Of Mice And Men Sexism Essay

In this day and age, we face many problems. These problems include racism, poverty, and sexism. John Steinbeck, in The Grapes of Wrath, approaches the issue of sexism, writing about multiple empowered women. The novel is about the Joad family making the treacherous journey from Oklahoma to California in search of a better life. On the way to, and on arrival at California, there are three examples of women that are leaders and helpers.

As gender segregation was at its peak, it was abnormal for a woman to work outside of the house. However, if they did, they would get less than half the salary of a man regardless of her effort or position. Most women were unemployed and had no opportunity to gain an education. Curley’s wife represents sexism in America at that time. She does not have anything for herself, to the point where even her name is overlooked because it does not have any importance.

Curley’s wife is probably one of the most misunderstood characters in the novel, often being looked down upon, or talked badly about. She is the only woman on the ranch, and who appears consistently throughout the novel. At one point, some of the workers are

Of Mice And Men The novel ‘Of Mice and Men’ reveal life in the 1930’s. A time very diverse to ours. Steinback, the author of this novel wrote about various issues such as lifestyle of the travelling ranchmen, loneliness, friendship, the American dream, racism and sexism. The book is about two migrant labourers, George Milton and Lennie Small in California.

During the course of humankind's existence women have had to face many hardships that stunted their growth not only as a gender but also as individual women and evidently the 1900s were not rid of this outrageous concept of female oppression. The short story “The Chrysanthemums” by John Steinbeck that initially and superficially seems to be about flowers is actually bringing to light the social and individual issues faced by women like Elisa Allen in American society, namely Salinas Valley, California. John Steinbeck’s “The Chrysanthemums” challenges the major themes of sexism against women in order to expose the backward notions that are considered norms in the given time period and those that might still be visible in modern society.

Even though Of Mice and Men takes place after the long fight of women to gain suffrage, women had less rights than men in the book (women gained suffrage approximately 17 years prior to the story’s events). This basic lack of rights is demonstrated by the fact that Steinbeck names Curley’s wife as he does. In the patriarchal society of the United States, the belief that women were property, not people was prevalent and commonplace. The suffrage movement, which led to all of the above, took place from 1848 to 1920, and was especially promoted during the outbreak of World War 1, when women were able to support the home and work in factories. These are all reasons and analysis for why Steinbeck chose to use this ‘major’ minority group in one of his most famous

In the novella 'Of Mice and Men', by the well-known author, John Steinbeck, the reader is introduced to a various range of different characters on the ranch, within this realm prejudice attitudes and discrimination play a significant role. The characters in this short novel act in a world of their own, having no connections to any other type of society; through this Steinbeck strongly depicts what discrimination was similar to during this period of time. At the ranch are the white-males, who retain power over the lesser groups of people. This inequality causes discrimination against people of color, women, and those that are disabled, either mentally or physically. To add to, discrimination is intensified due to the loneliness of the itinerant lifestyle, where Crooks was even isolated even more than the rest of the workers, and heightened due the time when this novel was produced. During the 1930s, America was in the height of segregation and prejudice attitudes. This resulted in a patriarchal society where women and ethnical groups only has limited opportunities. Particularly, women where viewed by many to either be a housewife or, the polar opposite, a sexual object. In this book Curley's wife was presented as a seductive wife trophy, relevant to how women were treated then. With reference to how Steinbeck presents Crooks and Curley's wife, I will further show how far I agree that they face the most discrimination the novella and conclude which character I believe faces

In “Of Mice and Men” society is portrayed as discriminatory towards women, the disabled and the minority. Society treats them differently in terms of objects, based off their appearances and their actions. The people in this novella are rejected because of how society sees their faults and weaknesses. In the eyes of the dominant men, Curley’s wife is seen as a weak, powerless and inferior person.

“I speak not for myself but for those without voice... those who have fought for their rights... their right to live in peace, their right to be treated with dignity, their right to equality of opportunity, their right to be educated”- Malala Yousafzai. Similarly, in the novella Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck speaks for those who were not always able to have a voice in 1930’s America, such as those who had been treated with injustice. In his story, the topic of society’s power play between genders and segregation is overlooked and brushed off by some, but this is in fact a key point that the book heavily focuses on. Believe it or not, racial discrimination and power play of genders was, and still is, a huge problem in society. Steinbeck made two characters to represent segregation and power play. Curley’s wife was characterized to show how women were treated in this era, and Crooks was made to show how a different race was treated. People often respond to these supposed “weak” members of society by treating them unfairly or differently, the consequences of which include isolation and hatred.

In his short story, “Chrysanthemums”, John Steinbeck characterizes Elisa as strong, passionate, and slightly submissive. This story taking place in the era of the Great Depression shows the role of women in this Californian farming society, and also the sentiments of women and how sexism influenced their everyday life. Steinbeck uses those three adjectives to show just how the women of the 30’s were treated and looked at by men and society. In the story “Chrysanthemums”, Steinbeck introduces Elisa, the wife of a farmer in the Salinas Valley in California, as a woman who is about her work and is very dedicated to her garden of chrysanthemums.

In both works women are treated more like possessions than people. In Of Mice and Men there is one woman, Curley’s wife, who plays an active role in the book. She is never given a name, other than Curley’s wife, because Steinbeck wanted to emphasis the fact that she isn’t treated with the same respect as the men, who all had names. She is treated like Curley’s possession instead of a person.

Gender inequality is a problem that has been plaguing the world for a very long time. The United States has made great strides to promote gender equality. Despite all of those strides America has made, there are still reminders of the gender inequalities people have experienced in American Literature. The good thing about this is that the slow progression of change in the women’s rights sector can be seen by comparing various pieces of literature dealing with the issue of gender inequality to the time of its creation. The best way to observe this progression is by comparing two different pieces of literature from different time periods, and take note of differences, as well as the events that could be viewed as responsible for those changes. Two literary piece that

Sexism was prevalent in this time period and in this period women are considered lesser than men since they can not do the hard labor that men do on the farm. Although this is true, in today's day and age most would find that belief to be appalling. In the novella however, this is the norm, so people abide by it. Curley’s wife was an exception, she, being Curley’s wife was given special privileges and had more power and say than most of the men on the ranch. This did not change the fact that the workers saw her as a lesser because she was never actually called by her first name ever throughout the entire novella. This is how Steinbeck mainly portrayed sexism from the workers to women. Curley himself shows a good amount of sexism through his actions as a husband. He expects her to stay at the house all day and even broke her records because he found them annoying. Curley’s wife shows her distaste in staying at home with, “‘Think I’m gonna stay in that two-by-four house…’” (Steinbeck 78). The significance of this is the importance that she feels oppressed into solitary confinement and wants to be able to talk to people. Curley does not want her to talk to the other workers because he is worried she will do something with them. Overall in Of Mice and Men Steinbeck makes it clear that sexism should not be accepted due to the fact that Curley’s wife dies at the end of the

     Of Mice and Men was written during a period of racism. In the 1960's it was important for everyone to get along with eachother because not everyone was equal. George and Lennie showed a great part in friendship throught the whole book. At the ranch in Selinas mostly everyone showed friendship in some way. Friendship was a great factor when the book was published because of all the racism going on at the time.

Women were regard as a second class of people. They had neither legal right nor respect from their male counterparts. When the narrator's husband, John, a