strong

Currently my English class is reading Of Mice and Men. No, I'm not going to complain about how hard it is, like the rest of my class, because it's not a hard book. You would have to be dumber than a box of raisins to not understand the themes in the book- loneliness, euthanasia, hopes and dreams and societal isolation. (Which, sadly, some people in my class are.) What I can't stand about the book is the message of it.

Now the loneliness and hopes and dreams are good themes on Steinbeck's part. The main characters, George and Lennie are trying to find the American Dream, they want to live on a ranch and pretty much just make a life for themselves, and many characters, like the stablebuck, Crooks, are lonely throughout the novel. I'm also sort of okay with the euthanasia, or mercy killing parts of the book, where Candy, the old man, has one of the other men kill his old dog because it can't work properly. (and I won't mention the other killing in the book, just in case some of you haven't read it).

The only theme I have a complete problem with is the societal isolation one. Lennie is mentally disabled, and Steinbeck (although I don't blame him for telling the truth in this novel, it is still a harsh way to portray how people were back then) has pretty much every character, even his only friend, George, make fun of his disability. There are also racial things like the stablebuck, being looked over just for the color of his skin. But even I can handle a little racism in books, because that's just how people acted back then. What really gets me is the way Steinbeck portrays women in the novel. The only woman that has even the slightest speaking role in the book is a woman who is in the simplest terms, a whore and sleeps around the ranch even though she is married. All the men stay away from her and act like she has a disease. Steinbeck is pretty much saying that all women are like this and it perturbs me. Ugh.

Women are strong, independent people, and can easily do anything a man can do. Welcome to the 21st Century, men! And no, I will not make you a sandwich.