존 스타인벡의 도덕적 경험: 인종주의와 성차별주의

John Steinbeck's Moral Experience: Racism and Sexism

The purpose of this study is to examine John Steinbeck's moral concern in Of Mice and Men. John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men presents dramatic situations and characterizations that allow us to see and hear and feel ethical dilemmas and such social problems as racism, sexism, and economic exploitation in an immediate, first-hand way. Such issues are dramatically contextualized so as to provoke reader reflection. One cannot escape the moral burdens and provocations of the story. Steinbeck, of course, offers no resolutions or sweeping answers. Such is not his purpose or function. He means to agitate, to provoke, to anger, to cause doubt and raise a multitude of questions. In the manner of Socrates, this is the first honest step toward philosophizing. What I have studied here about literature is also consistent with what may loosely be called Steinbeck's philosophic method, non-teleological “is” thinking. Steinbeck became very interested in non-teleological thinking, the scientific philosophy that concentrates on the conditions of existence rather than on causes and effects of these conditions. Of prime importance here is the “conditions of existence,” what human existence in a particular setting is really like from the inside. Therefore, the approach taken to understand Steinbeck’s literary concern was through an alienated person, Curley’s wife, Crooks, and Candy. The role of them under the patriarchy, sexism, and racism against the background of the times and the transformational process is critical points for understanding Steinbeck’s works. By portraying the lived realities of racism and sexism, I concluded that Steinbeck wants us to go inside the skins of all those affected by shaping conditions of social existence and to feel their bitter loneliness and desperation. Also he invites us to join the characters in their dreams of a better life, confront moral issues, and ponder moral questions as they grow out of the experience of his characters.