Comparison Of Life In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

What was life like during the 1930's? Life for people back then was so different from life now. Luanne Durst, born in 1931, says "People have so much more now than people had during the Depression"(AAron 1). The novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck portrays how life for different people was back in the 1930’s. The book was set on a farm in Salinas Valley, California. Life has changed so much for men, women, and African Americans since the era of the Great Depression. Life for white men in the 1930’s wasn’t as bad as life for others in that time. Men had the right to vote, and they actually had a say in big decisions that were made. Men were in charge, and often thought of themselves as the “breadwinners”, until they lost their jobs (Ware

Women weren’t able to contribute often and they didn’t have a say in most decisions. They were often viewed as a “property” to their husbands, rather than a person. This is portrayed in the novel. Curley’s wife was not named; she was just solely known as “Curley’s wife”. This can be interpreted into the fact that she was of little worth. She states, "I get lonely, you can talk to people, but I can't talk to nobody but Curley. Else he gets mad. How'd you like not to talk to anybody?"(Steinbeck 94). Curley is often running around the farm looking for her. She’s always gone and looking for something to do, so she usually talks to the men that work on the farm. Unlike white men, women didn’t even have the right to vote. Most women in this time had a husband that supported her and their family. When married, a women’s "work" life didn't change too much due to the great depression because their duties were inside the home. Women continued to cook, clean, and mend around the house. Although, whenever women did work, they experienced one-quarter less of minimum wage as men performing the same job. (Ware 1). A woman’s life back then was so much different from life today. Women now have the right to vote, own land, and have leadership roles. Women now have all of the rights that anybody else