OF MICE AND MEN

THE DEPRESSION
1. on October 29 1929 the Wall Street Stock Exchange collapsed. many people lost their life savings and 15 million men and women lost their jobs
  1. this lack of work in the northern states created a migration to the south and California
2. those that did get work lived on ranches and were very easily dismissed
  1. after Curley and Lennie's fight the men are very quick to hush it up, saying that Curley got his had stuck in a machine
HUMAN FRAGILITY
1. Lennie's mice are used as a motif to show his vaunrability. As is Steinbecks other comparisons to animals
2. humanity is short and fragile compared to the other forces that contol our lives
  1. references to nature and sunlight throughout the novel also the cyvlical stucture
DREAMS AND REALITY
1. George and Lennie dream of owning their own farm and being independent
  1. Candy is swept up in this dream and so is the cynical Crooks
    1. common dream amongst migrant workers in the 1930's
      1. shows that even though George and Lennie are unusual in that they are a pair they still have a generic dream showing that their not that different from anyone else.
        FAILED DREAM
        Lennie dies
2. Curley's wife dreams of being a movie star
  1. pathetic dream
  2. childlike in that she will never fully accept the real world
    1. during the depression very few movies were being made
  3. she is also a posesion of Curley and he will never let her leave
    1. FAILED DREAM
      1. in that she dies
3. the men dream of being cowboy heroes and read pulp magazines
  1. as they read about them in magazines it suggests they are fictional much like their dream ever coming true is fictional
    1. "western magazines"
      1. description of the bunk house
4. the American Dream of freedom and independnce is where all Steinbeck's characters dreams come from
5. Curley dreams of being a champion boxer
PESSIMISM OR OPTIMISM
1. POSITVE
  1. George's care for Lennie
  2. Lennie's adoration George
  3. natural dignity of Slim
2. NEGATIVE
  1. Curley's wife's death
  2. the condition or life of the workers
3. LENNIE'S DEATH
  1. Lennie in the end dies at the hand of someone he trusts, in the open, painlessly and still believing in the dream
  2. could be compared to the killing of the water snake at the end of the book so then Lennies's death is only inevitable and almost superfluous
PREJUDICE AND PROTEST
1. overall the ranch hand seem to have a decent life earning $50 a month including food and housing so to that extent the novel isn't political
2. Crooks illustrates racial prejudice
  1. he is intelligent, reads books and like any other human being needs warmth and companionship
    1. however he is denied human comfort because he is black
      1. LONLINESS
3. Candy and his dog represent discrimination of age and that once someone has with lasted their worth they become dispensable
  1. Candy also represents disability and how people with a disability are restricted to the bottom of the food chain

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OF MICE AND MEN

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