Feedback from the Of Mice and Men Essay on Social Injustice
Introductions were good
Topic sentences very well done
Quotations well selected and mostly laid out correctly
Context used to introduce quotations quite well
Some very good analysis – mostly relevant to question
However, there were some very common errors in analysis and relating back to the question. Our analysis for
each quotation should include:
1. “Jes a little stretch down the road. God damn near four miles, that’s what it was! Didn’t wanna stop at
the ranch gate that’s what.”
 This demonstrates the difficulties associated with being a migrant worker and having to travel great
distances just to find work.
 Also, how the bus driver treats them in this way reflects the way society viewed migrant workers as
second class citizens.
2. “Guys like us, that work on ranches are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They don’t
belong no place…They ain’t got nothing to look ahead to.”
 As itinerant workers being forced to move around to find work means they can’t settle, they have no
opportunity to start a family
 Steinbeck demonstrates that the lifestyle of an itinerant worker therefore leads to insecurity and
loneliness.
 This loneliness fuels the need to have dreams – Explain George and Lennies shared dream (briefly!)
3. “Crooks the negro stable buck had his bunk in the harness room; a little shed
That leaned off the wall of the barn”
 Crooks is a victim of social injustice because he is segregated because of the colour of his skin; he
lives in a different part of the building from the other men.
 The fact that his living quarters are attached to the barn shows that he is regarded as subhuman and
almost like an animal because of the colour of his skin.
4. “Crooks bunk was a long box filled with straw, on which blankets were flung”
 Crooks’s living conditions are even worse than the other itinerary workers, his bed is just a box filled
with straw (again there are connotations of him being like an animal here)
5.
“And he had books too: a tattered dictionary and a mauled copy of the California Civil code for 1905”
 The fact that the books are in poor condition demonstrates just how much Crooks reads. This gives
evidence of his loneliness and how much of his life is spent by himself
 In particular though, he has obviously read the California Civil code intensely, and this shows that he
is very keen to be fully aware of his rights. The point Steinbeck is making here is that Crooks is so
aware and protective of his rights because he has so few of them as a black man at that time in
America.
6.
“I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an’ he gets sick.”
 Steinbeck demonstrates the consequences of social injustice and how isolation can lead to someone
becoming so lonely that they can become mentally ill because they have no one to talk to.
7. “Crooks face lighted with pleasure in his torture”
 Crooks torments Lennie to have power over him because he so rarely has the opportunity to be in a
position of power
 The fact that Crooks takes pleasure in frightening Lennie demonstrates that Crooks has become bitter
because of the way he has been treated all his life.
 The fact that he chooses to torment Lennie about George not returning and therefore the end of their
dream together suggests he is jealous of Lennie and his dream with George because he sees no escape
from his own bleak life.
8. “Well I think Curley’s married… a tart”
 The language that the men use about Curley’s wife is awful and they misunderstand her desperate
need for company.
 The fact that we are never told Curley’s Wife’s name demonstrates the inferior position of women in
America at this time. Also, the fact that she is referred to as Curley’s Wife suggests that she is his
possession.
 In “Of Mice and Men” the men can only see women either as sexual objects (Curley’s Wife) or
mother figures (Aunt Clara).
9. “Standin’ here talkin’ to a bunch of bindle stiffs – a nigger an’ a dum-dum and a lousy ol’ sheep – an’
likin’ it because there ain’t nobody else.”
 Steinbeck explains that Curley’s wife is so desperate for people to talk to that she is happy to talk to
the most disempowered people on the ranch.
 This demonstrates how the social injustice that she has suffered has led to her being extremely lonely
and in need of any company, no matter how lowly.
10. “Well you keep your place then, Nigger, I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain’t even funny.”
 The writer highlights the worst aspects of Curley’s Wife’s character here.
 She treats Crooks so awfully because she can; much like Crooks did earlier with Lennie, Curley’s
wife takes the opportunity to have power over Crooks.
 Steinbeck suggests that she behaves like this because of the social injustice that she has faced as a
woman in a male dominated society.