“Explore the importance of power in the novel” (40 marks)

Throughout the novella Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck presents the theme of power as a
source that’s only accessible to some characters, exploring the different aspects of how
power was distributed in a 1930s American society. The audience is able to sympathise with
some of the characters' situation of prejudice and segregation due to the severe abuse of
power by people who were higher up in the hierarchy during the Great Depression.

The abuse of power could be mainly represented by the abusing power that the Great
Depression had over ranch workers in the 1930s. In Chapter 1, George states that “Guys
like us, that work on the ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world... They ain’t got nothing
to look ahead to”, emphasising the lack of hope that they had for the future due to their lives
being controlled by their work at the ranch. “Guys like us” immediately convey that in the
1930s, a time of great unemployment after the Wall Street Crash in 1929, had provoked a lot
of the men population to be seen as obligated to work in ranches. With this, the audience is
able to sympathise with their situation as George described this group as “the loneliest guys
in the world”. This would’ve been totally understandable since ranch workers moved from
ranch to ranch oftenly so they were never able to develop deep friendships with their work
partners, so they were always ‘lonely’. This is evidenced in Chapter 3 when Carlson retells
the story about one of his ex-partners of the ranch who had . As well, the abusement of
power could also be seen in Chapter 4 when Curley’s wife abuses Crooks verbally "I could
get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain't even funny". Curley’s wife, being a young, married
white woman at the time, comes across the opportunity of prejudicing Crooks due to his
race. The African American community in the 1930s was brutally segregated and abused by
the white community. The Jim Crow laws were established, segregating both of these races
although the African American community was still seen brutally mistreated in society. The
phrase “strung up on a tree” shows that her racial power over Crooks allows her to assault
him in this manner. This statement is so savage since probably in those times African
Americans were actually “strung up on trees”. However, Curley’s wife would have probably
gotten the idea of saying this by other ranch workers in the ranch, such as her husband,
emphasising the abuse of power over Crooks just because of his race. Ultimately, “so easy”
conveys that it was such a normalised thing to do at the time that she’s not ashamed nor
scared of saying this because it would’ve probably been true.

Additionally, the lack of power of several characters is explored in the novella since the
1930s was a time that many individuals were significantly less powerful than others in
society. For instance, in Chapter 3 Carlson states that he can smell Candy’s dog “from a mile
away”, telling Candy that “He ain’t no good to you, Candy. An’ he ain’t no good to himself”.
Candy is presented as an isolated character from the rest due to his age; he’s severely
excluded from many activities due to his age. Candy is greatly attached to his dog although
he sees himself ‘obligated’ to let Carlson shoot his dog “right in the back of his head”. Due to
his age, Candy can’t really protest against the fact that everyone wants to get rid of his dog
but throughout the chapter the audience is able to understand that he’s totally devastated by
this event. Candy is in a moment of weakness against his other peers just because of his
age; he’s attached to his dog because he doesn’t have anything less apart from him.
Furthermore, Lennie is also in a state of powerlessness throughout the whole novella due to
his mental disabilities. Mainly, in his relationship with George, Lennie is always seen in a
position of asking George to forgive him for a lot of his actions “I never meant no harm,
George. Honest I never”. George and Lennie almost seem to be in a father-son relationship
as Lennie never wants George to be mad at him, emphasising the idea that he’s in a state of
lack of power against him. The repetition of “I never” implies that Lennie needs George’s
reassurance for everything he does and says sorry for. Powerlessness for Lennie is also
explored when
The power of friendship between Geroge and Lennie to combat the loneliness of being a
ranch worker is also a big theme in the novella. George and Lennie are the only workers of
the ranch who go together, suggesting that at least they have some company. Throughout
several chapters of the novella when they’re having some type of crisis, they always tell
each other that “I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you”. As they always
have each other, they are motivated by the idea that they will always be supported by each
other. Also, they create this ‘American dream’ that allows them both to look forward to a life
together without any problems. In Chapter 4, Lennie asks “George, how long’s it gonna be till
we get that little piece an’ live on the fatta the lan’ – an’ rabbits?”. Their friendship allows
them Lennie really believes in this dream although George knows that it is most likely
unachievable but he tries to hold on to the idea. Although for a current audience getting a
“little piece an’ live on the fatta the lan’” is something average that most of the people have,
in the 1930s, Americans couldn't afford to buy anything, seeing this dream they have as
something ‘deal’ for both of them to hold on to.

Ultimately, Lennie withholds an abnormal amount of physical power and hurts people and
things along the events of the novella. George sees himself obligated to try to control
Lennie’s power for him not to hurt others. In Chapter 1, we can immediately see that George
has to take away things from Lennie because he hurts them due to his physical power. In
this case Lennie kills a mouse for petting it too hard “George looked sharply at him. “What’d
you take outa that pocket.” As well as in Chapter 5 when Lennie kills the pup that he
promised George he would dearly take care of “I didn’t wanna,” Lennie cried. “I didn’t wanta
hurt him.” At all times, Lennie is devastated with himself when he turns out to kill the things
that he likes petting, suggesting that he has no control over his own power. Due to the time
period, there was no recognition of mental disabilities and no one could understand what
Lennie was going through when these events happened. In chapter 6, Curley’s wife allows
Lennie to touch her hair, making her cry for help due to Lennie’s hardness. The lack of
Lennie’s power over his own mind and actions makes him accidentally kill her. Lennie knows
that what he did was wrong and runs away at George's commands. George knows that the
workers and Curley will have no compassion for Lennie since his mental disability was not
taken into account when these sorts of things happen. At the very end of the play, George
sees himself in a position where he decides that the best choice is to take out Lennie’s life
so that no more harm is done. Slim states that “a guy got to sometimes”, emphasising that it
wasn’t a bad decision from George since Lennie’s lackness of control over his own actions
was severely affecting his own personal life as well as others lifes; the incident in their last
ranch, the mouse, the pup, Curley’s hand and Curley’s wife’s death.

In summation, Steinback establishes the theme of power in the play to reflect the prejudice
that different characters suffered in the 1930s