The Role Of Power In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

The definition of power is the ability to influence the behaviors of others or to change the course of events. Power can be gained through hard work or power can be given to you In a book published in 1937, this problem couldn’t be more prevalent. This book is Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck. The story tells of two migrant workers, who are incredibly close friends. They goes place to place looking for a job during The Great Depression era. They eventually find a ranch in Soledad, California. Where they will face characters and incidents that will decide the fate of their dream. Powerful people are not as powerful as they seem, but is given power due to societal hierarchy or physical traits.

Lennie is big man with incredible strength but isn’t bright minded. He would listen to anyone who tells him to do something. This is why he follows a small man named George to stay out of trouble. The friendship between George and Lennie shows how Lennie may be physically strong, but can easily be

manipulated due to his mental disability. Long before George and Lennie became friends. George liked to make Lennie do crazy stuff. He told a story to one of his coworkers about how he convinced Lennie jumped into a river. This part showed how even though Lennie may be powerful in strength, but in the inside, is someone innocent and weak. George said,” I was feeling’ pretty smart. I turns to lennie and says ,’Jump in.’ An’ he jumps. Couldn’t swim a stroke. He damn near drowned before we could get him. An’ he was so damn nice to me for pulling’ him up. Clean forgot I told him to jump in”(40). Lennie’s mental disability made him vulnerable to being manipulated by George. He wasn’t able to save himself from drowning. He’s dependent on other people just to stay alive.. He is so innocent and confused, and basically powerless to control himself. The book portrayed that Lennie is a man who is powerful and someone not to mess with. Which in some level is partially true; however, Lennie is an ignoramus, and he simply can’t control anything. Its shows that Lennie’s power is almost next to nothing when he is manipulated or confused.

Another example is Curley’s wife. She is flirtatious and known to cause trouble everywhere she goes. She is also the only women on the ranch and was shown to be sad and lonely. During one night, Curley’s wife went into the barn, where workers at the ranch were talking. One African American, Crook, decided to go all out and try to kick out Curley’s wife out of the barn. Curley’s wife went back and showed her power. “Crook stared hopelessly at her, and then sat down on him.”You know what I could do: Crooks seemed to grow smaller, and he pressed himself against the wall. “yes, ma’am”. “Well, you keep your place then, nigger. I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain’t even funny.” Crooks had reduced himself to nothing”(80-81). Curley’s wife was able to make Crook, feel so powerless and small due to how African Americans were the lowest in Societal Hierarchy. Curley’s wife was able to simply talked to him and threaten to lynch Crook. This one threat was about to make Crook seem powerless. At that time, Curley’s wife seemed so powerful, but this situation doesn’t prove that one bit. Curley’s wife can simply use the status that she is white. To shut down Crook ability to fight back into nothing, but realistically, Curley’s wife was just strong, or even weaker than Crooks.
Curley is the husband of Curley’s wife and also the son of the Ranch Boss. Curley has a pugnacious and apprehensive attitude around big, tall people. He has a short-man complex about himself and wants everyone to see him as a tough guy to be feared. This personality leads to incidents that shows how truly powerful Curley actually is. One of those incidents was after one of the main characters, Lennie, crushes Curley’s hand. After he lets go of Curley’s hand, Lennie feared that he would get fired. One character, Slim, challenged Curley’s authority and made Curley felt powerless. Slim says,” Well, then listen,” Slim went on.”I think you got your han’ caught in a machine. If you don’t tell nobody what happened, we ain’t going to. But you jus’ tell an’ try to get this guy canned and we’ll tell every’body, an’ then will you get the laugh.”, “I won’t tell,” said curley (64-65). Even though Curley has rank because of his Dad being the Ranch owner. Slim was able to use Curley smug personality, to blackmail Curley into not firing the man who crushed Curley’s hand. Slim at this point, challenged Curley’s power, and was successful at doing so. At this moment Curley was in a powerless state.

Power people are not as powerful as they seem, but is given power due to societal hierarchy or physical traits.

Characters like Lennie, Curley, and Curley’s wife. Are all portrayed as very powerful people; however, the incidents told has showed how much power they really hold. Characters like Curley and Curley’s wife were given power just for being white. People like Crooks were easily put down for being black. Power is often told to be something you have to gain; however, power is often given to people everyday just for their gender, race, and many other traits a human being can have. This is how social hierarchy works and it often creates unfair equality between people. In the 1960s, a social movement for African Americans to get a say in society, to stop being segregated and to stop being pushed from opportunities. Equality is still an issue that many people still face today. A Social Hierarchy of races and gender hinders us from important progress as Human

Beings.