The Theme Of Poverty In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

In his book, Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck portrays that capitalism is a good economic and political structure, yet at the same time, it has its own weaknesses. Capitalism allows the citizens under the control of the government to pursue any career they want, and it provides motivation for people to work. Steinbeck shows through his two main characters, George Milton and Lennie Small, that living under the umbrella that is a capitalist government provides motivation in that one can work as hard and as long as they can, and in return, they can earn more money, and eventually work their way up to the top of the “social ladder”. George and Lennie not only receive motivation from their paycheck that they will receive at the end of the month,

There the “family” face the obstacle of achieving their own interpretation of the American Dream of owning their own land to support themselves instead of living day by day, barely scraping by. Steinbeck uses this setting to exemplify the dehumanization of women, African Americans, and the mentally disabled during that era. Steinbeck makes light of the role of women as objects

Imagine: Losing everything, from your house to your loved one in a matter of months. Having to move from place to place but having nowhere to go and losing yourself all at once. Over 550,000 innocent people -including parents, kids, veterans, etc.- are homeless on any given day.

It is the natural inclination of all men and women to dream. In John Steinbeck’s novel “Of Mice and Men,” the American dream is sought after by many different characters. However, the main theme in the story is how these dreams are unattainable, and how because of the Great Depression, all American dreams were dead. But what is the American dream? A unitary definition does not exist, however, the meaning of living the American dream is something that differs for everyone. For some people, the American dream might be acceptance and equality. On the other hand, for others, it might mean fame and fortune. In the short story called “Of Mice and Men” the American dream seems unreachable for a number of characters, such as George, Lennie,

     John Steinbeck wrote about what surrounded him. At the time he was writing, the nineteen-thirties, a great depression was plaguing the United States. Many people were out of work. Many farmers were losing their farms and homes. An extreme drought had also wrecked the farms of the Midwest and made them into what is now referred to as the "dust bowl". It was a terrible time to be poor, and most were. People died of malnutrition every day. In California, where Steinbeck resided, migrant workers dominated the workforce. Thousands traveled from all around to pick fruit in the farms of the Salinas Valley for minuscule wages. Thousands more could not find suitable

Social injustice plays a big part in demonstrating the effects of the Great Depression on John Steinbeck’s novel Of Mice and Men. Mistreatment of others is very noticeable and is used quite often throughout the novel. “You know what I can do to you if you open your trap?” (Steinbeck, 80). This demonstrates that threats were used as a way of life practically and could give people some sort of power over others.

Along with using characters, Steinbeck also uses characters actions to show social injustice throughout the novel. To demonstrate this, Curley, the small guy, picks a fight with Lennie, a bug guy. On pages 62 and 63, Curley swings at Lennie and starts beating him up. George then tells Lennie to get him, resulting in Curley's hand being crushed and broken (Steinbeck 62-63). This example is serving social injustice to Lennie because first off, he did not do anything wrong, and second, he couldn't fight back until George told him to do so. Another example could be how Curley’s wife is always in the bunkhouse. One can make an inference that she is lonely and in need of attention. In chapter of Mice and Men, Curley's wife is in the bunkhouse “looking

How are we categorized as Americans? Could it be that we feed an untrue “American” dream or our blindness from the real world due to others? Of Mice and Men is an immense allusion of the world we know today because how issues are presented and how the are dealt with.

lead him to a life of worry and lack of security, as he is old and a

Every day, people are faced with responsibility. Some thrive under the pressure while others crumble. Responsibility is a sign of independence. Teenagers with greater amounts of responsibility feel freedom from their parents. In the same case, too much responsibility can put more stress on that freedom-seeking teen and can have devastating effects. John Steinbeck shows the theme that in life, responsibility is best taken in moderation in his novel Of Mice and Men.

The novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck emphasizes the division in social classes and social structure based on power. The novel and its themes are based around the characters’ interactions and decisions. Their motivations come directly from other characters, and the social construct on the ranch that controls the characters within the novel. Each character has their own journey of giving into the powers that control their society and lives which leads to each of their own inescapable demises.

“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.

Lennie is mentally disabled and so always ‘does bad things’, because of this, he constantly depends on George to protect him and get him out of trouble. For example, in Weed, Lennie constantly ‘wants to touch

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.

“Look, George. Look what I done” (Steinbeck, Pg. 3). Here Steinbeck gives us the idea that Lennie looks up to George in everything he does like a child does to his parents. Lennie can’t take of himself since he is mentally handicapped so we get an idea that even though they are just friends, George is like a father figure to Lennie. Also by the word choice in the dialogue we can see that Lennie communicates in a particular way like if he just learn to speak, therefore he could be compared as a child. “I wasn’t doin’ nothing bad with it, George. Jus’ strokin’ it.” Steinbeck uses dialogue to give us an idea of George’s strong personality. “Don’t let him pull you in-but- if the son of a bitch” This quote gives us the idea that George’s personality is very strong and defensive by the explicit language which shows us anger. Also it gives us a idea that even though he is strong and aggressive he cares about what happens to Lennie. This can relate to the link that he treats him like he is his