Of Mice And Men Theme Analysis

The themes of Of Mice and Men

Ambrose Bierce once said “Prejudice is a vagrant opinion without visible means of support.” (This quote goes along with exactly what Steinbeck portrays throughout his well-known novel “Of Mice and Men.” As Steinbeck is writing the story he has many different goals, trying to show just how difficult it was for workers and people during the Great Depression era, and also help the reader better understand and connect with each character (Attell). He uses the many different character personalities to present major themes throughout, two of the major themes being powerlessness and prejudice towards many of the characters. During this time it was extremely difficult for individuals to find and have a set place to

Racial Prejudice is what’s presented by the others on the ranch towards the only African American man on the ranch. They would call his crucial names, bad mouth him and some would even threated him, giving him the fear of losing his job. Crooks was isolated from all the other workers, he had his own room of to the side, not allowing anyone to be in his room, because he preferred being isolated. At this portion of the story the reader is able to begin making a connection between Lennie and Crooks, even though the discrimination is shown more frequently toward Crooks because his skin is a different color, they both feel unwanted at the ranch, they both want to leave. Crook allows Lennie to come into his room one night just for alittle while all the other men were out, they sat and talked for alittle, until Curleys wife grows nosey and comes to the door to see what they are talking about. Curley’s wife is the only female on the ranch so she is all over the place, in everyone else’s business except for her own. As Crook is enjoying the company that he is having with Lennie at this time and he tells Curleys wife to leave, she then becomes offended and grows mean saying “do you know what I could do to you if you open your trap?”(Steinebck 80) trying to intimidate Crooks. She knows that he is unable to do or say anything out of the way to her, giving the reason why she does

Curley’s wife, she’s the one in the story that has no actual name, she is just known as “Curley’s wife.” She is the only female on the ranch, the book tells how she is fare and beautiful, but is a bit of a tease. Throughout the whole novel she is always looking for Curley, all the men on the ranch view her as Curley’s property. Candy describes her to George and Lennie as a tart (Miller).This term “a tart” is just a way of saying that she is unfaithful to her marriage, and has a sexual way about her. She is always seeking for attention from all the other men. Towards the end of the story she sees Lennie in the barn sitting on the ground leaning over what was his puppy, so she goes in and sits next to him; she leans over and begins telling him about how her life would have been if she wasn’t on the ranch. Lennie had been mesmerized by her from the start, she began teasing him by describing how soft her hair was, only because she knew that he loved soft things, she takes Lennie’s hand and says “Here, feel right here.”(Steinbeck 90) At this point Lennie gets carried away and wouldn’t let go of her hair, she began to scream telling him to let go. Lennie panics and ends up holding her down and ends up killing her by snapping her neck. George told Lennie at the very beginning of the story that if anything happens and he gets in trouble to go and