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The Role Of Segregation In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

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Of Mice and Men Essay “The Great Depression of the 1930s worsened the already bleak economic situation of African Americans. They were the first to be laid off from their jobs, and they suffered from an unemployment rate two to three times that of whites” (“African Americans”). This fact truly explains how African-Americans were being placed in the workforce and how they were always behind the white people in many aspects. In the book Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck it takes place in the 1930s and shares a story about migrant farm workers and really comes to show how different African-Americans were being treated back then in compare to white people. The treatment of African-Americans has improved drastically from the 1930s to now, but there are things that are still similar. Today racism still occurs like it did back then, however there is no segregation and they are now treated the same in a workplace. To start, a big difference that occurred in the 1930s but does not happen now is segregation. In Of Mice and Men Crooks was …show more content…

In Of Mice and Men segregation was a terrible event that occurred throughout the story, thankfully segregation does not happen today and people can live and learn with different races. Also, another event that was happening in the book was the workforce, Crooks was not able to work with the white men and he got a worse job than what they got because of his skin color, this problem does not happen today anymore and African-Americans and whites are treated the same in work. However, racism does still occur in this century today and people are still being called by bad names. In the book Of Mice and Men it shows a good representation about how African-Americans were being treated in the 1930’s and it shows us how far we have came by treating African-Americans

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In this essay I will be explaining how society was in 1930’s America and how people were being treated in the 1930’s based on the depression, racism, misogyny, names, power and the American dream. Firstly of Mice and Men was written in the 1930’s and was set in California. In 1930’s America, faced a problem which was known as the depression. This meant that when one business went down all the workers became unemployed, so no-one had any money.

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Blacks were not allowed to go to the same bathroom or drink from the same drinking fountains as whites, attend the same school, and African American were not allowed to vote like the white could. Racism and segregation is a big problem in Black like Me. Racism is poor treatment of or violence against people because of their race. In 1932, if a black would drink from the same water fountain as white, he would get into a lot of trouble. That’s why John Howard changes his skin color.

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When world renowned author, John Steinbeck wrote Of Mice and Men, America went into an uproar, because he created a detailed and realistic account of the time period as he tells the tale of the main characters, George and Lennie. Readers are forced to contemplate their own past experiences and how those have affected the way they perceive their fantasies. He depicts the grit, dedication, and harshness of the reality it takes to reach our dreams. In his novel Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck uses symbolism, parallelism, and pathos to portray the American Dream through the lives and deaths of the characters. John Steinbeck’s novel Of Mice and Men portrays the American Dream through symbolic characters.

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Of Mice and Men is a miniature scale of our society as a whole, and this belittling can be seen in society on a greater scale with racism, sexism, ageism, and discrimination of the disabled.

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Companionship is like food; we need it to survive. Psychologists find that human beings have a crucial need for involvement in group life and a close relationship. This shows in many ways in Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men. Lennie and George are labor workers in California with a unrealistic long term goal of owning a house with rabbits. As they adapt to their new ranch, they experience many obstacles and meet new people.

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As society has become an integral part of the world’s culture, the opinions and misconceptions of others have dominated the way people live. Throughout history, certain groups and ideas have been suppressed by the ones in charge. These actions have sprouted an almost universal indifference to those deemed less than ideal, and therefore created a divide in the way society sees race, age groups and even gender. Coupled with the Great Depression, these beliefs are the driving force for the majority of problems individuals experience in the text. In the novel Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck uses the device of conflict to portray the external struggles of characters living in the era of the Great Depression.

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Even after that, African-Americans were still being treated unfairly as segregation was alive and well. Segregation is the forced separation of different racial groups in a certain place. Blacks were to sit in the bck of the bus and give up their seat for whites. Kids were not even allowed to go to school together. There was still no equality.

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First, let's go away from the book and talk about how and what racism was really like back then. Back then in the deep south there were many things wrong on how African Americans were treated. “When they

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We all may have had the feeling of loneliness and isolation, wanting companionship feeling abandonment. In John Steinbeck’s novella, Of Mice and Men, there are men living on a ranch having their own reasons for loneliness or being isolated. The three characters Crooks, George, and Lennie crusade dealing with own ways of loneliness and isolation. Crooks has no one that likes him because he’s black, Lennie struggles mentally and George struggles with always having to care for him. They all can’t decide whether it is that they want to be alone or not.

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Loneliness and isolation is an ongoing theme throughout the novel Of Mice and Men, experienced by several characters to different degrees. Some characters are more isolated and lonely than others, yet every character in the story goes through this theme during one point in the story. There are various reasons why each character is lonely or isolated. In general, all the ranch workers feel some sort of loneliness because they move alone from ranch to ranch and do not have real connections with others, Curley’s wife experiences this theme because she is the only woman on the ranch and nobody wants to interact with her because Curley is very protective and hostile of her. Thirdly, Candy struggles through being lonely and isolated after Carlson shot his dog and because Candy does not work with the others since he is a swamper.

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In conclusion, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck furthers Steinbeck’s speech by illustrating how dreams can be crushed, as well as people feeling lonely and worthless when they are discriminated against, whether it be racism or sexism. By illustrating what happens when these isms are present in society, Steinbeck is demonstrating exactly why they should not be existent. Discrimination has lasting negative effects that can only be prevented by treating everyone as equals. To end, a n unknown wise man once said “Treat the janitor with the same respect as the

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John Steinbeck’s, Of Mice and Men, is a compelling story that has captured and embodied the struggle and loneliness felt by many during the Great Depression. While desire for the American Dream is prominent in the novel, Steinbeck is able to demonstrate the wants from different social classes through the construction of characters such as George Milton and Curley’s wife. With these characters, Steinbeck successfully displays the difference in ideas, values and attitudes of certain social classes in the 1930’s and the illustrates the rarity of achieving the American Dream. Steinbeck wrote this novel during the Great Depression, when America was suffering greatly by the disastrous crash of the stock market. From this point in time, separation of the different classes became

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In 1930 prejudices against African American people were extremely harsh. African Americans could not walk the streets without getting racial slurs yelled at them. Africans were highly discriminated against. Even though all of their rights to have Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. They were treated like they meant nothing in the world.

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How did the time period of the novel (30’s) affect how black people were treated? One of the main themes in To Kill a Mockingbird is racial discrimination. Examples of racism and prejudice against black people can be seen throughout the novel. There are several reasons as to why people segregate dark people and they are mostly the important events happening in the 30’s. The time period of which the book was written is the 1930’s

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In the novel “Of Mice and Men” John Steinbeck portrays the theme of social injustice throughout the story in the lives of several characters that include Lennie, Curley’s Wife, and the stable buck, Crooks. All of these characters are mistreated in some way, shape or form. The hardships that these characters faced help guide us to see the social injustice that is prevalent in the story. Lennie is a victim of social injustice due to the fact that he is mentally disabled. He is not treated fairly when he was accused of rape.

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