Discuss the presentation of conflict in Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men.

One of the strongest entities in Steinbeck's work is to
examine the multiple conflicts that each character undergoes.  Steinbeck presents this
in both internal and external manners, with both converging upon one another in many
occasion.  For example, Lennie and George struggle with the pursuit of their dream in
the fact of their economic reality.  This collision between the realm of the subjective
and that of the external pits both characters in a condition of constant conflict. 
Candy struggles with the conflict of wanting a better life, but knowing very well that
he is similar to his dog, in reaching a point where his usefulness is on the decline. 
He struggles with the conflict of envisioning a life that pursues dream, but battles
through the external condition of age that makes his pursuit less likely.  Curley's wife
struggles with the idea that she might have been "something more" than what she is.  Her
attribute of beauty is a futile one because she never is able to experience anyone of
supposed value experiencing it.  She is unable to interact with the ranch hands because
of the weight of being the wife of Curley and the fact that her reputation as "jail
bait" precludes any meaningful interaction.  Her struggle resides in her beauty matched
by the sense of her loneliness that pervades her state of being.  Crooks battles through
the conflict that is brought on by racial and economic constructions of reality.  Being
marginalized on both of these spheres, though, is only a part of his struggle.  Crooks
also struggles with the idea of whether or not someone who endures as much silencing of
voice and isolation as he does is able to dream or able to possess the ability to
dream.  Crooks' desire to share in the dream of Lennie and Candy is fleeting, rebuked by
the cruelty shown by Curley's wife.  Crooks' struggles are both internal and external,
reflecting the complexity of all of the characters in the novel who endure struggle and
conflict.