Uzbekistan state university of world languages english philology faculty

Romanticizing certain characters

Even though Steinbeck had not taken a specific stance against the treatment of the migrant workers before the publication of The Grapes of Wrath, it is clear to that he was beginning to develop some personal opinions on the matter. This becomes obvious to the reader when he takes a look at how the characters are presented in Of Mice and Men. Steinbeck does not romanticize the migrant workers. Lennie and George are facing a tough battle in life but they remain upbeat. They have their special plan which drives them forward and the two men are the focus characters in the novel. Steinbeck does not glorify them in any way. He does the same with his previous novel when he describes the paisanos in Tortilla Flat.
Steinbeck’s depiction of the upper class, however, shows his distaste for those who were in control. Curly, the representation of the upper class, is shown as the arrogant tough guy who picks on those who that are weaker than him and then immediately caving when someone actually stands up to him. His manhood is constantly being questioned both by the reader and the author with suggestions being made that he is impotent. Curly walks around wearing a glove filled with Vaseline to keep his hand soft for his beautiful wife who seeks companionship from the workers on the farm since she does not seem to be getting any affection from her husband. The upper class population are portrayed as the cowardly bullies who pick on those beneath them and are usually made out to look like the villains who are without any sense of morality, and would most likely not even shed a tear for a dying family member.
Ethan Hawley, the main protagonist of The Winter of Our Discontent, sheds away all his previously held morals to become somebody in his town. As a decent, loyal and trustworthy individual his social position could only stand still at the
mediocre level he was positioned at, and then we are made to figure out through the course of the story that it is not until he becomes a cold, oppressing and almost an evil person that he starts to see success come his way. This novel gives out the clearest signs of Steinbeck disgust towards the upper class and even though it has been called less attacking than The Grapes of Wrath, it obviously is not at all without its criticism. What Steinbeck wanted to show his readers was that if they wanted to succeed in the corrupt society they had to transform their entire persona and become just like every other corrupt political figures that controlled the country. There truly was no place in it for individuals who would not step over other people to get what they wanted. This concept has since been replicated many times as plotlines in Hollywood movies, usually the ones that feature a young and slightly naïve man trying to make it on Wall Street. A movie version of The Grapes of Wrath was released in 1940, although the film differs significantly from the novel. The ending of the movie version was changed considerably because the novel version was deemed too controversial to be carried over to the movie. Instead of the dark ending included in the novel we all of a sudden have a much happier one in the film. The movie does not end with the downfall of the Joad family. The film makers felt that it was more appropriate for the film to conclude with the family ending up in a good camp which the government provided for.
Steinbeck loved California and he often praised its glorious landscape in his novels. What he did not like, however, was how selfish and manipulated the system was. His opinion was that ownership turned people ugly (Dickstein 117), which an opinion which was slowly starting to change from his attitude towards the paisanos and their property at Tortilla Flat. By making Curly out to be a selfish, arrogant and manipulative rich boy, Steinbeck is showing his distaste for the way the politics are being handled in his home state.
Steinbeck frequently featured conflicts between the social classes in his novels. Curly had issues with just about everyone in Of Mice and Men and he acts as the oppressing authority figure with the objective of keeping anyone below him in their place. In Dubious Battle centers on this issue. The fruit growers are going head to head against the higher authorities by striking and forming a union to protest the awful treatment they had to endure, and the terrible compensations they have received. The Grapes of Wrath also includes this subject where the workers are trying to get a fair treatment in the work field. The truth of the matter is that this really was that common of a thing. The land owners were oppressing the workers so they could profit more off the products they were selling.
Steinbeck does, as mentioned above, blend his personal feelings about the social groups into Of Mice and Men by making one group out to look like they are the roots of all that is evil in the world while at the same time romanticizing another group. He appears to favor the hard working migrant workers, and he seems to be especially fond of the old man who is getting close to retirement and knows that it is only a matter of time when he will no longer be of any use on the farm and will be fired. In a time when it was highly unusual for anyone to do so, Steinbeck seems romanticized the negro stable buck, who even though he is crippled, gets treated horribly by the owners and avoided by the rest of the working men does stand out as being the one who can see clearly what is going on around him. He appears to be the smartest character in the novella. The stable buck knows exactly how the world works and knows what the system does to a working man. He has seen many men come through with their hopes and dreams that ultimately only lead to then being brought back down to reality. He sees straight through George and sees his true nature and has him completely figured out. Steinbeck still gives him the same personality feature as he does with most of his characters by making him feel momentarily excited about the living on the farm with them. It is likely that by doing this Steinbeck is showing us that every one of us is in some way idealistic, and that all people needed was a little bit of hope. Crooks the Negro stable buck is scraping the bottom of the social ladder, which is possibly the reason why Steinbeck seems to take pity on him and at the same time his entire social group. As a result we get the sense that the Negro stable buck is being praised even higher than the migrant worker which in this case could very well be true, yet at the same time Steinbeck brings him down a few levels though by having the rest of the characters avoid him like he was infested with the plague.