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Explore The Ways That John Steinbeck Presents Strong Feelings

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Explore The Ways That John Steinbeck Presents Strong Feelings
Explore the ways that John Steinbeck presents strong feelings/attitudes in Of Mice And Men.
A strong attitude portrayed in the novel is Racism. John Steinbeck uses the character Crooks in order to represent racism and what it was like for the black community during the Great Depression. The ranchmen and Curley's wife all display racist attitudes towards Crooks, for example in chapter four Curley's Wife says "Well you just keep your place then, Nigger. I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain't even funny" Crooks stared hopelessly at her'. Curley's wife uses the term "Nigger" to refer to him. This word was acceptable to use during the time the book was set, it shows the status between the two characters. A "nigger" was expected to carry out their instructions without any question. Crooks stared hopelessly back at her because he knew how much more power Curley's wife has over him.
Crooks is a significant character for the reason that he shows that no matter how clever or wise a person was, if he was black he would always be treated as a minority.
A second way racism was presented was the separation of Crooks from the bunkhouse. Crooks was forced to stay in the sables whereas all the white men lived in the bunk house, where Crooks was not welcomed.
Steinbeck portrayed sexism through Curley's Wife. Though Curley's Wife has power over Crooks she is discriminated against because of her gender and for the fact that she was the only women on the ranch. The ranchmen saw her as a sexual object and referred to her as a "tart" and a "bitch" displaying they had no respect for her, they also always greeted her in a flirtatious way such as "Hi, good lookin" (Slim)
Curley's Wife takes on her role as the sexual object she is treated as and presents herself in a flirtatious manner, an example of this is "She put her hands behind her back and leaned against the door frame so that her body was thrown forward". This illustrates that Curley's
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