Lang 1

Christina Lang
Honors English 9
OConnor
23 February 2016
Laundry Day!
Humans, no matter what culture, race, or time has had problems in society. Steinbeck
creates a laundry list of these problems in his novels Sweet Thursday and Of Mice and Men.
Sweet Thursday is a fiction book about the town Cannery Row where the residents are trying to
fix Docs depression and marry him off to a woman named Suzy. In Steinbecks other novella,
Of Mice and Men, a man with mental disabilities, Lennie, and his friend, George, travel the
country together to work. Through the characters in both these books, Steinbeck writes about the
major problems in society in those times. Through his characters Crooks, who represents racism,
Doc, who represents depression, and Curleys wife, who represents sexism, Steinbeck is able to
communicate the adversities of human society.
In the era these books were set in, racism was a big part of day to day life. Steinbeck
focuses on racism by writing about Crooks. In his novella Of Mice and Men, Crooks is a black
stable hand who lives alone with the horses. He lives separate from the other white people on the
farm because they are racist. One night, Lennie wanders to his room to pet dogs but finds Crooks
instead. When Lennie asked why Crooks lived out there alone, Crooks answered, Cause Im
black. They play cards in there, but I cant play because Im black. They say I stink. Well, I tell
you, all of you stink to me (Of Mice and Men 68). Crooks feels as if he is unwanted because
they dont want him to play cards with him. The other men are racist, not just because they
refuse to play cards with them. Because he is black, he is rejected by the others on the farm.

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Steinbeck makes it clear that they are racist, suggesting that other farms at the time were too.
Because everyone else on the farm does not like Crooks because of his skin color, he spends
most of his time alone. He is almost driven to insanity. He sometimes gets scared of a noise or
shadow and deeply wishes that someone was there to tell [him he] was asleep, an then it would
be all right (Of Mice and Men 73). Crooks concludes that if the others werent racist, he
wouldnt have to be alone and become insane. It is clear that racism is evident in Steinbecks
time when he writes about Crooks.
Depression is a obstacle experienced even in the past. Steinbeck addresses this problem
through his character, Doc. In the book Sweet Thursday, Doc is a marine biologist who spends all
his time researching marine animals and writing reports. All his friends are worried about him
because they believe that he will never truly write up a report. He spends all his time preparing
himself for labs and procrastinating instead of actually doing it because he was drifting in the
jagged pain of original thinking, none of the loneliness of invention (Sweet Thursday 80). Doc
was depressed and thrown himself into his work so he can numb the pain. He feels lonely so he
tries to find solace in inventing or creating things. He distracts himself from depression by
attempting to do something else, but he fails. Steinbeck uses Doc to represent how depression
was a problem in society. With the Great Depression and other economical failures occurring at
the time this book was taken place, it was hard to maintain a good morale. Docs friends help
him rise up from the clutches of depression, suggesting that with good friends, one can beat this
adversity.
On the farm where Lennie and George works at, sexism is evident in the novella Of Mice
and Men. Curleys wife always loses her husband, and goes around the farm asking people for
him. After she talked to and met George and Lennie, George comments sarcastically, Jesus,

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what a tramp So thats what Curley picks for a wife (Of Mice and Men 32). George is being
disrespectful to Curleys wife simply because she is a woman who engaged in a conversation
with other men. Curleys wife was just asking for a persons location, and George thought she
was flirting with others. There has been a stereotype that if women talk to other men, then they
are a tramp. This immediate opinion is disrespectful and an incorrect assumption. Steinbeck
sees that sexism exist in the past and points out that men often view women in a bad light.
Because of what society has conditioned George to think, he immediately believes that Curleys
wife has a bad intention for talking to him. In reality, she is lonely and tired of having no one to
talk to. In order to get others to talk to her and cure her solitude, she asks others for help. Even if
she does sound a bit seductive, thats only because she believes men will only pay attention to
her if she offers something. It was clear that the men on this farm unfairly treats women.
Steinbeck writes about these men to show that sexism is a problem of this time, and still is now.
In the books Sweet Thursday and Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, the
characters play a big role in conveying his message. Steinbeck uses his characters to express
problems in society. He uses Crooks to represent racism, Doc to represent depression, and
Curleys wife to represent sexism. Steinbeck writes about the problems of society in his books to
help spread awareness of these problems. Today, society is still battling with this laundry list of
humanitys bad behavior. Steinbeck writes to get rid of these issues. Our pile of dirty social
problems is piling up. Steinbeck hopes to clean out this horrid human conduct.
Work Cited
Steinbeck, John. Of Mice and Men. New York: Penguin, 1993. Print.
Steinbeck, John. Sweet Thursday. New York: Viking, 1954. Print.

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