Struggle Of Migrant Workers In Of Mice And Men By John Steinbeck

During the Great Depression, migrant workers worked for an average of $2 per hour, or less than 15 cents at the time. Women, the elderly, and non-white workers worked for even less. Of Mice and Men takes place during this time, and follows a cast of characters that all fit this low pay, long work hour struggle of migrant workers. Furthermore, the author of the story also faced these struggles, growing up in the Salinas Valley in California. The author, John Steinbeck, writes Of Mice and Men for the purpose of displaying the struggles of migrant workers and minorities during the Great Depression, as shown by his use of symbolism. Symbolism is used during the book’s entirety, as various characters represent different minorities and their struggles,

They say I stink’” (Steinbeck 68). In the book, Crooks represents the population of African Americans during the Great Depression. Crooks himself is black, and his struggles are similar to the struggles of many black people during this time, and it is in this way that he can be a symbol for the African American population. He was alienated from the rest of the group, as others said that he stinks. However, he only stinks because he lives in the barn in the first place. The actual reason they don’t let him stay in the bunkhouse is because he is black. A similar phenomenon occurred in real life as well, as racial minorities were isolated from the majority white neighborhoods and jobs. They were paid less, they ran the most risk of getting fired, and they ran the least chance of getting hired. One of the main reasons for the racist nature of the time was that black people, as well as other minority groups, had limited rights. This issue is presented in Of Mice and Men, as the author portrays Crooks as having a “mauled copy of the California civil code for 1905” (67). The depressing reality of the time was that African Americans like Crooks needed to know their rights, or risked a

Candy’s struggles with these issues can be seen early on in the book, as he states, “‘I ought to of shot that dog myself, George. I shouldn't ought to of let no stranger shoot my dog’” (61). It becomes clear from this situation that Candy has very little power within the group. He lies at very close to, if not the bottom of the order of power on the ranch. This must be due to his old age and physical disability, because if not, he would not be so low within this order of power. Candy’s main problem is that he is not respected by the rest of the men, for he does not have the strength of Lennie or the calming demeanor of Slim. Rather, he is only frail and weak. And for that reason, he isn’t able to make good friends with any of the other ranch workers. This is proved by the fact that Candy stays back when the men go off hunting for Lennie at the end of chapter 5, such as when Slim states, “‘You stay here with her then, Candy. The rest of us better get goin’” (98). When Candy stays back, it becomes clear that he is not really part of the group. He has no real friends with the men that go, and he is seen as too weak. In this sense, due to his old age, he is alienated from the group. He shares this commonality with Crooks, another symbol of a minority group. However, he also faces an economic