Setting

Question 1

Where the novella is set

Answer 1

The novella is set on a ranch to the south of Soledad, California. (‘Soledad’ is Spanish for loneliness).
• During the 1930s, the farms and ranches around Soledad were a major destination for itinerant workers who were unemployed by economic turmoil across the USA.

Question 2

Dark setting inside barn, light setting outside

Answer 2

• ‘a little dead puppy that lay in front of him’
• ‘shouts of men, playing, encouraging, jeering’
• represents the dark side to the life of neurodivergent people during Great Depression
• the other men would never understand
• society needs attitudes to change in order to help free neurodivergent people from their dark futures of mental asylums

Question 3

Judicial system on ranch

Answer 3

• constituted by privileged members (Curley , Boss, Slim)
  -leaves oppressed minorities largely unprotected + no ability to justify actions
• microcosm for wider 1930s society, laws enforced were oppressive + inequal and were established by most privileged (rich, white men)
• ‘I guess we gotta get im ‘ , ‘copy of California civil code 1905’ , ‘none of them cares how I gotta live’

Question 4

The setting in the past

Answer 4

-George + Lennie fleeing from mob in Weed: trial by others’ opinions
- example of rough justice, taken into hands of the people, no chance for Lennie’s defence
- ‘they run us outta Weed’ , ‘out to lynch Lennie’
- 1930s – lynchings common during mob attacks due to social + economic instability + anger towards minorities (outlet/scapegoats for problems within society)
- Steinbeck shows immediacy with which things can escalate and how dangerous it was to live in this society