each other and hangout every now and then but Crooks is always in his bunk covering up his loneliness by reading books but you can sense in the need of talking to someone when he talks to Lennie as soon he starts talking and there you feel sympathy for him and his loneliness and isolation from the other, living in a bunk alone just because his colour is different.
Candy was very lonely after his dog died he has had him ever since he was a pup and in one moment the harsh, cold inhuman society shot his dog not understanding how the dog was important to him he felt desperately sad after it and alone, he kept in his room and laying in his bed. He’s afraid that he’d end up like his dog alone and killed “you seen what they done to my dog tonight?,,,,time you guys is ready to quit” Candy was over excited about sharing Lennies and Georges’ dream thinking everything would work out for him but the reason he did this besides wanting the company and not feeling alone is because he thought they’ll do the same as they did with his dog when he’s really old and they’ll sack him leaving him no place to go.
This quote ‘Nobody ever gets to heaven, and nobody never gets no land’ as we know that this quote is very pessimistic but also it’s a very big clue to telling the reader how the novel would end , it’s very clear what its pointing out that things don’t work out in the novel and that Crooks at this point of the novel is telling Lennie that the land they planned out and their dream isn’t going to work out, if a reader reads this for a first time he might not recognise that this is a clue to it the inenventable tragic ending. What makes the reader really think that Lennies’ and Georges’ dream would come true is when Candy joins in makes the reader think there is still hope because then we are all caught up in the moment of happiness that we are blinded by hope it makes the reader forget about the harsh conditions and the society they’re in and only think that having the dream is possible.
However Steinbeck uses allot of symbolism and clues in the novel to make the reader predict the ending such as the name of the novel Of mice and men this is enough to tell that what George and Lennie planned wasn’t going to go right this is because we know that the name of the book came from the poem and then it would explain how the poem links to the story itself, the poem explains that things that are often planned go wrong and this is proven in the story what was planned did go wrong.
Another clue that the novel would end this way is that Steinbeck presents Lennie as stupid and ignorant not aware of his strength that he misuses it and doesn’t know how to control it, also it tells you what his strength and desire to always pet and touch soft things got him into trouble in weed, "But he never hurt her. He jus' wanted to touch that red dress, like he wants to pet them pups all the time." He never means to hurt anyone but yet he does because his unawareness of the strength that he has more or less this is what actually led him into killing Curleys’ wife, the urge to pet soft things and the unawareness of his strength also in not being very smart would also be a reason of how he ended up killing her. Also the description of the woman in weed was very similar to Curleys’ wife this might be another clue to how the endings could link.
Also what in my opinion was very effective is the symbolism between Candys’ dog and Lennie ; both had companions and both had physical differences that annoyed people for example, Candys’ dog annoyed Carlson because he was old and stinky and wasn’t’ any use, and Lennie was big and very powerful which made Curley hate him so much. Carlsons’ gun had a very big impact on both, both were killed by this gun representing that the gun killed both of the mens companions (Candy and George), the gun had shot both of them at exactly the same place from behind on the neck. This is also another clue towards predicting the ending and both Candy and George were at the same situation when Carlson didn’t understand why both of them were sad about the death of their companions. Actually Candys’ dog and Lennie are symbolic parallel to each other due to them both having the same incidents and displayed fairly the same point in the novel.
It was very obvious and the reader could clearly see is how Curleys wife always seemed to enter when George Lennie or Candy were talking about the dream, he uses symbolic language to show how she will be the reason that the dream will end. “both men glanced up, for the rectangle of sunshine in the doorway was cut off” here she blocks sunshine this symbolises that she has blocked such happiness and it’s a very good metaphor as she “cut off” the sunshine I could link this to how she cut off the dream as well. Also she tends to cut off their discussion of the dream in chapter four this suggests ultimately that she would be the reason that the dream would end and it builds tension for the reader thinking if what he’s predicting is true or not although later he’s blinded by the hope that Candys joining in the dream may change things around for the better.
Steinbecks figurative language makes the dream impossible to reach due to the economical and social difficulties. In the end we are surprised by Georges’ decision to kill Lennie but If we read the novel again we understand why he did this, but then we understand why; he thought Lennie will always make troubles he’s ignorant and stupid he never means any harm and also you might have learned that he seems to make trouble everywhere they go that George thought it would be the best for the both of them, it’s better to kill him now then to make him suffer more by running away all his life from the troubles he puts himself into. If we read this book more than once we realise how obvious the ending is going to be, the depression, the sadness and loneliness and isolation of the whole novel is clearly shown making you think the second time around that it’s very clear that nothing good could happen in this society.
The predatory nature of humans is clearly shown in the novel, the competition of finding jobs and making money was very high at the time people always wanted to get the job first this was due to the economical hardship and downfall at the time money wasn’t easy to make and life wasn’t easy as well, the word predatory was a metaphor of men at the time, each person wanted to live like a predator on others and the competition was hard making the predatory seem more realistic each wanted to get the job before the other person would it makes the men seem like the predator and the jobs available as the prey.
This links metaphorically to a jungle where it only depending on the fittest would survive and then the competition would be on who would be the strongest and this leads to them being like animals, having no emotions taking each other out in order to survive , a very good use of showing this through symbolism is the water snake in chapter 1 and 6 it depending on fate like the lives of the ranch workers , “a silent head and beak lanced down and plucked it out by the head…the little snake while its tail waved frantically” this is the description of the snake in chapter 1 , the snake and heron were distracted by Lennie and George but only the water snake survived which again is linked to the survival of the fittest, however in chapter 6 the heron remains and the watersanke is destroyed. Steinbeck is symbolising both the animal world and human as both subject to fate plans are made but then they can’t change the will of not achieving them again this is linked to the title which also talks about mice (animal), the watersnake symbolises Lennie as before he manages to escape from weed like the snake had escaped too but in the end he doesn’t manage to escape just like the watersanke.
Steinbeck represented some characters are linked to the animal world through similes and metaphors such as Lennie, Steinbeck describes him “His huge companion dropped his blankets...like a horse. "Lennie compared to a horse in the way he drinks.
"Lennie dabbled his big paw in the water" imagery showing his hand as if it was a paw which again links him to animals maybe he’s more linked to animal because he’s similar to them, he has a big figure but not that much wit. Other examples of Lennie compared to an animal “strong s a bull” this shows his strength that it’s no human strength it’s much more.
Also Curleys wife is showed as an animal too “ her body flopped like a fish” this was when she was struggling to make Lennie leave her she is showed as a victim of his strength described as flopping like a fish, here I think is an imagery that makes Lennie who’s big and strong, seem like a bear holding a small and fragile fish (Curleys wife). Also the same was described when Lennie was fighting with Curley “flopping like a fish” this clearly shows Steinbecks purpose of showing Lennies strength like an animal.
So in the end Steinbeck is criticizing the society as a jungle with chaos and survival of the fittest making it look more like an animal world rather than a human one, which makes it seem more effective and dramatic and proves his point in making the society look bad and presenting it in a negative way.
Through all of this Slim doesn’t fit in any he’s displayed as a more of a god in a very perfect way that it makes it lack reality in it my opinion is that Slim is a unrealistic character he’s displayed so positively while Steinbeck is displaying the negative society I think he made slim that way to show the contrast of both the good and bad, to make things look worse he seems to show the good and then the difference shows clearly and it makes his negative point of view more clearly because the best way to show how bad something is is t show how good the opposite could be.
Slim is presented in such an ideal that makes him look like god he’s displayed as a PARAGON (a model of excellence). Steinbeck seems to use very strong adjectives to describe him “god like eyes” here he’s describing him like he god although we can link his idealism with being like god. Also he’s linked as a priest when George talks to him described as “tone of confession” which makes it look like he’s in a confession box confessing to the priest about his isn’t which is again linked to religion and idealism which makes him very unrealistic.
But I can argue that the portrayal of Slim isn’t very clear he’s portrayed as something pure and good, but yet, isn’t sentimental or sensitive he doesn’t make any attempts to seem that way he’s only described as “angelic” but actually his actions don’t represent that it only represents that his words were law and how would that be if he wasn’t educated and lived along with this society which I find very strange to not have affected him. He appears not to be a racist and a sexist yet he doesn’t defend anyone, he seems to like being alone and not to have a dream ,not affected by the society and likes working in the ranch, all this makes him very unrealistic but I think Steinbeck made him this way to show the contrast in the society and to make what he is criticizing very realistic, by showing what is unrealistic and what doesn’t exist in the society that’s going through a very tough time of economical hardship and difficulties.
Steinbeck is showing his criticism of the society through his characters and that would explain why the novel is in more dialogue structure it seems to be more like a play then a novel but then it’s very effective because it shows how the characters feels towards the depression when really it’s Steinbeck trying to deliver to us (the readers) how the depression affected all the people at the time. The novel is more of a spiral downward structured mostly people end up where they begun but have lost more , George lost Lennie, Candy lost his dog, Curley lost his wife which (yet I think doesn’t seem to affect him that much). All men lost their dreams but still the characters are cold harsh unsentimental and lack sensitivity towards each other which is proved that the last thing in the novel is says “Now what the hell ya suppose is eatin’ them two guys?” it shows that still people are cold and harsh and nothing will get better only get worse.
There are some religious morals in the novel as well other than Slims character. Although religion isn’t that important in the lives of the ranch workers , we know that because they don’t go to church and play and gamble instead but I can argue that this is because they have lost hope in god thinking there is no heaven like there is no god because of all the bad times they have been through and are in. They only mention god through profanity “god damn it “ “Jesus Christ” etc. However the description of the dream is idealistic making it seem like paradise there description of the ranch makes it look like heaven on earth it’s very lyrical and unrealistic “well it’s ten acres ..” “were gonna have a little house..” because how can heaven be found in this harsh society which shows the unrealism in it . Its not only George and Lennie that have this “heaven on earth” dream also Curleys wife “coulda been in the movies , an’ had nice cloths..” she has her dream to be a movie star and have everything she wanted, it symbolises heaven due to everything you want is found in heave.
In most novels the end leads to a conclusion to sum up the whole novel but in this novel what is concluded in the end is actually that what Crooks said is the right thing that no one gets to where they want and happiness and heaven are impossible to reach at the time. This proves Steinbecks point of the society and he was very successful in presenting the themes of loneliness and isolation and using imagery and dialogue to show his negative criticism of the depression through this quote.