In the novel Of Mice and Men author John Steinbeck– winner of the nobel prize in literature– creates a very hostile environment in the bunkhouse which causes Curley’s Wife, Crooks, and Candy to create barriers against other people on the farm. As a result of them creating these barriers they have the effect and feeling of segregation, isolation, and complete and utter uselessness upon them. They can’t help but feel alone and out of place on the farm and they might become hostile for no reason. Due to this reason when Lennie comes into Crooks room he becomes hostile.
When Lennie, a worker on the farm, enters Crooks room he immediately becomes hostile because, he is not used to people coming into his room to talk to him. He reacted that way because people on the farm don’t want to talk to him just because he is black therefore he was surprised when Lennie comes to talk with him because rarely anybody interacts with him. “ They play cards in there, but I cant play because i’m black.” (Steinbeck 68). When Lennie enters his room to talk Crooks, the stable buck on the farm, Crooks starts to antagonise Lennie by saying George isn’t coming back from the town even though that is not true. Despite the fact that Crooks desperately needs somebody to talk he instead attacks Lennie when they are talking because, of the barriers he set up to maintain loneliness against the others on the farm. The barrier Crooks set up was primarily racial but, another type of barrier set up is based upon gender such as the one Curley’s wife sets up.
On the farm Curley’s Wife, the only women on the farm, feels isolated because she has nobody to interact with besides Curley, her husband, who she despises. Inside the bunkhouse it is a male world where women are not to be trusted. Although Curley’s wife is portrayed as manipulative and troublesome, the real thing that isolates her is that she is a female in an all male world with nobody to speak with. When she tries to talk to anybody she is ignored and unwanted because the men in the bunkhouse are afraid of Curley so whenever she is interacts with anybody people think she is trying to hook up with them. “Well — she got the eye,” (Steinbeck 28). So when she enters Crooks room — which is located in the barn– she is immediately unwanted. “ You ain’t wanted here. We told you you ain’t.” (Steinbeck 79). This shows that anytime she tries to interact with someone she is immediately struck down and asked to leave. Now this causes her to bring attention to herself due to the fact that she feels unwanted and uncared for so she causes trouble around the farm to maintain her barrier. Another barrier that someone creates in Of Mice and Men is the barrier Candy makes due to the fact he is handicapped.
The reason Candy, the swamper on the farm, creates these barriers is due to the fact that he is disabled. When George and Lennie are talking about their dream Candy– which they forgot that he was there– tells them he wants be apart of there dream due to the fact that he feels like he will get fired once they run out of odd jobs and he wants a place of his own. “Jus’as soon as I can’t swamp out no bunkhouses they’ll put me on the county,” (Steinbeck 60). He feels this way because in the society of this age they do not value age and they discriminate against the handicapped. For this reason Candy creates a barrier against the others on the farm he believes that he is useless and unwanted. So by creating these barriers it can prevent you from achieving something you are missing in your life and it holds you back.
As a result Crooks, Candy, and Curley’s Wife creating these barriers they are harming themselves emotionally. As a result of them creating these barriers it has the effect of segregation, isolation, and the feeling of uselessness upon them. By Curley’s Wife creating her barrier she feels isolated when people refuse to interact with her on the farm. Crooks creates his barrier due to him being segregated and when Lennie tries to talk to him he becomes hostile because white men are not supposed to talk to him. Last Candy by creating his barrier feels useless and unneeded. So if they did not create these barriers they might overcome these problems by being more open to the people on the farm.