What Is The Difference Between Of Mice And Men

No matter how much people try, life isn't a fairytale, or a bed of roses. Life will never be picture perfect, but that is where the beauty of most things lie; in its imperfections. A good book, by many, is often considered to be a story written to make us forget about the harsh realities of life. However, a great book will often push boundaries a little, in order to make the readers reflect upon the social, political, economical, and even religious statuses of the world that they are living in. The novels, Of Mice and Men and The Pearl, written by John Steinbeck are social criticisms of many daunting real-life issues, that impact almost everyone, at some point in their lives. In both of these novels, Steinbeck explores the issues of racism,
On the ranch that George and Lennie are working on, there seems to be this unspoken social hierarchy between all the people who reside on the ranch. With this social hierarchy, it is no surprise that the upper class folk on the ranch treat the people who they deem to be underneath them abominably. The people at the top of this human pyramid are the boss and his son Curley, who often treat lower class ranch workers with no respect at all. “Curley glared at him. His eyes slipped on past and lighted on Lennie... Curley stepped over to Lennie…“What the hell you laughin' at... no big son-of-a-bitch is gonna laugh at me. I'll show ya who's yella”(OMAM 62). After this altercation with Lennie, Curley proceeds to hitting Lennie repeatedly, even though Lennie had done nothing to provoke him. The unjust treatment that Lennie is receiving here, shows how classism impacts life on the ranch for anyone who was not a rich, white man. Curley has all the power in this situation, as he is the son of the ranch’s owner, and he uses his authority over Lennie to conduct any type of behavior he wants, since he rests higher on the social hierarchy than Lennie does. Steinbeck proves through his writing in Of Mice and Men, that classism will often target people who do not have as much as the wealthy, and the poor in society will continuously fall at the hands of
Juana (Kino's wife), is the representation for women in this novel. She is a strong and smart person, who always stands by her husband’s side. Even though Juana is a headstrong character, societal norms are still very sexist towards women, and there are moments where her voice is not considered to be as important as the voice of a man. “She knew she could help him best by being silent and by being near”(The Pearl 55). The fact that Juana thinks that being silent in tough situations will help her husband, is honestly very sad. The opinions, feelings, and thoughts of women should be just as valid as a man, and if the roles were reversed, Kino would surely pipe in with his thoughts, if Juana was having a personal crisis. Steinbeck's depiction of the impacts of sexism on women, are extremely accurate. He does not give the readers what they want, by making Juana extremely empowered and in control during the novel because a society where women often fall victim to sexism makes it challenging for them to stand up to these old-fashioned ideals of women being the silent partners in relationships, since sexism against women has been so normalized, especially in the past. John Steinbeck’s depictions of the realities of sexism in The Pearl, prove that the voices of women have been put on the back burner for too long, and it is high time that they are considered to be equal counterparts to