Discrimination Exposed In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

When John Steinbeck was attending Stanford, he took time off to go work on a ranch at Salinas Valley. This is where he encountered the models for many of his characters for his stories. One of them included one of his most popular and touching novellas, Of Mice and Men. With this book, he tried to show the hardships of the discriminated. During the period of the Great Depression, many individuals were forced into poverty and away from their families. Many began to flee to the West in search of work. However, when they reached their destination, they were not received kindly. In the novella, Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck thoroughly depicts, by the presence of many discriminated and oppressed individuals, that life in this time period was beyond arduous for most people because of the Great
However, African Americans were always most affected. Most African Americans were out of work and whites demanded that they be fired if a white person was unemployed. Racial violence became common and lynchings increased (Sustar). In Steinbeck 's novella, Crooks is a stable buck on the Salinas Valley ranch. During this time, a stable buck was a common occupancy for a dark skinned American (Sustar). He was separated from the rest of the white farmhands on the ranch. Crooks states, "I ain 't wanted in the bunkhouse, and you ain 't wanted in my room" (Steinbeck 68). This shows how African Americans were treated like animals and isolated from others because of discrimination. After being neglected, Crooks proclaims, "If I say something, why it 's just a n****** saying it" (Steinbeck 70). Crooks has accustomed to the inequality he receives from others and turns on himself, saying negative things. However, on a brighter note, no one would hold him responsible for anything because his words "don 't mean nothing" and are ignored. The author show how African Americans ' lives were hard because of