The book “Of mice and men” by John Steinbeck is set in America during the time of the great depression (1930-36). The great depression was caused when the Wall Street crash of 1929 occurred, all the stocks took a sudden crash which meant that in time there was job loss, many problems and trouble in America. The book features two main characters called Lennie and George.

They are two migrant workers who travel the country looking for jobs. For this reason, conflict is one of the main themes in the novel. There are several different types of conflict that arise in the novel.I will explore the conflict theme of sexism and the inner conflict imposed on the men.

1st paragraph on Sexism: Sexism is a major theme of conflict in John Steinbeck’s “Of mice and men”. This is because the men on the ranch severely dislike Curley’s wife, they view her as a possession of a man they hate. To prove this statement, the novel states, “That bitch” and “A rat trap”. The men in the book hold a minimal amount of power, and as Curley’s wife holds more power and influence they show antipathy towards her.Curley’s wife holds this power because she is married to the boss’ son, even though she turns out as an extremely weak character. The men call her names in the novel such as, “lulu” because they want to gain some vengeance or a sense of leadership and superiority.

The men also exclude Curley’s wife form the bunkhouse to make her feel less important or weak. The men’s jobs are extremely important to them, because of the countries recent circumstance. This causes them to create a divide between themselves and Curley’s wife. The men do this because they see Curley’s wife as an extreme threat to their jobs on the ranch.The book states, “Don’t you even look at that bitch…I never seen a piece of jailbait worse than her”.

The author employs a strong use of negative language to portray this. For the reason of the segregation Curley’s wife suffers from an extreme loneliness. The men fail to understand her desperate desire for attention so they continually misinterpret her. The author writes, “She got the eye”.

This highlights that she is continuing to seek attention through her flirtatious manner. Conflict exists between the men on the ranch and hey exist as separate entities and work to fulfill their own needs.In spite of this the men amalgamate and uniting in their hate of Curley’s wife in order to gain some power. This is established in the line, “Bet she’d clear out for twenty bucks”.

2nd paragraph on Mans inner Conflict: Mans inner Conflict exists in “Of mice and men” mainly with the character George. George’s moral inner conflicts are, whether he should stick with Lennie or look out for himself and whether he should kill Lennie or not. In the book George continues to complain about Lennie being a nuisance and a pain.From this, dreams develop about how he could live without Lennie, not being held back and being a free man.

This is established in the lines, “You get in trouble. You do bad things and I got to get you out. ”, “You crazy son-of-a-bitch”. George’s feelings are truly displayed for Lennie in the chapter(s) about the two. For instance we realize that George becomes continually more impatient and annoyed towards Lennie, but as the relationship unfolds we realize that Georges true inner feelings hold Lennie close. This is displayed as throughout the book George never leaves Lennie’s side and guides him through life.

Towards the climax of the novel George faces a great moral dilemma, of whether to shoot his best friend or to let Curley deal with him. Whichever decision George makes he will suffer eternal guilt, as if he doesn’t shoot Lennie himself Curley will make him suffer an excruciating and painful death. If he does shoot Lennie, George will save Lennie from a less excruciating death but will have his blood on his hands forever. Therefore, for the first time, George is stuck and he cannot save his best friend so has to end the life of his most valued and dear friend.This is clarified in the line, “George raised the gun and steadied it…the hand shook violently, but his face set and his hand steadied”.

George makes his painful decision for everyone’s benefit, including his own. He protects Lennie for the final time, by saving him from a more painful death which would have been received from Curley and the ranch workers. By killing Lennie himself and saving him from a horrible death shows the reader that George has a large amount of empathy.Conclusion: To conclude, it is clear to see that thee are two strong prevailing themes in John Steinbeck’s “Of mice and men”. Conflict in the novel causes the characters to flourish and portrays their true colors.

For example we find out that George has a surprisingly large amount of empathy. Conflict seems to overly occur as the setting of the novel is all male apart from one woman and the fact of the current state of America’s economical climate. Also as conflict spreads throughout the book, surprisingly it does seem to have a minimal positive affect upon the men on the ranch, as they unite in there sexist hatred towards Curleys wife.