Mice and Men

1045 Words5 Pages
Explore how Steinbeck presents the settings of the bunkhouse and Crooks’ room. Of Mice and Men is a novel written by John Steinbeck. It was published in 1937. The novel talks about the conditions of the migrant workers of North California and the common dream each of them had in the 1920’s and 30’s. This novel was set during the Great Depression in which the country suffered a great economical down fall. During that time people lost their jobs and became poor. Also at that time it was a man dominated society. Therefore it was very harsh and difficult for the American male workers as they had to travel long distances to find suitable jobs. Also the American dream was a big belief each American had during the time. It was the belief in freedom that allowed the American citizens to work hard for their own dream, in this case work independently. The novel is about the lives of two migrant workers travelling together in search of work in a microcosm society. In this essay I’m going to explore how Steinbeck presents the settings of the bunkhouse and Crooks’ room. At the beginning of chapter 2 we get a sense of the bunkhouse. To begin with the bunkhouse seems very functional and purposeful (build just to sleep). We know this because ‘the walls were whitewashed and the floor unpainted’. This indicates that no one takes care of that place and that’s only made for one purpose. Also by referring to the quote ‘Three walls there were small.. .’ and ‘against the walls were eight bunks’ this suggest that it’s very crowded and unhygienic. It also shows that all the ranch workers sleep in the bunkhouse. We also get a feeling that they try to make the place more homely by adding personal things in the apple box. We know this because it says ‘these shelves were loaded with little articles, soap and talcum powder, razor and those Western magazines ranch men love to read, scoff at
Open Document