During the Great Depression, times were very tough in the United States for everyone. In “Of Mice and Men”, John Steinbeck illustrates the struggles of discrimination and the struggle of finding a job, in everyday life during the Great Depression through Lennie, Crooks, and Curley’s wife.
In this novel Lennie, a not so bright but hard worker faces the challenges of trying to find a job during the Great Depression along with a mental disability. George says to Lennie at the beginning of the story, “If he finds out what a crazy bastard you are, we won’t get no job, but if he sees ya work before he hears ya talk, we’re set.” This quote, said to Lennie, shows how hard it is for the men to get a job during this time. When George says this it also
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Curley’s wife expresses to Lennie, “I never get to talk to nobody. I get awful lonely.” Black and disabled people were no the only ones discriminated against during this time; women were victims of it too. The novel illustrates women being treated as property rather than a person. “The American Dream” says “ Curley’s wife, who threatens the dream by bringing with her the harsh realities of the outside world and by arousing Lennie’s interest.” Curley’s wife was never thought of, by the men on the ranch, as anything other than Curley’s wife. They continually talk about her and what she does and how she is ‘flirts’ with all of the men. Curley’s wife tells Lennie how she could have done more with her life if she had not have married Curley. She described to Lennie about how she was about to be a movie star and everything but her mother stopped her so she married Curley. Curley’s wife also describes how Curley treats her and how she wants to leave and do something with her life. Curley’s wife’s relationship with her husband and everyone on the ranch is a perfect example of how women were treated during the Great