Survival of the fittest is usually decided by social standings. In all parts of life people either make a good first impression or are downgraded, to shunned because of how they look or behave. Survival of the fittest will decide the way they are forced to live during this time period. The weak ones will be placed aside as the powerful characters take up the opportunities during Great Depression; only the strong "survive." In the novel Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck illustrates survival of the fittest to define the lives characters are bound to lead. Slim's smallest puppies were destined for death because they were runts; only the biggest or strongest will succeed. Slim only kept the biggest puppies because he believes they will be valued the most, the small puppies were not even given a chance. The mother could not feed all the puppies, so Slim chose to drown the pups according to what society thinks of the small and meek this is shown in the story when Slim says, "She slang her pups last night, nine of ˜em. I drowned four of ˜em right off. She couldn't feed that many/yeah five. I kept the biggest  (Steinbeck 35). He says this openly about his drowned puppies. In this case, survival of the fittest leads to life or death. Only the strongest will live. This ties into the time period where during the Great Depression where this is all truly put to the test. The well off, prosperous men with be put under strain because of the economy while the weak will ultimately suffer and do whatever is necessary to stay afloat in the dying economy. Much like the pups, Crooks, an African American man, is an obvious target for the white man. Because of his color, and the fact that he is merely an object for labor, Crooks is forced to live in his little shack on the ranch from the other men because he is black. No matter how mentally or physically tough he is, he will always be a weak character this is shown when this is said about Crooks, "The men treat him as though he is worthless because of this age, race, and disability ¦in his dialog, the reader sees that he is intelligent and lonely  (Hinds 57 58). Crooks resolved in living and working alone because he was looked down upon. Making him weak to society, although this was all during the Depression Crooks was almost exempt to this event in history because he was already treated as if he were a mutt. Unlike Crooks, Curley's wife was white and racist towards the African American race like most others