The Role Of Migrant Workers In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

Back in the day, around the 50s and 60s, racism was an enormous issue all over the world. Decades ago and to this day, racism may have been thought of as one person being less than another. For example, a human may have been considered less because of his/her skin color, religion and beliefs, or language. Despite the reality, none of those ideas show whom that person really is. In “Of Mice and Men,” Steinbeck has the characters use very racist actions toward the stable-buck, Crooks. It is evident that the men in this story are extremely racist because of the racial slurs used towards the black man, no one seems to care what he has to say or what he does, and Crooks is being separated from everyone else in the bunkhouse.

Curley’s Wife was a woman during The Great Depression and couldn’t speak to other men just because she was married to the son of the boss. Lennie was a man who was often yelled at by George because of his mental capabilities and not knowing how to use his immense strength in certain situations. His lack of knowledge and discrimination from the others eventually got him killed as well. Crooks was an African American during a time where he had no rights and was not treated with respect. He was separated from everyone else on the ranch and spent his days alone, too. All these factor into the evidence shown throughout at the novel that living in The Great Depression was full of discrimination and unequal

Even though Crooks, a black stable hand, has been around the Ranch longer than most people and he is still probably one of the most lonely. This lack of contact with other people has made him severely bitter especially when people enter his personal space. He creates his personal space with books because it helps him cope with the loneliness. So when Lennie tries to befriend him he freaks out by exclaiming, “You got no right to come in to my room. This here’s my room. Nobody got any right in her but me.”(68) In addition to Crooks being lonely he is also segregated from all the other workers. He lives in the barn with the animals instead of the bunkhouse with the others. It’s also very hard for Crooks to associate with the others, because during the time period blacks are seen as a lower class of people. When Crooks states, “Guys don’t come in to a colored man’s room very much.”(75) It shows how little contact he has with the others because of how segregated he is. This segregation mirrors the Jim Crow laws that were active during this period. Crooks’s treatment on the ranch represents the racial discrimination against blacks in

“Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted is the most terrible poverty,” said Mother Teresa. Humanity has struggled against being left alone and being lonely for a long time. As a result, humans formed a society where they could be together. On the other hand, there are still people who are left out of the society. In other words, there are still people out there who are marginalized, not accepted fairly to the society. John Steinbeck shows the marginalized people’s lives in his novel, Of Mice and Men. In his novel, characters such as Lennie, George, Candy, Curley’s wife, Crooks, and even the ranch workers, are marginalized from the society. Ranch workers like George, Candy, and Lennie have nowhere to go, and they do not have anybody to care for them. Especially for Lennie, he is mentally challenged, too. Crooks, being the colored man, suffers from discrimination. Curley’s wife is constantly surrounded with loneliness. In Of Mice and Men, marginalized people who are neglected from the society, create a society of their own; they share their dreams and help each other out although they are all different from each other.

How is a woman in an era dominated by men expected to gain attention? Steinbeck wrote the novel titled Of Mice and Men emphasising the male society while displaying American dreams crushed throughout the novel. Whereas, minimal wiggle room for Curley’s wife expands upon her husband’s father’s farm because of its majority being men and her being the inferior sex. Her image demonstrates a sexual figure towards the male workers when Lennie and George saw her for the first time as stated, “She had full, rough lips and widespread eyes, heavily made up. Her fingernails red and her hair hung in curls with a cotton house dress,” whereas red usually provokes people as an attention seeking color from its vividness bringing along attention to her hands

“She turned on him in scorn. ‘Listen, Nigger,’ she said. ‘You know what I can do to you if you open your trap?’ Crooks stared hopelessly at her, and then he sat down on his bunk and drew into himself” (Steinbeck 116-117). In Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, the author presents motifs such as xenophobia and racism in the 1900’s with the example of the African American, Crooks. Although Crooks lived in an era without segregation and slavery, racism towards him was clearly imminent. Furthermore, not only did African Americans face the wrath of discrimination, but women did as well. In fact, this type of oppression was caused by xenophobia, which is also demonstrated throughout the novel with the rejection of Curley’s wife. Specifically, George and Lennie eye Curley’s wife as a threat simply for being a lady. In the present day, these ideas, xenophobia and racism, have caused the creation of more discriminatory paradigms. Therefore, xenophobia and racism in the 1900’s have caused the development of racist ideas in the current day such as Islamophobia and police brutality.

John Steinbeck, an American novelist, is well-known for his familiar themes of depression and loneliness. He uses these themes throughout a majority of his novels. These themes come from his childhood and growing up during the stock market crash. A reader can see his depiction of his childhood era. In Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck shows the prominent themes of loneliness, the need for relationships, and the loss of dreams in the 1930s through the novels’ character.

This meant that all money they made had to be sent back to them, for

In the novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, many themes come up often throughout the story, especially the theme about bonds between two people. The novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck expresses theme of Friendship through various literary elements. Friendship is people that care for and respect each other. It is the link that makes people stick together through the struggles of life. This essay will prove that friendship is important in life.

The Great Depression was a weak period of time; fifteen and 16 year olds were leaving home, fathers was stepping out on their families, and jobs, banks, and businesses were just gone. This lead to migrant workers. A migrant worker is a person that travel for work that is mostly temporary. Of Mice and Men is based on that period of time. George and Lennie who were in the heart of the depression surfaced from town to town, job to job, which led them to Weed, a town which they had to flee for the lives due to Lennie’s non-conductive behavior given that he has a mental deficiency.

In the novel ‘Of Mice and Men’, Curley’s Wife is one of the many characters who represent a minority in the American society in the 1930s. In the award winning book, John Steinbeck provides many different aspects to the world he was living in at the time he wrote the novel: dreams, hopes and loneliness to name a few, all channelled through one mentality - prejudice. Curley’s Wife was one of the many characters that Steinbeck used to get his point across about prejudice with. She is not a complex character, however ‘a significant figure’ may be a better fitting word. In my essay, I will be investigating if whether Curley’s Wife is presented by Steinbeck with dislike and/or sympathy, and if so, with how much.

John Steinbeck’s novella, Of Mice and Men, illustrates the struggle of two workers, George and Lennie, trying to accomplish their dreams and their inevitability to fail.

“Why ain’t you wanted?” Lennie asked. “Cause I’m black.” page 68 “Of Mice and Men”. In Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, 2 men named George and Lennie have a problem in a place named weed. Later move to another ranch where they plan to have their own farm in the future with a man named candy. While there Lennie gets into trouble and later gets into more trouble because of a similar problem that happened in Weed.In Of Mice and Men ,discrimination exists in the form of racism,sexism, and feeble mindedness.

During the 1930s, The Great Depression and the Dustbowl were ruining a lot of things, including farmer’s way of life. The Dustbowl caused many farmers to sell their farms, the fewer farms, the less opportunities there are for migrant workers to make money. With the money they made, they couldn’t take care of themselves all that well. Even kids had to work just as much as adults, and barely made any money to get away from that line of work. John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men portrays how migrant farm workers attempted to achieve success, but success was made nearly impossible due to the Great Depression.

John Steinbeck wrote ‘Of Mice and Men’ to show how hard life was for migrant ranch workers during the time of the Great Depression and how they were often exploited by their employers. In showing how George and Lennie’s dream of owning their own piece of land did not come true, Steinbeck explores a wider theme, criticising the idea of the American Dream. The American Dream tells people that there is ‘opportunity for each... regardless of the fortuitous circumstance of birth and position. Steinbeck criticises this as these ranch workers were given few opportunities. Settings play a very important part in the novel as they pinpoint clear times and places giving a sense of realism to the story, but they are also used to create atmosphere.