Cruelty In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

What do you think when you think of cruelty? Someone being mean to another person? Humans taking the territory of animals to build roadways? As I went through the book, Of Mice and Men, I picked out three things that hold quite a bit of cruel symbolism. Such as the farm, Lulu’s Puppies, and a few of Crook’s belongings. Let’s start with the farm.
George and Lennie’s farm holds no doubt the most symbolism in the entire book. On page 76 Candy says, ‘We gonna have a room to ourself. We’re gonna have a dog an’ rabbits an’ chickens. We’re gonna have green corn an’ maybe a cow or a goat.’ This quote shows the freedom that they could all have if they had their own land. They could buy animals and grow their own crops to sell. Where as of right now, they work for a man who makes them grow his crops and tend to his animals. The cruelty of it is that it never happens for them or anyone else. With the farm, they could have the freedom that they so desperately desire.
Secondly, Lulu’s puppies also hold some symbolism. The main one was of the idea that the puppies represent the cruelest parts of
On page 67 it says, ‘And he had books, too; A tattered dictionary and a mauled copy of the California civil code for 1905.’ Also quoted, ‘A pair of large gold-rimmed spectacles hung from a nail on the wall above his bed.’ Things like a few books and a pair of glasses may not seem like much now, but they were pretty important back then. Crooks worked as a stable buck and his skin color made him more of a permanent worker. His skin color also was the reason for his loneliness. None of the other men would invite him out to town with them or ask him to play very many games, so he has a lot left over.This led him to buying an assortment of books, learning how to read them, which was a feat in itself considering his skin color at that time, and even earning enough money to buy a pair of