Emotional Setting

Setting is not only the physical time and place, but can also include the emotional atmosphere in which a story takes place. Describe the setting of the novel Of Mice and Men in both senses—physical (time, place, physical features of the environment) and emotional (is the atmosphere friendly, antagonistic, collaborative, dog-eat-dog, etc). In your description of the emotional side, explain what evidence from the text you are basing you interpretation on.

The physical setting of Of Mice and Men is set during the Great Depression, which would be around 1929-mid 1930s, and is apparently set in a sort of a mill or ranch out in the rural areas of California. Knowing this relative time period, we can assume that jobs are hard to come by in the novel, and George and Lennie (and probably every other character they will meet) are willing to do anything, as long as its a job.Again, the American dream of owning land has never died down yet, and is the dream of George and Lennie. In this world, it's pretty much a dog-eat-dog world as most folks, especially those in large cities, where moody and pessimistic workers battled it out to survive off of the meager wages they were paid at work, if they got any work at all.

The emotional environment of the book, however, is slightly different from what you would expect from one that is set during the depression. Despite the hard times, there is a sense of manly camaraderie amongst the ranch workers, and a relative balance of power. It can be compared to a dramatic play's plot: there is order, then characters cause a disorder, and finally that disorder is resolved and order is restored, only more stable than in the beginning. Before the arrival of George and Lennie, there was order. Now with their arrival, the balanced social interactions and relationships, especially regarding Curley, his wife, and the Boss, are being reshuffled.
Curley and his wife play a major part in causing disruption and disorder in collaborative and relatively friendly attitude of the ranch workers.