The Ranch in Of Mice and Men

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The ranch portrays a harsh, callous society with no place for the weak. Discuss. ‘Of Mice and Men’, Steinbeck portrays a world dominated by powerful white able-bodied males. It is the views and opinions of this social type that permeate ranch society and those who come from outside these boundaries are ostracized and persecuted. Thus we have a world where Steinbeck describes the plight of women, black people, disabled people and those with mental disabilities showing the persecution and suffering they have to endure. In 1930’s American people had no work. Migrant workers moved from place to place to find work, without any proper relationship with others. They looked after themselves. It was a selfish and violent society of working and living in harsh environments, and where sexist attitudes towards women were commonplace. As George and Lennie arrive at the bunkhouse of the ranch, Steinbeck describes the bleak scenery of the bunkhouse. The wall of this “rectangular building…”, “the floor unpainted….”, and “there was a nailed apple - box”. Almost every part of the bunk is made of things that were already used. It wasn’t a nice place to sleep at all. When George and Lennie came into the bunkhouse, George immediately commented “What the hell kind of bed you giving us, anyway?” George said this because the bed was very dirty and full of lice. Bleakness and darkness are the general atmosphere of the world at that time and we learn that bunkhouse is a metaphor of the society which characters live in. Through this metaphor, Steinbeck tried to show harsh environments of human society, which force people to be selfish and violent to survive. In this novel, there are many social outcasts. Crooks, the stable buck, may be the most persecuted character in the novel. He lived separated from other people because he was black. At Christmas, they made Crooks fight with white men with his hands tied back. They didn’t care how Crooks felt as they only wanted to have fun at the expense of the weak. Most of the men was prejudiced against Crooks referring to him as the “nigger”. They treated him badly and used him for entertainment. Calling him “nigger” is similar to it. It is so ironic that Crooks the most persecuted one with no dream, has a copy of the California civil code for 1905 and read more books than any other. The book is about human rights. This represents the callous society very well. There is nothing that can protect the weak including the law and what decide people’s lives are not contents of their mind but colour of their skin. Another excellent example was when they were having dinner in the

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