Impairment In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

The book Of Mice and Men is full of puzzling examples of the human condition, from Lennie and his mental disability to Curley only caring about his social appearance. With characters like these two, the book exploits the human condition that concerns circumstances life has given you. John Steinbeck brings to life what being a laborer in the American depression meant to the men and one woman who had enough personality to stand out. Steinbeck shows the human condition of men while they survive in the American depression.

“Only 50 years ago persons with intellectual disabilities were scorned, isolated and neglected. Today, they are able to attend school, become employed and assimilate into their local community” (Nelson Mandela). Prior to the later part of the 20th century people with intellectual disabilities were often ridiculed, treated unfairly, feared, and locked away in institutions. According to Rhonda Nauhaus and Cindy Smith in their article Disability Rights through the Mid-20th Century, The laws of any nation reflect its societal values. The real life issue of discrimination towards people with intellectual disabilities in the United States and Australia is demonstrated in the novel, Of Mice and Men by showing how this issue affects one of the main characters, Lennie Smalls.

Though his character, Lennie, a man with the mentality of a child, John Steinbeck shows that mental illness can inhibit one’s access to the American Dream of individual success. Firstly, Lennie must travel with George, his longtime friend. If Lennie were to live by himself, George tells him that he would get shot as if he were “a coyote” (Steinbeck 13). Because George tells his companion this, the reader concludes that Lennie would die in some way if he was on his own. Next, Lennie is the reason that he and George are on the run in the beginning of the novel.

In Of Mice and Men these innocent characters suffer in the novel by John Steinbeck. Does the innocent characters really suffer in the novel, like Lennie, Curley, and Candy about their real life. Innocent characters have great impact after what they have suffered between their life in the novel Of Mice and Men. Does Lennie suffer for being nice to George cause they walk everywhere together. So George tells Lennie what to do Lennie can’t quite understand to what other people are saying to him.

In the novel Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck portrays opposite personas, as George represents a smart and brave character, and Lennie acts as a follower to George, showing fear and discomfort around others. To begin, usually when you first meet someone, there is a sense of shyness. Displayed in the reading, Lennie shows he is shy when he meets Curley’s Wife, and is nervous on interacting with her. Towards the end of the story, Lennie makes a difficult decision, as he decides to kill Lennie with a gunshot to the back of the head. In George’s defense, he should kill him, as he causes so much trouble to their dream idea.

Comparison Essay Friendship is a relationship the everyone has whether its with the same sex or opposite sex. The importance of friendship means you have to trust one another, have somewhat of the same interests, and you can get along. Friends stick together no matter what and have a bond with each other that no one else has. The novel, “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck and the novel “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas” by John Boyne share the similar message of the importance of friendship, but each story has their own versions of friendship and their own themes and characterization. One message both authors explain in their stories is that friendships can happen under unusual circumstances.

Of Mice and Men is John Steinbeck’s most successful early novel containing elements of social criticism shaped by this real life experience. Steinbeck drew his inspiration for the work from his experience living and working as a “bindlestiff” during the 1920’s. Instead of graduating from Stanford University, Steinbeck chose to support himself through manual labour whilst writing. His experience amongst the working classes in California lent authenticity to his depiction of the lives of the workers - who are the central characters of this novel; and the social issues that ensue. To further emphasize the loneliness of the itinerant worker Steinbeck then decides to set the novel near Soledad, California, a town name that means “Solitude” in Spanish.

In John Steinbeck’s novella “Of Mice and Men”, he enacts through his writing, the themes, of Violence and Dreams, Hopes and Plans. John Steinbeck relates back to those themes through Rabbits, Bunkhouse, and Lennie Small. The symbol, setting, and person chosen all represent Dreams, Hopes and Plans and Violence. Rabbits represent Dreams, Hopes and Plans because Lennie was always dreaming of raising the Rabbits. Bunkhouse represents Violence because all of the people who stay there are extremely rowdy and cruel.

In the novel Of Mice and Men it is very obvious that there is something wrong with Lennie. He has a childlike demeanor, has memory loss, and seems to panic in stressful situations. Although Steinbeck never mentions what is wrong with Lennie in the novel, all of these symptoms match up to one intellectual disability, Autism. The first symptom of Autism is sensory issues.

Ableism is a dynamic represented in Steinbeck’s novel, Of Mice and Men. Lennie a character in the book, is characterized by his mental limitations. Steinbeck writes, “ ‘Jus’ tell Lennie what to do an’ he’ll do it don't take no figuring. He can’t think of nothing to do himself, but he sure can take orders.’” This shows that Lennie has limited capacity to think for himself.

You know, i have always wondered how people can deal with living or taking care of mentally disabled people. When you take care of a mentally disabled person, you have to constantly watch them and you have to give them your all, and i don't think i could take care of a mentally disabled person for a day! Well, in a book called “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck, a small but intelligent person called George has to take care of a huge mentally disabled person called Lennie, and Lennie surprisingly loves cute little bunnies! I think that George and Lennie have a great friendship and they care for each other, one example would be right at the beginning of the book where Lennie proceeds to drink lake water and George tells him to not drink it and says "Lennie. You gonna be sick like you was last night."

In John Steinbeck’s phenomenal novel Of Mice and Men, Curley’s wife causes problems all over the ranch by interrupting situations everywhere because she resides in a loveless relationship. Curley’s wife produced the Curley-Slim conflict by always dodging him and never being around to see him which lead Curley to quick accusations. Then she goes snooping in the barn to find poor Lennie after he just killed his pup which leads to her death and downfall of some rancher’s American Dream ranch. Curley’s wife also finds herself in Crook’s room just looking to stir trouble when she starts tossing out insults embarrassing them and hurting their spirits. No matter what situation is transponding she always finds a way to create problems for everyone

Mental Disabilities in Of Mice and Men In the Steinbeck novel Of Mice and Men the two main characters are a man named George who is a tough hard worker, and his cousin Lennie who has mental defects. Lennie’s mental defectiveness is at most times a problem and a hassle to George because he cares about Lennie and he only wants the best for him in life. Lennie looks up to George because George is the one who usually always get Lennie out of trouble when he does things. One time Lennie thought that a young lady’s red dress was very pretty so he tried to touch it and the girl thought he was trying to hurt her