Of Mice And Men Hell Essay

It is a dog eat dog world in a capitalistic society, and there is no way to get out of where you are. It is that way because of that fact that everyone fends for themselves and that is it. There is no plausible reason or way to move up in the social hierarchy. Whereas the system is more manageable today, and there are more ways to change your social status. In the book Of Mice And Men, the author, John Steinbeck, succeeded in showing many of the different ways someone can be trapped in their life. Two of the ways Steinbeck shows this idea is through the themes of Hell, and you have to be born rich or marry rich.

Capitalism is like Hell. It is like Hell for people in lower social standings. For some people, they dream to escape their current

These dreams give them something to numb the pain of reality. On page 32, Lennie told George, "I don't like this place, George. This ain't no good place. I wanna get outa here." The bunkhouse represents Hell in their world. Even Lennie, who is mentally handicapped, realized this and feels like the bunkhouse is not a good place. The bunkhouse is a representation of Hell because it is not anything like the heaven Steinbeck described in the opening scene of the book. The heaven he described in the first scene was very natural, serine, and peaceful. Whereas the bunkhouse is very square and cage-like. In fact, the bunkhouse was the complete opposite representation of heaven, from a human’s perspective. The bunkhouse is similar to a prison or a cage. When people are in Hell they are often trapped, similar to in a cage. At one point, Slim, the god-like worker, had to make the decision of what puppies would live and die. This shows that not even God, the opiate of the masses, could

If someone is not born rich and does not marry rich, it is practically impossible to break out of the system and get ahead. On page 89, Curley's Wife talks to Lennie, “Well I ain't told this to nobody before. Maybe I ought’n to. I don’ like Curley. He ain't a nice fella.” In the story, Curley's Wife decides to marry Curley to succeed in the world. She was not born rich, so the only way for her to get a leg up in the world was to marry rich. She once had a dream, but at some point she knew marrying him was her only option to get out of the cycle and move up. Curley married his Wife because she was pretty, and flaunted it. She was trying to draw attention. Other people do not get the chance to marry rich or succeed in the world. Even though they are smart and have other positive attributes. On page 74, Crooks talks to Lennie, “ Just like heaven. Ever’body wants a little piece of lan’. I have read plenty of books out here. Nobody ever gets to heaven and nobody gets no land.” Crooks is the stable boy, and he is smart, but he is black and crippled. He was not born into a wealthy life, and there was a slim chance he would marry into one. Crooks works very hard, and the other workers realize that. They know he will not get caned until he can not work anymore. Crooks is a hard worker, but he does not get rewarded for it. The negatives outweigh the positives in this situation.