In Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, there are many encounters of discrimination. Discrimination is unfair treatment of a person based on who they are, a group of similar people, class or category. The characters whose discrimination stands out the most are Lennie Small, Crooks, and Curley’s Wife. Readers will find that their discrimination is based on race, the mentally handicap, and gender (a woman’s way of social interaction with men). Discrimination makes the book and those are just a few out of the many others that the audience will come across throughout the book.
To start off, Lennie Small is one of the main characters in the book. He is very big in size and loves animals. Due to Lennie’s child-like mind and mental disability,
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For example, in the beginning of the story, George tells Lennie not to say a word when they show up to the ranch to work. He tells Lennie that he would do all the talking and for him to just stand there. George was afraid that if Lennie spoke to the boss, he would see that Lennie wasn’t smart and he wouldn’t give them the job. George believes that everything Lennie comes in contact with, he messes up or gets in trouble, whether intentional or not. That is why the two of them always end up running away and also why George tells Lennie that if he gets in trouble, to run to the brush. At the end of the book, Lennie does get in trouble, and because of Lennie’s disability being a burden to George, he shoots Lennie.
Another character who is discriminated is Crooks. Crooks is the stable buck in Of Mice and Men, but he is black so he is discriminated because of his race. He is also isolated to the barn. Since he is African American, he is not allowed to sleep in the bunkroom with the rest of the workers. Some of the workers also called him derogatory names. More specifically, “nigger.” This was during the time of the 1930s and the Great Depression, so that word was commonly used to describe people of
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Lennie’s, Crook’s, and Curley’s Wife’s story are all different, but each of them are treated unfairly. Whether it be by color, race, or gender, they have to put up with it all. Crooks deals with his by just accepting it and going about his job. Curley’s wife tries to get the guys to talk to her, but she also goes around with other men so she doesn’t feel lonely. So she feels wanted. Lennie just goes with it; but doesn’t fully understand what is going on in his surroundings. Each response to discrimination ties together, resulting in the ending of the book with Curley’s wife dying and Lennie being
She is called Curley’s wife because Steinbeck wanted to show that she is useless and is lonely and is named after her husband. To show that it is like property to Curly rather than a wife. She and Lennie meet for the first time after both are alone in the barn. George always told Lennie to never talk to her because she is trouble and will create trouble. In a few previous chapters ago, Lennie touched a girl's dress to feel how soft it feels because likes the feeling.
The book “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck took place in the 1930s when segregation was still present and people were treated poorly because of the color of their skin or their gender or a disability that they have. This story starts with our two main characters George and Lennie and they are moving around because Lennie gets the two kicked out of every town they go to. They go to the Ranch and meet the other characters and the main antagonist Curley. Curley’s wife flirts with everyone and gets Lennie in trouble with Curley where Curley punches him multiple times then Lennie crushes his hand. Later Lennie gets a puppy but plays too hard and kills it then Curley's wife walks in and talks to him, he accidentally kills her and runs to the original
Mice and men essay Our society tends to disregard the need to have an open mind. This has caused our current perspective to be tainted with discrimination. In the novel Of Mice and Men, Discrimination is present when an individual accepts appearance rather than personality. This present through the character of Crooks, who choose to comply to racism.
The book Of Mice and Men takes place in salinas valley on a ranch during the great depression. The book mainly focuses on the life of Lennie and george. Lennie and george have known each other for a very long time and they are traveling companions. Lennie has some sort of mental disability and this hinders how him and george earn money and get work. Lennie’s mental disability creates problems for him along with his strength.
Lennie cannot change his mental disability nor can Crooks change his race, but due to these inalterable characteristics, Lennie hurts others unintentionally, and Crooks is hurt by others. “Naturalism does not deal primarily with individuals in themselves, but rather with social groups, settings, or movements…”( ), which relates to the story, because Lennie’s actions not only affect him and his future, but the other characters in the book. In Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, the concept of naturalism is portrayed through the experiences of Lennie, Curley’s wife, and Crooks. Lennie’s mental disability and physical strength often lead to trouble, because he can never fully comprehend his actions. When Lennie is the barn, he ends up
Life isn’t fair for many people, and in the Novel Of Mice and Men written by John Steinbeck, this is evident through the characters of Crooks, Lennie, Candy, and Curley’s wife. In comparison to the other workers, these four outcasts are more closely related to each other than one may at first realize. Lennie has a lack of mental capacity, Crooks is black and has an injured back, Candy is missing a hand and is also old, and Curley’s wife is isolated by the other men due to being too flirtatious. These qualities, albeit unfortunate at best, gives these characters all one thing in common; they’re neglected and undesired by the other workers on the farm.
Everyone Gets Stereotyped Stereotyping others can lead to problems in the future and can cause people to become upset. When the characters George and Lennie from the book Of Mice and Men by Steinbeck, are first introduced its easy to tell George stereotypes Lennie as stupid. Since Lennie is stereotyped as stupid, he causes problems throughout the book. George is also stereotyped, but as protective of Lennie. Throughout the book George tries to help Lennie as much as he can, even if it leads to a bad situation.
While Crooks, a victim of racial prejudice, expresses his isolation openly, he also socializes with other workers on the job and while playing horseshoes with them. Curley’s wife, on the other hand, cannot talk to anyone without suffering the consequences of a jealous husband: “ I get so lonely,’ she said. “you can talk to people , but I can’t talk to nobody but Curley. Else he gets mad. How’d you like not to talk to anybody?”
There are many examples of social injustice throughout Of Mice and Men, but Steinbeck included Lennie
Another form of discrimination Steinbeck portrays is ageism. Ageism is defined as “...stereotyping and discriminating against individuals or groups on the basis of their age.” (“Ageism”). The main victim of ageism in Of Mice and Men is Candy, the Skinner, who is an elderly man who hurt is hand in an accident and is not fit for most jobs on the ranch. Ageism can affect the youth and the elderly, and anyone in between, but during the Great Depression, it mostly affected the elderly.
In the short stories "Raymond's Run" and "Berry," the theme of discrimination is evident, and the authors portray it through different situations and characters. This placed the main characters to be forced to endure hardships that could have been avoided. Discrimination can
In the novel “Of Mice and Men” John Steinbeck portrays the theme of social injustice throughout the story in the lives of several characters that include Lennie, Curley’s Wife, and the stable buck, Crooks. All of these characters are mistreated in some way, shape or form. The hardships that these characters faced help guide us to see the social injustice that is prevalent in the story. Lennie is a victim of social injustice due to the fact that he is mentally disabled. He is not treated fairly when he was accused of rape.
Author John Steinbeck explores multiple real life issues in both works, and provides a message of how unfair the world is, as well as show how cruel humans can be to differences. Sexism is an important topic when one discusses society. The issue of sexism has always been prominent. With the definition of prejudice, stereotyping, or discrimination, typically against women, on the basis of sex. In Of Mice and Men, author John Steinbeck showed how men thought about and treated women through the character Curley’s wife.
Lennie is constantly excluded and made fun of because of his disability. People with disabilities are often bullied or taken advantage of. Because of their handicap, they may not be able to understand why they are ostracized or laughed
Demitri hines Period 3 1/30/2018 In John Steinbeck 's classic novela of Mice and Men, we see the character Lennie smalls descending into the stereotype of being handicapped. During the time of the great depression the handicapped never reach there American dream. Steinbeck crafts Lennie a sincerely mentally handicapped man, as an archetype the mentally handicapped in our society in order to imply that the type of people are excluded from the american dream. Lennie doesn 't get to accomplish his american dream due to him being mentally handicapped, but also gets in trouble even though he doesnt mean to.