The Dangerous Ranch

Introduction

Setting is one of the most important aspects of storytelling. In “Of Mice and Men”, the dangerous and unwelcoming ranch provides the backdrop to George and Lennie’s story.

Accidents Happen

Working on the ranch, “bucking barley”, using threshing machines and looking after the horses are all incredibly dangerous ways to earn a living. For example, Candy is “tall” but “stoop-shouldered” because age and work has taken its toil on his body. More importantly, he has a “stick-like wrist” on his right arm because he lost his hand in an accident “right here on this ranch”.

He was given “two hunderd an’ fifty dollars” to compensate for the loss, but he has to spend his days “swamping” the bunk house and wash room. This must make the “lousy ol’ sheep” feel worthless.

At the start of chapter four, Steinbeck describes how Crooks “poured a few drops of the liniment into his pink-palmed hand” and “reached up under his shirt to rub again”. Notice how the adverb “again” suggests he was trying to soothe his pain before the reader entered the shed.

At the end of the same chapter, the writer repeats the movement: “poured a little liniment in his pink palm and, reaching around, he fell slowly to rubbing his back”. By structuring the section in this way, Steinbeck shows how Crooks’ life is defined by his relentless and inescapable agony.

The character is presented as a “cripple” with a body “bent over to the left by his crooked spine” and “pain-tightened lips”. Candy informed George that the stable buck was badly injured when “a horse kicked him”.

It seems accidents are so pervasive that the Boss immediately believes George’s lie about how Lennie “got kicked in the head by a horse when he was a kid”.

Also, when Curley is on the floor and “looking in wonder at his crushed hand” at the end of the third chapter, Slim thinks he can convince the ranchers that Curley’s hand was “caught in a machine”.

Authority

The ranch is dangerous because of the power dynamics between the workers. There is a clear hierarchy, with the boss at the top, followed by his son Curley, and then the other workers. This creates a sense of competition and resentment among the workers, which can also turn violent. For example, Curley is always looking for a fight and is jealous of his wife’s interactions with the other men. This leads to a confrontation with Lennie, which ends in tragedy.

Hope(less)

George and Lennie dream of living off the fat of the land.

Candy tells Crooks he has “planted crops for damn near ever’body in this state” but “it wasn’t none of my harvest”. Working on the ranches is dangerous and the men are paid very little so it is no wonder that Crooks knows “every damn one of ’em’s got a little piece of land in his head”.

Sadly, Crooks also warns that “never a God damn one of ’em ever gets it. Just like heaven”.