Social relations between white Americans and other minorities, such as women and African Americans, during the Great Depression formed a fierce controversy among the American people. The controversy turned into discriminatory actions that not only became a recurring trend but a lifestyle. This lifestyle became a highlighted theme in the novella Of Mice and Men. John Steinbeck, the author of OfMice and Men, portrays these relations in a biased way that cannot go unrecognized as it affects these biased characters’ personalities Steinbeck portrays the marginalized characters in this novella in an obviously biased way; however, in doing so, it emphasized the hopelessness and depression that occurred at this time. To begin, within the allegorical novel Of Mice and Men, certain characters are crafted to be the main focus of the story, however, the character ‘Crooks‘ is nothing more than an old stable hand.
Steinbeck makes sure to emphasize Crooks’ place on the delicate structure of social hierarchy; he isn‘t allowed to stay in the bunkhouse with the other men and as a result is left to stay in the barn, alone with no accompaniment, other than the foul farm animals. This leaves him to a lot of time to himself, allowing him to read up on the many books he has including a dictionary even though African Americans were not usually literate at this time Although a man might need time to himself, too much can make him “sick”. As Crooks describes it, “‘A guy goes nuts if he ain’t got nobody. Don’t make no difference who the guy is, long’s he’s with you [tell ya,’ he cried, ‘I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an’ he gets sick’”.
As a result of Crooks’ isolation, he is subject to a life of loneliness—a different breed than the others, this is loneliness to the point where there is a need of someone to relate to, someone to converse with, just someone, Moreover, while the other hands are out at Susy’s place, Crooks is among the four marginalized characters that are left behind As Curley‘s wife expresses it, “They left all the weak ones here,” (Steinbeck 38). During this part of the novel, Crooks exploits Lennie’s inability to fully comprehend things and enjoys a moment of superiority. However, this is soon overridden by an outburst by Curley’s wife that puts him back in his place: the bottom of the bottom, “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…’Yes, ma’am.’ ‘Well, you keep your place then, Nigger.
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I could get you strung upon a tree so easy it ain’t even funny,” this substantial threat only further highlights Crooks’ low position on the social hierarchy and shows how despondent Crooks is when he is quickly put back in his place Overall, Steinbeck portrays Crooks as a “typical” discriminated African American which brought out his unique loneliness and his low social position. In like manner, based on the way marginalized people were set aside, women didn’t mean much to society or John Steinbeck. John Steinbeck portrays Curley’s wife the same way all women were portrayed in the 19305: A possession of a man She barely has an education which means she could either get a really low-income job or get married earlyt Married very young, at only 16 years old, she serves only as a possession to Curley.
Because Curley lacks to provide her with “real” attention, she is literally bored out of her mind—neglected to the point to where she has to go out and get attention from other men to feel like a person, “She stood still in the doorway, smiling a little at them, rubbing the nails of one hand with the thumb and forefinger of the other. She regarded them amusedly. ‘Funny thing,’ she said ‘If I catch any one man, and he’s alone, I get along fine with him Butjust let two of the guys get together an’ you won’t talk. Jus’ nothing but read” . She uses her flirtatious character in an attempt to seduce the men into giving her some attention. It is essentially a last resort to seek out attention in such a way since she is already married, yet she overlooks that and proceeds to act in a flirtatious manner. Overmore, all of the men on the ranch disliked her because they believed she was a “tart” and she was troublesome.
Steinbeck writes, ”A girl was standing there looking in, She had full, rouged lips and wide-spaced eyes, heavily made up. Her fingernails were red. Her hair hung in little rolled clusters, like sausages, She wore a cotton house dress and red mules, on the insteps of which were little bouquets of red ostrich feathers. ‘I’m lookin’ for Curley,’ she said,“ (Steinbeck 15). The men had no interest in any interaction with her because while looking for Curley, she showed up in a cotton dress and she had heavy makeup on obviously dressed to impress the other men, Another important point to note is how Steinbeck portrays her after she is murdered by Lennier He writes, “,,,And the meanness and the plannings and the discontent and the ache for attention were all gone from her face She was very pretty and simple, and her face was sweet and young.
Now her rouged cheeks and her reddened lips made her seem alive and sleeping very lightly”. This quaint yet humble description of her is somewhat unsettling because he not only describes her as more peaceful but as a pretty young woman—when she is dead Moreover, it is an even more important note that Steinbeck neither gave Curley‘s wife a name nor created another female character showing his little interest or need for a female character in the novel. In all, Curley‘s wife faces obvious discrimination and neglect from both the author and the other characters, and this proves to have a negative effect on both her personality and her emotional state, While women and African Americans were both heavily marginalized, disabled people were at the bottom of the social hierarchy as well too.
Candy is yet another marginalized character in the novel OfMice and Men; he is disabled since his hand was taken off due to an accident at work, and his old age prevents him from being of much use, Disabled people in this time had no real purpose to society, as they could not contribute as much, if any, to work of any kind. They also fell victim to discrimination almost as severe as women and African Americans were discriminated For example, Candy was left behind when the other ranch hands went out to Susy‘s along with Lennie, Crooks, and Curley’s wife. Moreover, when Candy attempts to counterpose Curley’s wife’s threat, he is quickly shot down when she says, “‘Tell an’ be damned,’ she cried. ‘Nobody’d listen to you, an’ you know it. Nobody’d listen to you.‘ Candy subsided ‘No t I, ,’ he agreed, “Nobody’d listen to ns‘”.
Candy even admits that he isn’t in a high enough social position to outspeak her, Even though Candy is discriminated against and set aside by his peers, he never fully loses hope in the story Steinbeck added a disabled person to show a figure of hope When George retells their dream of the farm, his ability to dream is rekindled He becomes so worked up about it that he ends up spilling it to Crooks, “‘Everybody wants a little bit of land, not much, Jus’ something that was his Som’thin‘ he could live on and there couldn‘t nobody throw him off of ill I never had none I planted crops for damn near ever’body in this state, but they wasn’t my crops, and when I harvested ‘em, it wasn‘t none of my harvest. But we gonna do it now, and don’t you make no mistake about that George ain’t got the money in town.t.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} He stopped, overwhelmed with his picture. Candy begins by explaining how his past never allowed him to actually own anything of value, but he follows up with the joyous explanation that their trio would soon be living the American Dream together showing he finally found hope. Even though it wasn’t even his dream at first he is still crestfallen when he finally realizes that it’s never going to happen and he is back to square one which leaves him, yet again, with almost no hope at all and having to spend the rest of his life on the ranch working meaningless jobs. Living this marginalized and disabled life left him in the wake of fear: the fear of being “disposed of” once he has run out of any users.
In summary, Candy is uniquely discriminated since his only real handicaps are age and his ruined hand, and this affects him by adding a lingering feeling of fear to his life. In full summation, all of these characters were subject to some sort of discriminatory practice which affected each of their personasi Steinbeck portrayed them as they were treated in that time period, showing that women served as nothing more than a possession to men, the disabled had almost no use to society, or anyone at all, and finally showing that African Americans were even more marginalized than women or disabled people. This concept of discrimination was mostly based on the fact that men lived in an essential free—for—all in which each man had to somehow work on their own to reach their own dream or goal without anything to drag them down MarginalizaLion was widely practiced during the Great Depression because everyone had to make ends meet, but no one had any time for less than perfect.
