Paige Castelhano

Mr. Bless

Honors English Foundations II

January 25th, 2018

Of Mice and Men​ and “Pantoum of the Great Depression” Comparisons

“Pantoum of the Great Depression” explains that “no one said anything in verse”, meaning that

people’s individual struggles were not shared, and only the general idea of poverty was discussed

(Justice 14). However, Steinbeck’s novella portrays some internally suffering characters who do

discuss their personal issues rather than “ordinary pities” brought by the Depression (Justice 18).

For instance, when Crooks talks with Lennie, he sees their conversation as an opportunity to

focus on his personal struggle of racial discrimination. He tries to enlighten Lennie by telling

him “You got George. You ​know​ he’s goin’ to come back. S’pose you didn’t have nobody.

S’pose you couldn’t go into the bunkhouse and play rummy ‘case you was black,” (Steinbeck

72). Similarly, Curley’s wife reminisces about her life before she met Curley, when she “coulda

made somethin’ of [herself]” (Steinbeck 88). Steinbeck had described the way that she began her

recollection as “a passion of communication, as though she hurried before her listener could be

taken away” with “words [tumbling] out” of her mouth (88). To both characters, Lennie is their

“audience” whom they hoped would know their story, although due to his disability, it is

foreseen that he would forget both interactions (Justice 20). This correlates to Donald Justice’s

claim that no one could share their personal story of struggle during the Great Depression

because no one would listen and understand.