Of_Mice_and_Men

Jese Lozano Miss Cochran ENG. 102 July 5, 2010 Of Mice and Men: Powerless There are a lot of problems in this world. Problems that some people can control, reasonable problems for example bad habits like drinking and smoking, and with the proper amount of rehabilitation those people can successfully conquer their unhealthy habits. Then there are problems to which one cannot control due to their circumstance, this is how John Steinbeck describes his characters as ultimately powerless. John Steinbeck lived during the time of the Great Depression, and during that time Steinbeck worked as a farm hand at Los Gatos Ranch in California. This had a tremendous influence on him, which led him to write one of his most memorable fictional novels Of Mice and Men and in Steinbeck’s book describes the characters also living and working on a farm as well. No doubt that Steinbeck witnessed firsthand the destructive imbalance of social structures in American society; this also plays a huge role in the Steinbeck’s book. There are matters that one can control and there are matters that one cannot control, and in the book Of Mice and Men, all the character share one common feature, that they are all economically powerless. Crooks has a social powerlessness while Curley and his wife a relational powerlessness. Now Lennie might have all these features but the one that really clasps strongly to him is his intellectual powerlessness. Steinbeck clearly describes that all the characters are ultimately powerless in one way or another. Steinbeck describes different types of powerlessness in his book; in which every character has his or her own. But there is one form of powerlessness that every character in Steinbeck’s’ book shares, and that would be financial powerlessness. At the beginning of the book we already see that the two main characters in the book George and Lennie are traveling on a little path down to a small green pool. They were trying to get to their next destination which is a small ranch a few miles down the road but the bus driver directed them the wrong way. So we already see that they have no vehicle that neither of them owns which means they must be poor. Then George and Lennie camp out by the pool which also means that they don’t have a place to stay. During the Great Depression most Americans at that time did not live in a home, let alone own an automobile. Another example would be the guys at the washed out bunk house which would include George, Lennie, Candy, Slim, Carlson and Curley. Steinbeck really illustrates on exactly how a bunk house look during that time period, “The bunk house was a long, rectangular building. Inside, the walls were whitewashed and the floor unpainted. In three walls there were small, square windows, and in the fourth, a solid door with a wooden latch. Against the walls were eight bunks, five of them made up with blankets and the other three showing their burlap ticking. Over each bunk there was nailed an apple box with the opening forward so that it made two shelves for the personal belongings of the occupant of the bunk” (17). George and Lennie have a dream of buying land for themselves so that Lennie can tend all the rabbits he wanted. George only gets paid fifty dollars at the end of every month which is insufficient to buy any kind of property. In addition George would rather spend the money he gets on whiskey, cards, hotels and the whorehouse instead on saving it. Even Crooks knows that, “I seen hundreds of men come by on the road an’ on the ranches, with their bindles on their back an’ that same damn thing in their heads. Hundreds of them. They come, an’ they quit an’ go on; an’ every damn one of em’s got a little piece of land in his head. An’ never a God damn one of em’ ever gets it” (Steinbeck 74). These characters are financially powerless because of the insufficient amount of money they get paid for the work that they do and the temptation of old Susy’s whorehouse where all the guys go to on the weekends to drink and enjoy themselves. This is a good example on how Steinbeck shows the financial powerlessness of the typical ranch worker during the Great Depression, unable to move onward from their current economic inconvenience. Steinbeck also describes a type of personal powerlessness in Curley and his wife’s relationship. When George and Lennie get to the bunk house they meet Candy an old swamper who gives them the gossip scoop on Curley and his wife. “‘Well-she got the eye…I seen her give Slim the eye…Curley never seen it. An’ I seen her give Carlson the eye…I think Curley’s married…a tart’” (Steinbeck 28), Curley’s wife does seem like an ungrateful partner. Maybe it could be that Curley does not satisfy her sexually or financially, but neither could the other men in the Steinbeck’s book satisfy Curley’s wife either way maybe for the exception of Lennie. Curley gets frustrated that he can’t please her woman so he goes and snaps at everyone at the bunk house. Curley’s wife was probably wanted Lennie to satisfy her sexually because she doesn’t seem more interested in anyone else except for Lennie. With Curley’s wife’s desire satisfaction and Lennie’s natural clumsiness toward soft things, Curley’s wife’s hair, will bring bad occurrences. Near the end of Steinbeck’s book Curley’s wife tries to find companionship with Lennie in the barn, so she gets close to him and lets Lennie stroke her soft hair which ends Curley’s wife and Lennie’s future. The powerlessness of the relationship was common during the Great Depression, where men would leave their wives because the women were taking the men’s work or wives left men because their husbands could not sustain them, and in Steinbeck’s book Of Mice and Men it clearly depicts the hardship between couples. Another aspect that John Steinbeck describes in his book Of Mice and Men is one of the more important parts, the powerlessness of social circumstance. Crooks is an Africa American who lives in a small shack like house, “Crooks, the negro stable buck, had his bunk in the harness room; a little shed that leaned off the wall of the barn. One side of the little room there was a square four-paned window, and on the other, a narrow plank door leading into the barn. Crook’s bunk was a long box filled with straw, on which his blankets were flung.” (Steinbeck 66) This was a very common condition for African Americans during the Great Depression. African Americans were not being treated the same as other people. Slavery was abolished in America in 1865 but this did not prevent people from being racial towards the African Americans. Crooks is not just an African American but a crippled one. Steinbeck shows that Crooks has a social type of powerlessness, how is that' Well one can see in the manner that he lives in, as mentioned earlier, the living environment that he is placed in by the crowds’ normal point of view. Even though Crooks is repressed by the American society he does not seem so concerned about it. He is a rather strong hearted individual, “He kept his distance and demanded that other people kept theirs” (Steinbeck 67). At one point in Steinbeck’s book he describes Lennie walking into Crooks’ room. Now Crooks would have been displeased on having a white man entering a colored man’s room without asking permission. But the dull simple-mindedness of Lennie enticed Crooks and actually enjoyed Lennie’s company. Soon enough old Candy comes in, and then they start running on about the farm land that they will purchase. This is sparks doubt in Crooks but eventually comes to realize that they are serious and wants to pitch in. These types of ideas would have been crazy in the 1930’s but if one had enough money, anything was possible. Once Curley’s wife enters asking where Curley is, Lennie opens his mouth about the farm. Crooks gets nervous and tries to get Curley’s wife out of his shed, for the fear that she may possibly tell the boss about their plans and have them kicked out of the ranch. Steinbeck clearly shows the powerlessness in Crooks when Curley’s wife, “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 sat down on his bunk and drew into himself. She closed on him. ‘You know what I could do'’ Crooks seemed to grow smaller, and he pressed himself against the wall. ‘Yes, ma’am.’ ‘Well, you keep your place then, Nigger. I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain’t even funny.’ Crooks had reduced himself to nothing. There was no personality, no ego – nothing to arouse either like or dislike. He said, ‘Yes, ma’am,’ and his voice was toneless.” (81) Obviously African Americans were still afraid of the white folk, not because they would get whipped by their owners but because of their fear of losing their jobs, especially during the Great Depression where jobs were getting very hard to come by. So Crooks keeps his mouth shut when spoken to by Curley’s wife, knowing that at that time in American society he could be lynched. This is a very clear way the Steinbeck demonstrates Crooks’ social powerlessness. One of the most recognized forms of powerlessness that Steinbeck illustrates in his book Of Mice and Men is Lennie and his intellectual powerlessness. In the beginning of the book George and Lennie walk to a small pool. Then Lennie reaches into his pocket and holds on to something that George notices, “George looked sharply at him, ‘What’d you take outa that pocket'’ ‘Ain’t a thing in my pocket,’ Lennie’s said cleverly. ‘I know there ain’t. You got it in your hand. What you got in your hand – hidin’ it'’ ‘I ain’t got nothin’, George. Honest.’ ‘Come on, give it here.’ Lennie held his closed hand away from George’s direction. ‘It’s on’y a mouse, George.’ ‘A mouse' A live mouse'’ ‘Uh-uh. Jus’ a dead mouse, George. I didn’ kill it. Honest! I found it. I found it dead.’ ‘Give it here!’ said George. ‘Aw, leave me have it, George.’ ‘Give it here!’ Lennie’s closed hand slowly obeyed.” (Steinbeck 5-6) Here Steinbeck demonstrates the intellectual powerlessness of the argument that Lennie and George gets into over the dead mouse. One would see the way Lennie handles to situation is almost that of a child, the way a child would argue over a toy. This is one example; another would be the dilemma with Curley’s wife near the end of the book. Lennie just does not yet understand the potentially harmful strength that he possesses, as Bert Cardullo states, “Lennie always killed the mice his aunt Clara gave to him to play with by pinching their heads; he could have killed the girl in the town of Weed when he tried to feel her dress (as if she were a mouse) and she strongly resisted” (“On the Road to Tragedy: Mice, Candy, and Land in Of Mice and Men” 23). There is another example where Lennie is in the bunk house with George and Candy and how they talk about Curley being a big bully. Lennie gets all nervous like a child who never fought before but will have to defend himself, “‘He figures he’s got you scared and he’s gonna take a sock at you first chance he gets.’ Lennie’s eyes were frightened. ‘I don’t want no trouble,’ he said plaintively. ‘Don’t let him sock me, George’” (Steinbeck 29). Lennie could hurt or even kill Curley with just a little of his strength, but he doesn’t realize that. A different example on how Lennie is intellectually powerless is that he doesn’t know what to do when Curley’s wife starts screaming when Lennie is grabbing her head. Lennie starts panicking and does not know what to do other than silence her from screaming; he fears that George won’t let him tend the rabbits no more. Poor Lennie does not realize what is going to happen to him when the other characters find out what he did to Curley’s wife. As Jonathan Leaf explains, “In defending the book, Steinbeck told reporters that the character of Lennie was based on an actual dimwitted farmhand he had known who killed a foreman who had fired a friend of his. Such an act is not surely innocent of intention” (“Of mice & melodrama” 85-86). Sadly Lennie is killed; he just didn’t understand the concept that life is not just something we can toss around. Lennie’s intellectual powerless would be his downfall and in some ways his redemption. In conclusion John Steinbeck illustrates different forms of powerlessness that each character posses; financial powerlessness for everyone in the book, interrelation powerlessness for Curley and his wife, social powerlessness for Crooks and intellectual for Lennie. Sadly these were the circumstances that could not have taken under control by any character during the Great Depression. So Steinbeck illustrates that humanity has no control over their state of affairs, which makes them ultimately powerless. In my personal view I liked the book. Even though it is a fictional novel it still is a reminder on how people lived back in the older years where it was difficult to do anything. But I think there is still hope in humanity, even when all odds are against you. All one has to do is to firmly believe in your goals. Work Cited Steinbeck, John. Of Mice and Men. New York: Penguin, 1993. Print. Leaf, Jonathan. "Of mice and melodrama." The New Criterion December (2007): 84-87. Literature Resource Center. Gale Cengage learning, Inc. Harper College Library, IL. Web. 6 July 2010. Cardullo, Bert. "On the Road to Tragedy: Mice, Candy, and Land in Of Mice and Men." American Drama 16.1 (2007): 19-29. MLA International Bibliography. EBSCO. Web. 7 July 2010. O