Kathryn Bagnell

Bagnell

English II, p4

10/8/14

A World Within a Book

The setting of a story can transport us to that time and place and make us feel like we are there with the characters, if it is well-written. In most stories, the setting is extremely important in relation to how the characters act and what they think and feel, and the mood that is created in the story. This is true for the novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, which is set in the 1930s, in California’s Central Valley.

The story opens with George and Lennie, the two main characters, spending the night in a nice quiet spot next to the Salinas River, “a few miles south of Soledad”(1), which means “solitude” in Spanish. This is the only time in the novel when they are peaceful; they are running from a problem at their last job and to problems at their next. But at this point things are good, and the description of the landscape (“The water is warm…the golden foothill slopes curve up…rabbits come out of the brush…”(1) creates a sense of calm. We learn that George and Lennie have a plan to buy their own small piece of land someday, and live off of it.

The time period is important because this was during the Great Depression, when thousands of Americans lost their jobs and everyone was struggling to make ends meet. Lennie and George do not have steady jobs but rather travel around from ranch to ranch, working where there is work, like many other people during this time. They are unique, though, because unlike other ranch hands who spend their money as soon as they make it, “Me an’ Lennie’s rollin up a stake”(53) George says, which means they are saving their money to buy their own place. At the ranch where they are working, however, we get a sense early on that this dream may never be reached.

As far as setting, the ranch is divided into two places: the bunkhouse, where most of the ranch hands live, and the barn, where Crooks, the only African-American worker, lives. As soon as George and Lennie arrive at the ranch, we feel that their plan is doomed. The other men, and especially the boss’s son, Curley, find it odd they travel around together, and don’t want to spend their money on liquor and prostitutes. Curley likes to fight, and as a small guy he especially likes to fight big guys. A fight occurs in the bunkhouse between Lennie and Curley, and we can assume that George and Lennie would probably soon leave this ranch due to the fact that Curley lost the fight and was bitter about this.