With close reference to the text explore what the stories of Crooks :: English Literature

With close reference to the text explore what the stories of Crooks and Curley's wife reveal of the attitudes, culture and society amongst farm workers in 1930's America. With close reference to the text explore what the stories of Crooks and Curley's wife reveal of the attitudes, culture and society amongst farm workers in 1930's America. In 1930s America there was a Great Depression and people were finding themselves without work. Many flyers were sent out to the unemployed telling them that there was work in California. Hundreds travelled to California, hoping to find work but soon found that the employers had lied and there were few jobs to be found. 'Of Mice and Men' is a story about two men called Lennie and George who are migrant workers that travel around California trying to make themselves enough money to buy a small plot of land. The reasons that they have not settled anywhere is that Lennie is often getting them in trouble and they are forced to leave and find work elsewhere. Lennie is a simple minded character, who has the mind of a child in the body of a man. Although Lennie is lacking in brains he makes up for it with his strength and has a unique combination of strength and innocence. Lennie's simple mind means that he relies heavily on George, who is wise and intelligent. George is a good judge of people's characters and a good worker; he is modest and doesn't want any trouble. George takes a lot of responsibility for Lennie and tries o teach him to control his strength and keep him out of trouble. In the end George has to make an important decision about Lennie and there is no way to change the results. Although George and Lennie are the main characters in the book I will be concentrating on two minor characters, they are Crooks and Curley's wife. Although they seem to be less important than George and Lennie they are the most successful at showing us the culture and attitudes of the people in the 1930s. Crook is mainly effective at showing societies opinions on cripples and those of a different race, whilst Curley's wife portrays the situation of women. Together I am able to obtain a considerable amount of information on attitudes, culture and society amongst farm workers in 1930s America. The character of Crooks plays an important role in the book 'Of Mice and Men' because Steinbeck is able to show through Crooks the racial situation of the time. By using a character to portray attitudes towards others of a different race, Steinbeck can include the feelings