Cultural attitudes-Mice and Men Essay

The following essay looks at the cultural attitudes and values expressed by the members of the ranch and society in â€Å"Of mice and Men† by John Steinbeck, and how important it is to the main themes of the novella. The book was first published in nineteen thirty seven and is set during the great depression. Steinbeck based the story as his own experience as a bindle stiff. When looking at the relationship between men and women in the story, women are ignored. Curley’s wife is generally ignored, throughout the story. Curley and his wife spend most of the time looking for each other as several points in the novel, Curley’s wife asks â€Å"Have you seen Curley?† and vice versa for Curley. We are also able to see that the relationship between Curley and his wife isn’t a particularly a romantic and loving one as in many parts of the story we are able to see friction between the two; a prime example of this being when Curley’s wife angrily and furiously replies to a order from Curley by saying â€Å"You don’t own me!†. Conveying to us how women were looked down upon during the time of the novella. Throughout the story, as a in a male perspective Curley’s wife would seem flirtatious among the men and seeming sexual and persuading the men into having a relationship with her. However, in the view of a female reader she would be simply trying to make friends and more as an attempt to socialize rather than an attempt to flirt as Curley’s wife is lonely. As Curley’s wife herself states how lonely she feels on page 122 while in dialog with Lennie moments prior to her death : â€Å"I get lonely†¦. I cant talk to nobody but Curley. Else he gets mad. How’d you like not to talk to anybody?† We are thus able to understand how men would treat their wives, with no respect or dignity. The irony of the marriage of Curley and his wife is that they go looking for each other almost all the time and there is so many disputes in their relationship.Moreover,it also shows how lonely she is and also gives us an idea how women were generally treated during that period of time and also how ignored and isolated they were from society. On page 124 Curley’s wife explains how she almost realized her dream of being a Hollywood actress.She said she â€Å"met a guy, an’ was in the pitchers†¦Says I was a natural. Soon’s he got back to Hollywood he was gonna write to me about it.† Throughout the story Curley’s wife wears a cotton red dress and wears make up due to her aspirations of being a Hollywood actress.In reality Curley’s wife can’t achieve that much desired goal and most likely is never going to get there. Most importantly, Curley’s Wife is unable to meet her targets and achieve her ambitions simply because she is married to Curley. All she can do is just fantasize. The fact that she has to only just stay at home, cook, clean and go to bed with Curley is prevents her from reaching her potentially achievable dreams. This telling us that there was a lot of sexism involved in this period of time against women. Men could go out earn and do really whatever they like while women/wives had to stay at home and provide the men/husbands with their needs. Men’s attitudes towards women were selfish. Curley’s wife in the whole novella has to proper name in which she is referred to. She is just referred to in the book and other character’s as Curley’s wife and not a name; she has no identity in the novella. Women have no identity during this period of time, the fact the Curley’s wife has no name to be referred to really displays the ignorance and unawareness towards Women. When examining possession and money in the novella, it is clear the Boss of the ranch who holds the glory of wealth. The fact that he owns the ranch and has earned the wealth and business position he is in right now is due to his own hard work.The irony with his son Curley, is that on the hierarchy of power he would be placed second highest behind his father; he has not earned or not done anything in order to earn the power,money or respect. He is just inheriting it, he is the only person in the novella to achieve success in this effortless manner. Attitudes towards money were that if you had inherited wealth, that you would still have it regardless whether you deserved it or not. In the novella there is hardly any respect towards the elderly. Candy who is the oldest worker on the ranch and has lost one hand has only his dog as his companion, his dog is a parellel to him., they were both regarded as useless and redundant on the busy ranch. Carlson shows the disregard for him when he intends to kill Candy’s dog. Candy pleads with him and says â€Å"I’ve had him since he was a pup†. Throughout the argument between Candy and Carlson regarding Candy’s dog,Candy constantly expresses how much he wants the dog and how badly he wants to keep him by mentioning â€Å"No,I couldn’t do that. I had ‘im too long.† Candy has no real power in this situation due to his power on the ranch,his injured arm and old age.The fact the Carlson had in a matter of moments without even consideration taken away Candy’s only love and is only hope in his life shows the utter disregard and carelessness towards the elderly. Racism is seen in the novella as well. Crooks, who is the only African American is discriminated in many ways. He is referred to by his disability with the name: Crooks, due to his crooked back. Another term he is referred to is â€Å"nigger† due to his ethnicity, nigger which using the term nowadays could be a punishable offence. Crooks is separated from the rest of the ranch, he is made by the others to live in his own room.As a result this causes him to feel lonely as he mentions that â€Å"A gut neades somebody to be near him† and â€Å"A guy goes nuts if he ain’t got nobody†. The irony with Crooks that although he is discriminated, he is the only work member on the ranch to have his own privacy. Furthermore, despite his discrimination,