The Ranch portrays a harsh and unfeeling society, with no place for the weak. Discuss.'Of Mice and Men', Steinbeck portrays a world dominated by powerful, able-bodied white males. It is the views and opinions of this social type that permeate ranch society and those who come from outside these borders are ostracized and persecuted. We thus have a world in which Steinbeck describes the plight of women, blacks, disabled people, and people with mental disabilities, showing the persecution and suffering they must endure. In the 1930s the American people had no jobs. Migrant workers moved from place to place to find work, without any proper relationship with others. They took care of themselves. It was a selfish and violent society where people worked and lived in harsh environments, and where sexist attitudes towards women were common. As George and Lennie arrive at the ranch bunkhouse, Steinbeck describes the bleak scene of the bunkhouse. The wall of this "rectangular building...", "the unpainted floor..." and "there was an apple box nailed to it". Almost every part of the bunk is made up of already used things. It wasn't a nice place to sleep at all. When George and Lennie entered the dorm, George immediately commented, "What the hell kind of bed are you giving us, anyway?" George said this because the bed was very dirty and full of lice. Desolation and darkness are the general atmosphere of the world at that time and we learn that the dormitory is a metaphor for the society in which the characters live. Through this metaphor, Steinbeck tried to show the harsh environments of human society, which force people to be selfish and violent in order to survive. In this novel there are many social outcasts. Crooks, the groom, may be the most haunted character in the novel. He lived separated from other people because he was black. At Christmas they made Crooks fight white men with his hands tied back. They didn't care how Crooks felt because they just wanted to have fun at the expense of the weak. Most men were prejudiced against Crooks who called him the “nigger.” They treated him badly and used him as entertainment. Calling him “nigger” is similar. It's so ironic that Crooks, the most haunted and dreamless, has a copy of the California Civil Code of 1905 and reads more books than anyone else. The book talks about human rights. This represents the insensitive society very well. There is nothing that can protect the weak, including the law, and what decides people's lives is not the contents of their minds but the color of their skin. Another excellent example was when they were dining in