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Of Mice And Men Gender Essay

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Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck is about making hard decisions and doing what is right in life. This novella is about two guys who are friends jumping from town to town trying to find work and get money. They find a ranch and along with it a fair bit of trouble that they have to sort through. Lennie, a mentally challenged guy, gets in a lot of trouble when he kills the ranch owner's son's wife. Although gender plays a role in the American Dream not being available, race and adversity are what genuinely make it unattainable for some. Although some may argue that race and adversity are what make the American Dream unrealistic, others say that gender is what makes it harder. George is talking to Lennie and states, “She’s gonna make a mess. They’s …show more content…

Curley’s wife states, “Nigger... I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain't even funny…Crooks had reduced himself to nothing." (Steinbeck 81). These profound words are so diminishing towards anyone. And while these were normal back then, being classified as a group of outcasted people and being thought terribly of really hurts them. And the way that crooks “reduced himself to nothing” shows that Curley’s wife’s words really do hurt him. This shows a strong showing that Crooks just has no chance of truly achieving that American dream when he is scared to go to other places that aren’t safe and he couldn’t make it. So, he chooses to stay in his working life and get mediocrity harassed whereas in another place he could get it a lot worse. Along with this, Crooks says, "'Cause I'm black. They play cards in there, but I can't play because I'm black. They say I stink. Well, I tell you, you all of you stink to me" (Steinbeck 69). This just shows even further that because Crooks is black that he is just looked so down upon. The reader learns at this point that the things that have been said about him have really stuck in his mind and it is now what he thinks. Also, the great depression was roaring at the time and would make Crook's chances of getting his American Dream even harder with there being very few jobs and very few

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