Several parts of chapter one demonstrate characteristics of the 1930's and naturalism. Throughout chapter one I noticed that Lennie is most often compared to beasts, him being widely different from average George. "His huge companion dropped his blankets and flung himself down and drank from the surface of the green pool; drank with long gulps, snorting into the water like a horse." (page 3). The fragment of page three shows the comparison between Lennie and a horse; human beings nowadays do not have to go through such lengths to get a drink of water. During this time of unemployment and despair these two men are left walking in the drastic heat searching for work, apparently is was like this for most other Americans during this time period. The simple clothes they wear, the way they talk in an ill-educated way, and the little food they eat are all aspects of the 1930's being demonstrated in this novel.
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What do you believe John Steinbeck was trying to show us or expose about the way people, life, or society was during this time in American history?
I believe that John Steinbeck was attempting to expose the raw nature of people's desperation in those harsh times of need. Through his two characters, Steinbeck tells the story of the 1930's and the hardships that these poor people went through. People were desperate, money was hard to come by, living life was becoming a hardship of it's own. Society must have struggled as well, seeing as the people of this great country were taking the full brunt of the 1930's.
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