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.