Of Mice and Men: Context (Edexcel IGCSE English Literature)

Context

The exam asks you to explore interpretations of the novella with reference to its social and historical influences. In other words, you are asked to comment on how Steinbeck’s depictions of time and place examine societal attitudes and historical events. In your answer, you should also explore the context in which the text has been received, as well as its literary context or genre.

Each of the below topics link directly to Steinbeck’s ideas in Of Mice and Men:

• Dreams  

• Loneliness

• Discrimination

• Power

Dreams 

• In 1929 the New York Stock Exchange collapsed as America’s financial centre, Wall Street, experienced a sudden drop in share value: this led to the Great Depression

• Businesses went bankrupt and previously financially stable people became homeless as unemployment in the city increased dramatically

• For many, the American Dream seemed out of reach as a result of this 

• Of Mice and Men can be considered a work of social protest about the futility of dreaming in such conditions:

  • In the novella, Steinbeck examines the dreams his characters have to own their own land and provide for their families

  • The dream is simplistic in nature (a farm, animals and the ability to make one's own decisions), and represents a desire for freedom

• Steinbeck, a political activist and former journalist, raises questions about the exploitation of workers in Of Mice and Men, which leads to their hopelessness:

  • This may reflect Steinbeck’s attitudes to landowners, who he believed used the crisis to increase their power and wealth

  • Steinbeck describes poor living conditions on the ranch:

    • The bunk-house is infested with bugs and offers limited privacy or comfort 

    • The work on the ranch is hard and dangerous 

• Steinbeck has written many novels about this event, such as the Grapes of Wrath

• Of Mice and Men is another of his works that examines individuals’ lives at the time:

  • George and Lennie travel a long way to the ranch, where they are promised work

  • George’s desperation for this job reflects the limited choices of itinerant workers

• Many migrating families and workers travelled to California for better opportunities

Loneliness

• As a result of the Great Depression, families were separated as men began to search for work across the country

• As well as this, a drought which lasted for much of the 1930s severely affected midwestern regions of America:

  • The drought was accompanied by strong winds that created black blizzards

• This led to the Dust Bowl migration, an exodus of families experiencing unemployment and food shortages who abandoned homes, farms and their destroyed crops:

  • Many families travelled to California for work

• The novella is set in California, on a ranch called Soledad, where itinerant workers come to find work:

  • Steinbeck may have used this name to highlight the ranch’s remote location:

    • The name translates to “solitude” in Spanish

  • Perhaps this could be viewed as emphasising the men’s isolation and its distance from their homes

  • Steinbeck highlights the way the men mostly travel alone

Discrimination

• Of Mice and Men has been described as didactic as it contains obvious lessons about discrimination and prejudice:

  • The ranch, as a microcosm of society where diverse individuals are forced together, portrays the inherently discriminatory attitudes of 1930s America

  • Steinbeck’s disenfranchised characters are unable to escape their suffering

• Steinbeck portrays the experiences of marginalised individuals through characters who represent minority groups:

  • Candy and Crooks are physically maimed:

    • Steinbeck draws attention to the many work-based injuries on the ranch

    • For example, Candy’s hand, Curley’s hand (that they say was “caught in a machine”) and Crooks’ injured back as a result of a horse kick

    • George says Lennie’s mental impairment is a result of a horse kicking his head, but he tells Lennie that was a lie

  • Candy, old and weak, feels useless and has limited control over his life

  • Crooks, so named for his crooked back, is not only physically weakened but is segregated because of his race

  • Curley’s wife, the only female on the ranch, is in an oppressive marriage and is killed by a physically stronger character

• Steinbeck draws attention to the way his characters are isolated for their differences, and thus have limited status and autonomy:

  • Crooks does not live with the other men and, instead, lives in the stable:

    • In this way, Steinbeck draws attention to racism, showing how the boss equates Crooks with animals 

    • His “pain tightened lips” imply his silent suffering

  • Curley’s wife appears (and is ignored) in the stable and the bunk-house (places that are dominated by the men), and she is killed in the barn

  • While most of the men go to town on Saturday night to celebrate, Candy, Lennie, Curley’s wife and Crooks are left behind on the ranch

• Steinbeck’s novella can be considered social realism in that it describes things “as they are”:

  • Candy makes sexist and racist slurs when he refers to Curley’s wife and Crooks:

    • However, while Candy sees Curley’s wife as a “tramp”, he describes Crooks as a “nice fella”, implying his racist comments are normalised 

  • The inclusion of racial slurs and the constancy with which Candy uses them led to the banning of the novella in certain states

Power

• In Of Mice and Men Steinbeck depicts the powerlessness of itinerant workers in 1930s America, and suggests the American Dream is inaccessible in such harsh conditions

• The novella depicts the characters’ desperation to find happiness and success with a piece of land for which they have worked hard:

  • The plan is like a dream to George, shown by his dreamy, repeated narration 

  • Here, Steinbeck reflects the American Dream: to find freedom and self-made prosperity gained by hard work, unrelated to one’s individual circumstances

• However, Steinbeck presents the dream as futile and the characters’ plans doomed: 

  • This raises questions about autonomy and powerful external forces

• The book’s title refers to a poem written by Scottish poet, Robert Burns, which describes a mouse who has prepared for winter and created a comfortable home:

  • However, a farmer’s machinery destroys it and forces the mice to flee

  • This relates to events in 1930s America, particularly to itinerant workers who fled as a result of powerful and invisible forces beyond their control

• Steinbeck’s cyclical story and tragic ending suggest it is impossible for an individual to gain autonomy and achieve their dreams when facing powerful opposition:

  • Curley’s wife feels trapped in a loveless marriage with an angry husband

  • George and Candy are unable to achieve their dream because of Lennie

• Steinbeck further shows the damaging and destructive effects of weakened individuals in a society where a desire for individual success creates a competitive environment:

  • Curley’s wife, in her position on the ranch, violently threatens Crooks:

    • Her dream for admiration and recognition as a filmstar is not realised 

  • Crooks, with a far superior intellect, is unwittingly unkind to Lennie:

    • He remains “aloof” and is characterised as cynical and hopeless

  • Lennie’s physical strength gains him a job on the ranch:

    • However, his limited cognitive abilities lead to escalating violence

    • He kills a mouse, a puppy and then Curley’s wife

    • Thus, George resorts to violence to resolve his impossible dilemma