Symbols

Through the book "Of mice and Men" John Steinbeck used symbols in different place, first you might not notice it's a symbol but if you read the book twice you understand his use of words, his descriptive language more easily.

Symbols in writing

Crooks is a symbol of racism and unequality
-because Crooks is black and isn't treated equaly.
Curley's wife is a symbol of sexism and unequality.
-because Curley's wife doesn't have a name and she is the only woman in the book, she isn't treated equally she isn't allowed to talk to anybody.
Lennie is a symbol of a mentally retarded person.
-Lennie is the only mentally retarded person in the entire story.
Candy is a symbol of ageism.
-because Candy is the oldest men of the farm.
Slim is a symbol of example of Leadership
-because Slim is an example of a Leader, George and the other men should try to end up like him.
The brush is a symbol of security.
-because George told Lennie to go hide in that special brush if he gets into trouble, like that he would be safe.
Their Dream is a symbol of hope.
-because the dream they share is what helps them have hope, the hope that one day everything would be different, and they would have a place of their own where they would be happy.Even though the possibility for their dream to happen at the begining was very low they kept believing in it, they didn't give up. They did their best and moved from place to place trying to find a job.