Of Mice And Men

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