2022/01/01 by Soumaya Bouacida, BOUACIDA, Soumaya, BOUSSEKAA, Mohamed +1
Arts and Humanities · #American Literature and Culture #American and British Literature Analysis #FOS: Languages and literature #Poetry Analysis and Criticism
paper · doi:10.48734/akofena.s8v.2.10.2022
openalex publication_date 2022/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/07
Abstract: This paper explores John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men (1937) from the perspective of Michel Foucault’s heterotopia (1967). Foucault defined a heterotopia as a space which is separated from ordinary places, yet it reflects the realities these places belong to.Therefore, this study illustrates how the ranch in Steinbeck’s novella constitutes a heterotopic space to mirror the American society. First, the gathered people in the ranch are different from the norms of society, a mentally-disabled Lennie or a maimed Candy, which makes it a “heterotopia of deviation”. Secondly, Foucault said that heterotopias might “change their function over time”; the function of the ranch, which is a place for farming and agriculture, change over time to serve new purposes such as a home or a refuge. The third principle of heterotopia shown in the ranch is the existence of “incompatible spaces” within its space. Moreover, the principle of the relationship between heterotopia and time is reflected in the temporary existence of the ranch in the journey of workers like George and Lennie. Next, the ranch has its own “system of opening and closing” as it is exclusive to certain people only such as George and Lennie who needed a work permit to get there. Finally, the ranch is what Foucault called a “heterotopia of compensation” as its role is to portray an organized safe place in contrast with the messy dangerous reality of American society during the Depression.