Comparison Of John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

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A man of African American descent marches along the streets of Washington. He is part of a group of more than 200,000 other Americans who took to the streets to protest. They all march together to bring about a change to end the oppression and racial injustice many African Americans face. Fed up with the sexism she faced in society, a woman decided she wanted to bring about an end to such oppression. She, along with a few other women, led a convention addressing social and civil conditions, along with the rights women deserve. This man and this woman, along with so many others, were all tired of the oppression and injustices they faced everyday. They decided they wanted to better their own lives; they decided they needed to stand up …show more content…

Many Americans at the time remained unaware of poverty and horrible living conditions the Okies had to live through. Therefore, Steinbeck’s novel serves to enlighten many Americans on the cruelties of poverty and show the many injustices people had to face. Steinbeck describes the bank as a “monster” because the tenant farmers and their families will “have to get off the land. The plows’ll go through the dooryard” (Source A pg. 33). The banks have created a sense of survival of the fittest amongst the Okies. With limited jobs only those most fitted to drive the tractors will get paid. However, this is very unjust, because for the tractor driver’s “three dollars a day fifteen or twenty families can't eat at all. Nearly a hundred people have to go out and wander on the roads for your three dollars a day” (Source A pg. 37). Thus the unjustness the Okies suffer through is illustrated. Only a few people can get jobs, and the few jobs available are jobs that cause even more suffering among so many families. The wealthy abuse the poor; they take away the houses from people who are starving and do not attempt to get the majority back on their feet. Because of the destruction they bring, “there is little difference between this tractor and a tank” (Source C pg. 151). Because such atrocious destitution festers among the Okies, bribes were greatly accepted. A tractor driver “got orders wherever there’s a family not moved out - if I have an accident - you know, get too close and cave the house in a little - well, I might get a couple of dollars. And my youngest kid never had no shoes yet” (Source A pg. 38). There lies immense corruption in the system. Because men are so concerned with the well-being of their families and trying to stay alive, they accept these bribes, even though it means making these families whose houses

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