The Role Of Great Depression In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

In 1937, John Steinbeck wrote the novella Of Mice and Men. In the novella Steinbeck showed the audience how the Great Depression affected people, but in partially two men and the people around them. The Great Depression challenged many families in economic, social, and mental ways. The Depression affected family of all shapes and sizes, the annual yearly income for a family went from being an average 2,300 to being 1,500 yearly. The novella Of Mice and Men, it is about the journey of two men, George and Lennie, and how their lives are affected by the Great Depression. It shows even in the dark times of the Great Depression they still find hope in their American dream and one another. In the novella the vision of George and Lennie is to make

When someone wears scratchy, itchy clothing they feel uncomfortable and usually end up getting irritated with the feeling of it. With soft, silk feelings people feel comfortable and relaxed. When people are feeling comfortable and relaxed they do not want to be disturbed, that is why when Lennie is feeling something soft he becomes calm and focused but then something disturbs him and gets triggered. In the text it states, “Uh-oh. Jus’ a dead mouse, George. I didn’t kill it. Honest! I found it. I found it dead.” (Steinbeck pg 4). Lennie is triggered when certain things happen, like when he kills the mouse, he goes into another state of mind. When Lennie is not triggered he is described as an innocent, kind person or as others would say he is a big baby. Not many people see Lennie’s aggression except for George. George tries to handle Lennie 's anger with trying to demand him to do this or that but it never helps Lennie in the long run. Demanding things out of Lennie does not show him anything it just tells him to stop what he is doing and sometimes that does not help. Lennie and George’s relationship is more of a danger to one another than it is a good relationship. George makes Lennie feel guilty for everything he does. George is trying to discipline Lennie in a way that does not

Throughout the novel Lennie went through many different events that could have made him act in many different ways. Almost in every situation Lennie acted the same way. The way Lennie acts is innocent at first, but then something triggers he eventually. His main triggers were the softness of things and George. The softness of objects was more of a mental trigger than a physical trigger. But George was a physical trigger, because when he tells Lennie to do something Lennie usually does it without hesitation. In the novel the audience knew how George felt but Lennie did not really express his feelings, because of his mental disability. His disability set back a lot of his feelings in a way, but then again it did not. Lennie just expresses his feelings in a different way like when he killed Curley’s wife. In the text it states, “ Please, don’t” he begged. “Oh! Please don’t do that. George’ll be mad.” (Steinbeck 45). This part of the novel shows that Lennie never meant any harm he just wanted to pet something soft. The soft objects are calming until it triggers him like Curley’s wife did. She started panicking so Lennie started panicking, and that is what lead to him covering her mouth and nose to make her be quiet. Also in the text it states, “You gonna get me in trouble jus’ like George said you would” (Steineck 45). In this part of the text it shows that Lennie was blaming his killing of Curley’s wife on her. In this text it is obvious that George influenced Lennie’s