‘Of Mice and Men’ is set in America, during the 1930’s, around the time when millions of people of the western world had no jobs and little food. It was the height of the economic blizzard that tore across the world in 1929. It was the dramatic Wall Street crash. The financial crisis that followed reacted on weak national economies, to bring about the Great Depression. Mass unemployment struck America. Living conditions deteriorated, people were in misery, and starvation soon struck and led to many deaths. Civilians had to travel from place to place searching for a job of any kind, to work up an income to live on. The protagonists of ‘Of Mice and Men’ George and Lennie symbolise these working class citizens. Steinbeck writes about how George and Lennie had to move from ranch to ranch looking for jobs, reflecting back to society at that particular time. A few of the characters, including Crooks and Curley’s wife symbolise some of the problems in the 1930s. Including the racial and sexual discrimination at that period in time.
Crooks, is ‘the Negro stable buck’, who keeps his distance from people and demands that they keep theirs. He has long been the victim of oppressive violence and prejudice and has retired behind a façade of aloofness and reserve, his natural personality deadened and suppressed by years of antagonism. ‘His body is bent over to the left by his crooked spine, and his eyes lie deep in his head’, and seem to ‘glitter with intensity.’ He is alone in his stable, and seems to ‘accumulate more possessions’ than any other, and is ‘more permanent than any other men,’ as he is ignored because he is black. And he knows it. He knows that he can’t play cards, ‘because I am black. They say I stink.’
When Lennie enters his room, he is very rude, and doesn’t really understand why a white man has entered, as no one has ever come near him before. ‘You got no right to come in my room. You go on get outa my room. You all of you stink to me.’ Crooks is a character that Steinbeck has used to relate to the racial discrimination that was around during the 1930s. Crooks represents the way all black people were treated at that time: NOT EQUAL.
Curley’s wife represents the typical women in the 1930s. She had ‘full, rouged lips and wide-spaced eyes, heavily made up. Her fingernails were red. Her hair hung in little rolled clusters. She wore a cotton house dress and red mules, on the instep of which were little bouquets of red ostrich feathers.’ Curley’s wife is never named in the novel: she is referred to as Curley’s wife, making her sound as if she is Curley’s possession, an object. She is not treated as an individual in her own right, which is something she bitterly resents, but she is seen by various other characters as a symbol of other things: a temptress, a chattel, a sex-object, or even a piece of ‘jail bait’. Although she is married she flaunts herself around the ranch in inappropriate clothing, flirting with the workers. The reason for this is because she is bored, and unhappy, and not seeking enough attention from Curley. She wants to make him jealous, by flirting with all the men in the ranch, and making him jealous. Women had to fight to get noticed at that time and their rights were not equal to that of men, sexual discrimination was a high factor. Being a woman in a ranch was a disability.
Lennie is the third character in this book that is treated differently to the rest, just like Crooks and Curley’s wife. They are all treated as lower class. Lennie is a bit of an outcast. He has a disability and Steinbeck symbolizes the fact that people with disabilities weren’t treated equally or right at that period. In the ranch Lennie is not treated well by Curley. Curley is a small man, who is continually aggressive and constantly looking for an opportunity to assert his masculinity. He is humiliated by his wife’s dissatisfaction and unhappiness, and needs to boost his self-esteem and confidence. He is a boxer, and takes advantage of those who are weak, and avoids the people he assumes might beat him. He takes pleasure in causing the maximum amount of pain and damage, to get rid of any frustration or anger, and to keep his authority through violence. Curley takes advantage of Lennie’s disability and takes opportunities of putting Lennie on the spot and embarrassing him. The reason for this is because Curley is jealous of Lennie’s height and strength, but takes notice of his weaknesses, and takes pleasure in asserting those weaknesses to the ranch. Steinbeck is reflecting on the ignorance of some of the people in that time and the authority some of society thought they had over others.
Lennie is an affectionate giant with a mind of a child. Lennie is described at the beginning as a ‘huge man, shapeless in face, with large pale eyes, with wide, sloping shoulders,’ walking ‘heavily, dragging his feet a little, the way a bear drags his paws.’ Steinbeck frequently describes Lennie in terms of an animal, suggesting not only his bear-like tendency to hold onto his prey and inflict great damage, but also a kind of animal innocence: ‘Lennie dabbled his big paw.’ Lennie’s obsession for ‘petting’ shows that he has deep-rooted emotions, which he might not be able to understand, but have to be satisfied. Lennie’s habit of ‘petting’ things progresses in victims, going from a dead mouse to a dead girl. Lennie’s irresistible urge to pet things collides with the desires of Curley’s wife. This symbolizes how Lennie is similair to an animal. How he is not wanted, doesn’t fit in, and is a hazard to society. Lennie is careless in the way he harms things and people without realising it. ‘Dabbling his paw’: stirring up trouble, like a little child.
At the beginning of the book we are given some clues showing how Lennie might be a bit slow. The way he acts when he gets to the river for example: he ‘flung himself down’ and ‘drank with long gulps, snorting into the water, like a horse,’ showing his simple personality, not like any other person, with very little co-ordination. Showing how he unthinkably drank from the water, bringing back the impression of a markedly animal temperament. His animal-like innocence emphasised when he is compared to a horse.
Steinbeck begins the book with a suggestion that the peaceful world of nature can be disturbed by man. Steinbeck relates to rabbits to symbolize Lennie having to sit ‘as quietly as little grey, sculptured stones.’ The rabbits have to be quiet to stay safe. Hidden from society, not to be harmed. Lennie, just like the rabbits, has to hide away and be quiet, otherwise harm will be caused to either himself, society, or both. The rabbits are not the most intelligent creatures, and neither is Lennie. They are prey, the victim, and society is their predator. The safest way for Lennie and the rabbits is to be quiet.
The ranch itself symbolizes the society as a whole in the 1930s. The workers on the ranch live lives that are unnatural because they lead a rootless existence outside of any proper society. It symbolizes how people had to look for a job all over the country to make a living. The ranch reflects the poverty, inequality and living conditions at that time: how George searched for vermin when he first arrived at the ranch, how Crooks is separated from the rest, in his own room, due to the racial discrimination. And again, how Curley’s wife is treated in the ranch: not equal, with very little respect.
George is the one who looks after Lennie and has done for years. He symbolizes the person who cares for someone and doesn’t look for a reward in return. George is the opposite of Lennie. He is ‘small and quick, dark of face, with restless eyes, and sharp, strong features. Every part of him was defined: small, strong hands, slender arms, a bony and thin nose.’ He represents the head or intelligence of the pair, whilst Lennie’s nature is entirely physical. George has taken on Lennie partly out of pity, partly out of affection, and partly for companionship, sticking up for him when Curley is around, telling him what to do and what not to do around the ranch, for Lennie’s own benefit.
