Connecting Worker’s Rights with the Novella

One of the key aspects of Of Mice and Men’s plot is the dream George and Lennie have to escape the cycle of working for ranches and farms month-by-month “An live of the fatta the lan” (8). Although only a limited amount of information is given about the nature of the work that George and Lennie do, the information that is included still provides readers with a thorough sense of the unpleasant nature of the characters’ work, as well as a sense of the unpleasant conditions that the characters’ can be subject to in their line of work. There are three significant injustices that George and Lennie have to face while they work on the Soledad ranch in Of Mice and Men: the conditions of their quarters, the behaviors of the boss and his son, and the working conditions themselves.

Conditions of the Quarters:

In the second chapter of Of Mice and Men, George is outraged at the conditions of their beds in the cabin that all of the ranch workers sleep in. When he inspects the bed, he finds that a can of poison on it that claims it “positively kills lice, roaches, and other scourges” (10). When he confronts the old man who is showing them around about the can, his questions are evaded by the old man (who is later revealed as Candy’s) commentary of how clean the blacksmith who slept in that bed before George was. George’s concerns about the cleanliness of his quarters are essentially ignored from the very beginning.

Behaviors of the Boss and Son:

Candy warns George about the boss’s behavior toward his employees early on in the novella. Before meeting the boss, Candy tells George that when the boss is upset, he gives “the stable buck hell” (11). When George questions Candy about that, though, the behavior is excused by Candy because the stable buck is black. Candy tells the men that the boss is a “nice fella,” but his following remarks that he “gets pretty mad sometimes” and that the men just “got to take him right” make his praises of the boss less convincing (11 & 13). Candy’s descriptions show that there’s something a bit off in the way that the boss treats his employees.

Curley, however, is openly rude and violent towards George and Lennie (particularly Lennie). Although he is not the boss himself, Curley is associated with the boss by not only his position as his son, but the way in which he is similarly characterized. Curley wears high-heeled boots like his father, which sets him as another authoritative figure through the imagery (13). In that first scene between Curley and the two main characters, Curley is both rude and exhibits threatening body language through his clenched fists (13). Later on in the novella, as well, Curley physically assaults Lennie because he loses his temper (31). The boss’s son is rude, confrontational, and violent; he doesn’t treat his father’s employees with respect.

Working Conditions:

Very little information is provided about the actual working conditions of the ranch in Of Mice and Men. The novella does provide, however, information on what type of ranch that the characters in the story are working on. In the first chapter, George tells Lennie that because of the “thrashin’ machines” that he saw on the ranch, the two would be “buckin’ grain bags, bustin’ a gut” (5). On their first day of work, as well, the men are told by the boss that they will be “pickin’ up barley at the threshing machine” (12). When George and Lennie first meet Slim, as well, George brags about Lennie’s ability to “put up more grain alone than most pairs can” (18). This language alone reveals that the work that they are doing is hard enough that two men typically work together to do it. These instances, however, include the only information the novella gives about George and Lennie’s working conditions; and if one does not understand what phrases like “bucking barley” mean, a clear picture may not be left to the reader of exactly what kind of work the characters are doing on the ranch in Soledad. In the next post I will explain what farm labor in the 1930s (particularly farm labor like in Of Mice and Men) was like in American history and how it connects to worker’s rights. 

Connecting Farm Life in the 1930s with Of Mice and Men and Worker's Rights

I would first like to explain what kind of farm work George and Lennie participate in throughout Of Mice and Men. To buck barley is to pick up grain, put it in a large bag, and load it onto a truck. A bag of barley typically weighed 75 pounds or more before it was considered full enough to load up during the 1930s. Therefore, it would take two men in most cases to buck barley on ranches like the one that George and Lennie work on in Of Mice and Men. The thrashing machines, as well, that several characters mention in the novella are machines that are used to separate the grain or seed from the straw of plants like barley and wheat. (C-MEngish 10) Ranch work like this is hard, grueling work that these men had to do for at least 8 hours a day; and it was the typical kind of work that traveling workers like George and Lennie who lived during the time period in which Of Mice and Men was written searched for.

George and Lennie’s story is set during the Dust Bowl, a time in which thousands of people migrated to California for work because their own crops were ruined and their families were starving. The migrant workers who went after farm work were treated fairly poorly. They were paid by the amount of product they picked over the course of a day, which usually amounted to approximately a dollar a day (Mass Exodus from the Plains). For a better understanding of just how little these workers made during the 1930s, earning a dollar a day during the time period is the equivalent of earning thirteen dollars a day in 2015 (Dollar Times). After the 25 percent take-away for shelter, that would leave a person in 2015 ten dollars a day. Even if you worked seven days a week every week, that would only leave you with 280 dollars a month. It’s nearly impossible to survive on that little money. Thus, migrant workers received very unfair wages during the Dust Bowl.

Of this earned money, as well, migrant workers had to pay a quarter of it to be able to live in poorly kept shacks like the workers in Of Mice and Men live in. These shacks typically did not have floors or running water (Mass Exodus from the Plains). Therefore, George’s complaints about the condition of his bed in the novella are only a small glimpse into what living in one of these cabins was actually like.

Although many people were so desperate for money during the 1930s that they would put up with the poor work conditions, some people took a stand. In my next post, I will talk about the strikes that occurred during the Dust Bowl. 

Field Workers Take a Stand; Strikes During the 20th Century

Some farm workers during the 1930s decided that they were not going to put up with poor work conditions any longer. In 1933, for instance, 1800 cotton workers went on strike because their wages had gone from one dollar to 40 cents per 100 pounds picked. Their bosses retaliated in violence, however; and they hired police officers and vigilantes to take care of the matter. Two people were actually killed during the strike. After 24 days, the workers’ wages increased to 75 cents per 100 pounds, but they did no regain what they made before the initial wage decrease. Between the years of 1934 and 1936, as well, field workers in Salinas Valley, California (the same area where Of Mice and Men is set) went on strike for better working conditions and the right of union recognition. Although the strike was effective for some time, it eventually fell apart and workers were also beat by police officers that field bosses hired. (The Struggle in California)

Over the course of a few decades, working conditions improved for field workers compared to the conditions migrant workers face during the Dust Bowl. Improvement, however, does not necessarily mean elimination of problems. During the 1960s, for instance, grape workers in Central Valley, California organized a strike because of their poor pay and working conditions. Unlike the strikes of the 1930s, however, the grape strike was highly successful and resulted in the creation of the California Agricultural Relations Board that was created to ensure that agricultural workers are treated fairly. (United Farm Workers)

The Problems that Farm Workers Face Today:

Unfortunately, the problems that field workers faced in Of Mice and Men and 20^th Century America have not entirely vanished. Farm workers of the current day still struggle with unfair working conditions. There are presently between 2 and 3 million agricultural workers in United States. Those workers only earn between 12,400 and 14,900 for individuals and between 17,500 and 19,900 for families. That is below the federal poverty line. Those agricultural workers, as well, are subjected to health risks (due to pesticides), poor housing conditions, and abuse from their bosses. (National Farm Worker Ministry)

The problems that field workers face today exactly mirror the problems that George and Lennie face in Of Mice and Men: pesticides were present on George’s bed, the characters lived in a shack that was typical in the Dust Bowl, and Lennie was subjected to verbal and physical abuse from the boss’s son. These similarities show that the problem of worker’s rights is not only present in literature from the early part of the 20^th Century, but it is a problem that is present in our own lives. Of Mice and Men serves as a lens in which we can see what experiencing such terrible conditions is actually like for a human being.