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I guess isolation and social exclusion of different groups is something of relevance. e.g.

  • Crooks: racism
  • Curley's wife: misogyny
  • Candy: ageism
  • Lennie: ableism

But I still can't think of any other points that is of relevance to contemporary society.

Not looking for anything over the top. Just looking for a few words or sentences to help me along. I can do all the quote finding and analysis myself.

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    It's a long time since I read the book so I shan't post a formal answer, but I'd have thought that eg education, lack of social safety net if people can't work or find work, the whole living on the edge of unsurvivable poverty and seeking to escape it, the lure of celebrity as a solution to an unhappy life, the importance of friendship/comradeship, the willingness of those with minor authority to abuse it... all very modern themes. – Spagirl Jul 11 '19 at 10:03
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For me, the relevance lies, at the core, in the pathos in Robert Burn's poem "To A Mouse":

The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men
Gang aft agley,
An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain,
For promis'd joy!

Hence the title of Steinbeck's work: Of Mice and Men.

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    But how exactly is this relevant? Could you explicate that in your answer? – Gallifreyan♦ Oct 19 '19 at 22:10
  • Throughout the tale all the characters have or had dreams and plans for the future and most have failed or not turned into what they had hoped - seems that that is very relevant, still, in today's world, not only for the past and present, but for the future as well. Think on Thoreau's "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation." for yet another angle. – FatesLieutenant Oct 19 '19 at 23:03

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