OMAM - Mocks, use of setting/location Flashcards
‘A few miles south of Soledad’
As a result of the ‘Dust Bowl’ in the central states (like Ohio) in the 1930s, caused by the Wall Street Crash and thus economic problems, many itinerant workers headed to California to find work, like George and Lennie. Consequentially, this town in California can be translated to ‘lonely’ in Spanish, which reflects the often solitary travel and lifestyle that these workers embarked upon.
‘the Salinas River drops in close to the hillside bank and runs deep and green’
This visual imagery depicts the landscape in which itinerant workers often travelled across and stayed in until they could find work. This could also be a metaphor for the American Dream, and how many workers strived to own and make money on their own, to be able to “live off the fatta the lan’”.
‘A path beaten hard by bays coming down from the ranches to swim in the deep pool’.
Idea that men were the ones coming down after the work on the ranches. This connotes the idea that these workers, after doing long hours of manual work, needed somewhere to refuse and clean themselves off. The pool may signify a ‘sanctuary’ during this economic crisis.
‘Come wearily down from the highway in the evening to jungle-up near water’
Idea of water being a necessity to live. This could suggest that many workers who were travelling during this Dust Bowl were exhausted and had to often live like animals would in nature.
‘For a moment this place was lifeless, and then two men emerged from the path and came into the opening by the green pool.’
This shows that George and Lennie have emerged into this place, causing the animals to flee. The idea that nature needs life in order to be sustained is shown here. This also connotes the idea that the there is a contrast between the life that was just here before, and the humans who have come to inhabit it. Green is a colour that is often linked to both money and jealousy. This shows that many ‘pools’ of people had to come to California to get money in order to survive.
‘“An’ you ain’t gonna do no bad things like you done in Weed, neither”’.
This brings forth the idea that itinerant workers had to leave behind their old lives they had in other states to have the chance of starting a new job, regardless of whether the memories they had there were good or bad.
‘Far off toward the highway a man shouted something, and another man shouted back’
This indicates that although often these people looking for work were often isolated from others, there were often many other people in the same position, thus emphasising the extent that the Wall Street Crash affected people’s lives.
‘If you don’ want me I can go off in the hills an’ find a cave.’
In this situation, Lennie uses a hypothetical situation to manipulate George in the best way he can think of. This use of natural imagery perpetuates the idea that loneliness is a key factor in how people lived while travelling for work.
‘They don’t belong to no place’
This shows that people in situations like George and Lennie had no real sense of ‘home’, and conveys a sense of loneliness. This also shows how disconnected people felt from the people around them, whether that be for safety (like in Lennie’s situation) or in the sense of it being hard to adapt to new places.
‘They come to a ranch an’ work up a stake, and then they go inta town and blow their stake, and the first thing you know they’re poundin’ their tail on some other ranch’
This use of different locations emphasises that the work done by many of these itinerant workers was often repetitive and ended up in the same cycle of events. Also, this shows how many of the workers would save up some money just to spend it in one go, and the cycle continues.
‘We’ll have a vegetable patch and a rabbit hutch and chickens’.
This shows how the visualisation of these ideals were often at the forefront of many workers minds as they work, to have something to aspire to. This links to Lennie’s ‘American Dream’.
‘An’ live off the fatta the lan’’
Shows the abundance that land can bring - Nature vs Man.
‘The burlap sack of straw that was a mattress’
Shows that the place where they were living didn’t have what they were used to.
‘George cut the cards and began turning them over’
Theme of loneliness
‘Hide in the brush by the river’
Idea that if anything bad were to happen at work, they would need a safe getaway
