Of Mice and Men

“Of Mice and Men”-Response to Literature Essay “I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that's why.” ― John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men The novel “Of Mice and Men” written by John Steinbeck explains the importance of having someone with you when you’re the loneliest and when you have all this economic crisis raising into the climax. At times life blesses us with experiences that instill feelings of happiness and joy, in which we are able to celebrate life and all it could offer us. Other times life hits us in the face, letting us endure hardships, sadness, depression and loss. Most may argue that “Of Mice and Men” is either intended to celebrate the joys of life or meant to be a depressing book. Yet what most fail to see is that “Of Mice and Men” portrays both aspects of human life through the mutual friendship of two uncommonly men, George and Lennie, the dream they both share, and the sudden calamity that befell them. During the 1920’s and the 1930’s was when the Great Depression arrive and people was facing the loss of unemployment, the lack of education, the exploitation of migrant workers and the crisis of the Dust Bowl. Farmers that were affected by the Dust Bowl had to migrate to other parts of the United States, to get jobs on farms. “I see hundreds of men come by on the road an’ on the ranches with their bindles on their back an’ that same damn thing in their heads. Hundreds of them. They come, an’ they quit an’ go on; an’ every damn one of ‘em’s got a little piece of land in his head. An’ never a God damn one of ‘em ever gets it. Just like heaven. Ever’body wants a little piece of lan’. I read plenty of books out there. Nobody never gets to heaven, and nobody never gets no land. It’s just in their head.” Their reason for always living was because they wanted the American Dream which meant having a home, a wife and kids, but the significant part was having a territory/land for them; because of the Great Depression and their bosses were rude to them they only gave them little, they didn’t even bothered giving a social security for the old and disabled man; an example for that is Candy he was an old man and he was handicapped “When they can me here I wisht somebody'd shoot me. But they won't do nothing like that” Candy’s boss only let Candy lived in the farm because he tended the rabbits, but if Candy wouldn’t be able to tend the rabbits and feed them he would’ve been discharged and he wouldn’t have a house were to live nor money to pay his bills. When Candy hear George and Lennie talking about living of the “fatta the land” he gets really excited because he thinks that this could help him to throw his job quick before his boss do it "And they give me two hundred and fifty dollars 'cause I lost my hand. An' I got fifty more saved up right in the bank right now. That's three hundred..." This is how their American Dream started. In addition there was segregation in the Salinas Valley where George and Lennie worked. It was about the stable buck, Crooks. During the novel the word to described Crooks was the “N” word but in reality the farmers liked Crooks, more importantly, the “N” word was just part of their regular vocabulary because they didn’t have education “George patted a wrinkle out of his bed, and sat down. - [The boss gave] the stable buck hell?- he asked.-Sure. Ya see the stable buck's a nigger.-Nigger, huh?-Yeah. Nice fella too. Got a crooked back where a horse kicked him. The boss gives him hell when he's mad. But the stable buck don't give a damn about that. He reads a lot. Got books in his room." Subsequently Crooks name wasn’t mentioned at all, and we see that his physical disability is one of the many ways he suffer in the ranch; "Yes sir. Jesus, we had fun. They let the nigger come in that night. Little skinner name of Smitty took after the nigger. Done pretty good, too. The guys wouldn't let him use his feet, so the nigger got him. If he coulda used his feet, Smitty says he woulda killed the nigger. The guys said on account of the nigger's got a crooked back, Smitty can't use his feet.- He paused in relish of the memory”. There was a part of chapter 4 “Of Mice and Men” were Curley’s wife threaten Crooks "Well, you keep your place then, Nigger. I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain't even funny.-Crooks had reduced himself to nothing. There was no personality, no ego—nothing to arouse either like or dislike. He said, -Yes, ma'am,- and his voice was toneless.” There was a taboo against ‘black’ men getting involved with ‘white’ women. What Curley's wife threatened to do was to say that Crooks had come on to her. If she had claimed that, he would have been in a whole lot of trouble, he would surely have lost his job and maybe even gotten physically hurt. On the subject of sexism in the novel women during that period of time were either “Flappers” or “suffragettes” but because of the Great Depression most of the women were ‘Lady’s of the night’; “George sighed.-You give me a good whore house every time,- he said. -A guy can go in an' get drunk and get ever'thing outa his system all at once, an' no messes. And he knows how much it's gonna set him back. These here jail baits is just set on the trigger of the hoosegow.” George sees women as basically exchangeable objects that satisfy certain needs in exchange for money. As to why Curley’s wife didn’t have a name had to do with the idea of women being an object. Curley's wife does not have a name because she does not have her own identity, she is just Curley's wife, she has no real sense of purpose, she does not fit in with the ranch hands, she lives a lonely existence. Curleys’s wife wanted to be noticed by men and wanted be popular "Come there when I was a kid. Well, a show come through, an' I met one of the actors. He says I could go with that show. But my ol' lady wouldn' let me. She says because I was on'y fifteen. But the guy says I coulda. If I'd went, I wouldn't be livin' like this, you bet." She wanted to get out of her house and wanted to be noticed by other people. Concerning to the care for the mentally ill in that period of time, experts began to try to understand what might make a person behave in an erratic way, and what kinds of thoughts and opinions might be attached to what outsiders would regard “madness.” Experts developed a number of theories that attempted to explain unusual behavior, and they devised therapies that aimed to help people who might once have been placed in a prison with no help at all. The techniques they used to help the mentally disorder was putting the patients with insulating-induced coma, lobotomies, malarial infections, and electroshocks therapy. “But Candy said excitedly, -We oughtta let'im get away. You don't know that Curley. Curley gon'ta wanta get 'im lynched. Curley'll get 'im killed. - George watched Candy's lips. -Yeah, - he said at last, -that's right, Curley will. An' the other guys will. - And he looked back at Curley's wife.”
Candy didn’t want Lennie to suffer in hands of Curley; neither did George, Curley was seeking for revenge but not for his wife it was only for an egotistic way. Slim, Candy and George knew that Lennie was going to suffer with the psychiatrics as well with Curley; Lennie was going to suffer in either of the two ways. In conclusion, the characters Lennie, Candy, Crooks, and Curley’s wife had something’s in common, which was being isolated, or lonely. Lennie, had to be silent when talking to the boss just so he didn’t have to show that he was “special”; Candy didn’t have no relatives only his dog (but the dog was killed during chapter 3) and he was disabled; Crooks was lonely because of the racial segregation and having his back injured as well as working in the farm; no to mention, Curley’s wife whom didn’t have a name because she was an object and “couldn’t” talk to none of the farmers because she was territory of Curley and she didn’t have any friends. Considering to the fact of the economic crisis and several problems in those times were people had to be cautious to the actions they did and how women were treated and “special” people couldn’t have the adequate treatment and how segregation was surpassing to the treatment of “black” and “white” people using the ‘N’ word as part of their daily words. The novel had a tragic ending, but it was understandable the suffering of having to kill this character (Lennie) just so he didn’t have to suffer more with people that didn’t like him because he was mentally ill. There is some points in the story that foreshadows the ending of the novel. At the end they didn’t lived happily nor they got their dreams come true (“living offa fatta the land”) but they end with a slightly friendship (between George and Candy) that they didn’t had to be alone.