"Of Mice and Men"
John Steinbeck
In this book, oddly enough, most of the characters themselves operate as a symbol, the two most important ones being Curley's wife and Crooks, a woman and a negro man. Curley's wife, who is not given a name, is symbolic of how women were treated and acknowledged in that time period. She had no power, no one to listen to but men, and not a single soul who was willing to listen to her. She is though of as all the other women of that time, good for nothing but cooking, cleaning, and sleeping with. Now Crooks on the other hand, despite his race, is actually treated better than most negros would at that time. Yes, he sleeps in a barn, yes, he is not allowed to play cards with the other men in the bunk house because he stinks, but he still has it better off. Racism was not completely eradicated during this time, and Crooks is a mild example of how a black male with an injured back would be treated during that time. The main characters, Lennie and George, are representative of a small group of people that were probably hard to find during this time. Friends, companions, two people who were there for each other. Everyone was lonely during the depression one would thing, but these two represent the small amount of people who actually had something, who actually dreamed despite the hardships they were enduring, they had hope. More objective symbols could be the mouse, puppy, bunnies, or more broadly, "soft things." Soft things could vaguely be paralleled with sex, and the fact that Lennie was mentally inhibited made him oblivious to sexual acts, as his mind was like a child's and everything he did was just as a child would do, in innocence. The death of the "soft things" can be interpreted as the way that women are thrown away after their usefulness is expended, not so much in Lennie's case, but the other men of that time period, he is merely a victim to the cruel truth that this symbol represents.
No comments:
Post a Comment