Gender Inequality In "Of Mice and Men" By John Steinbeck
“Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck is set in Northern California during the Great Depression, around the 1930s. The main characters, George and Lennie, illustrate the American struggles throughout the Great Depression, financially, socially, but mostly discrimination. While focusing on the struggles of these times, the theme of this book consists of an exaggeration of total inequality of power between race, with Crooks being segregated and treated differently because of his skin color, age, with Candy living in fear of getting kicked out due to his increasing age, and gender, with Curley's wife representing the female presence in an atrocious way, serving as morals to the plot. This clearly states that the purpose of this book is to teach us that discrimination is something we should remove from society as time passes because there is no reason to judge and treat someone based on a label rather than who/how they are as people.
First form of discrimination is associated with race inequality. "Of Mice and Men" is set on a ranch. Crooks, named for his crooked back, is segregated from the rest of the characters on the ranch due to discrimination. He is the only black man in this book. Throughout the book, he tells us the big dreams he had but that were destroyed by societal inequality. He also does not have the same rights as the rest of the people on the ranch, simply for being a black man. Crooks expresses this on page 68: “You go on, get outta my room … I ain’t wanted in the bunkhouse, and you ain’t wanted in my room” (pg 68). Here, Lennie is trying to spend time and socialize with Crooks, but Crooks expresses his feelings about how he is segregated from the rest of the ranch, meaning he cannot be in the bunkhouse. But, at the same time, people from the ranch are allowed to barge into his room whenever they want to. This demonstrates how "Of Mice and Men" represents racial inequality using Crooks' experiences as a moral to the plot.
Second form of discrimination consists of gender inequality. The book "Of Mice and Men" consists of just one woman in the story, Curley's wife. She is called various names, but none of those are her real name. We never know her name; she is labeled as Curley's wife throughout the whole story. She socializes and spends time with the people on the farm, but this is assumed and considered flirting. She is in the book to represent women's presence; however, her presence is not a positive one. “I get lonely … You can talk to people but I can't talk to nobody but Curley. Else he gets mad. How’d you like not to talk to nobody” (page 87). In this quote, Curley's wife opens up for the first time to somebody in the story. She opens up to Lennie, but by doing this, a chain reaction occurs which results in Lennie accidentally killing her. John Steinbeck symbolizes to us how when Curley's wife, the only female character in the book, opens up to someone for the first time, she is killed. This demonstrates the consequences of a woman not adhering to her societal role. The consequences for Curley's wife consist of being called names, treated like property, and finally death. This is not the same for the male characters, highlighting the exaggeration of gender inequality in this book.
The final form of discrimination in the story is age inequality. Candy, an older ranch worker with a tough past, represents the inequality towards age in "Of Mice and Men." Candy is a hard worker who spent his best years working at someone's ranch until he suffers an accident, resulting in the loss of a hand, and is left with little money. Now he works on this ranch in Salinas Valley, Northern California. Candy lives with a fear that the second he is considered not helpful because of his age, he will be kicked out and left to die. This fear is illustrated through his old dog, who is shot once he is old and becomes more of a problem than help to the ranch and its people. Later, Candy asks to become a part of George and Lennie’s dream, in order to find a life where he can live in peace without the fear of getting kicked out once he is no longer helpful because of his age. George and Lennie include Candy in their dream of owning their own ranch, but this dream comes to an end on page 94: “His eyes blinded with tears and he turned and went weakly out of the barn, and he rubbed his bristly whiskers with his wrist stump.” Candy realizes that the dream of being on his own ranch and, most importantly, being able to live without the fear of getting kicked out due to his age, is over. No one should be treated the way Candy was treated after all his hard work on the ranch, especially if the only reason is his increasing age. "Of Mice and Men" represents age inequality using the way Candy is treated and thought of because of his increasing age.
"Of Mice and Men" clearly shows through exaggerations how inequalities between races, genders, and ages are absurd. It demonstrates the senselessness of segregating and mistreating Crooks because of his skin color, disrespecting and instilling fear in Candy due to his age, and representing women as mere property. The book highlights that these characters are more than just being black, old, or a woman. The plot teaches us that we should judge and treat people based on their actions and who they are, not what they are labeled as.
