What opinions does George have about women, and why would American men wish to avoid women?Why do men seek the company of other men over that of...

In Of Mice and Men, men are depicted
as animals as part of Steinbeck's anthropomorphism, Social Darwinism, socialism, and
Pragmatism.  His biological view of mankind holds that men are uber-competetive in a
all-male capitalistic workplace with limited resources, as conditions were on ranches in
California during the Great Depression.  So, these males compete to be the Alpha male,
like Curley, and they hoard, pick fights with lower-class males, and flaunt their status
as part of some paranoid defense mechanism.  In short, they puff themselves up like some
little animal that wants to be seen as more threatening than it really
is.

The men in Of Mice and Men compete
over jobs but not women.  The two seem mutually exclusive.  George tells Lennie to stay
away from Curley's wife as soon as he sees her.  In terms of mythological and archetypal
criticism, women are all temptresses, like Sirens in The Odyssey.
 They are threats to a man's job.  As such, they are to be avoided.  George and Lennie
have already seen the affects of this: the woman in Weed cried rape, which sent George
and Lennie on the run, fired from their jobs, further from their American
dream.

George would rather go to a cathouse and get rid of
all his pent up emotions all at once rather than waste two words on a woman.  When jobs
and dreams are on the line in a patriarchal all-male society, a woman only prevents a
male from achievement.  Could George's fear of women be a backlash against the
pre-feminism movement?

In the end, the American Dream is as
much a temptress as a woman.  It is a red herring, an illusion, a false promise for the
little guys like George, Lennie, and Candy.  The Alpha males control is like their
women.  The only ones with any sense, who avoid both, are Crooks and Slim.  They are the
working class heroes who are tied to the land, their work, and the Marxist
dream.