After reading Of Mice and Men, I felt the need to research the author. After researching the author, I realized that he based this book off of his experiences. Steinbeck grew up in Salinas, California and that is where the book takes place. Due to John Steinbeck growing up and experiencing the Great Depression, I think his inspiration to write this book came from the social and economic issues that he had witnessed. He worked closely with migrants and itinerants and that deepened the empathy for workers as well as deepening his love for writing. Of Mice and Men depicts a migrant worker and the struggles they face while trying to make their dream become a reality. Steinbeck highlights the perceived isolation and fight for independence that can …show more content…
The book contains many themes. Loneliness is one of the major themes. Loneliness is all throughout the book and shines through many characters. Crooks shows loneliness because of isolation due to his skin color. He is the only black man there so he is not allowed in the bunkhouse. Another way that loneliness shows in a character is through Candy. His dog was his best friend and after he died he could only cope with the loneliness by following Lennie and George 's dream. Another way it is shown in the book is through Curley 's wife. She tried to deal with it by flirting with other workers on the ranch because her husband does not give her attention. Another theme is dreams. This is basically the whole entire book. They went to this ranch hoping to get enough money saved up to own their own farm. This was their dream. This is why they started working at the ranch. Each character in this story symbolizes a person in the society. For instance, Crooks represents the part of society where people are discriminated against because he is black and is not allowed outside of the bunkhouse and Curley 's wife being a symbol of gender because she was the only lady on the ranch. Throughout the book John Steinbeck uses a large amount of improper grammar. He uses this to describe the backgrounds of the men. By using this kind of grammar it shows that these men are country and uneducated. He spells words incorrectly to show how the characters speak in their everyday