Oppression In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men
Oppression is a circumstance in which individuals are treated unfairly and are prevented from having opportunities and freedom. In Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck’s characters are caught in a vicious cycle of oppression. Lennie and George travel to Soledad, California to work on a ranch. Through incitement of the other oppressed characters, Lennie, who has a mind of a child, is pushed to his limits. In the end, Lennie’s intellectual disability gets the best of him when he kills Curley’s wife. In Steinbeck’s novella Of Mice and Men, the theme of oppression and the effects by showing how it limits what someone can accomplish, how it minimizes their importance, and how everyone does it.
Oppression can set limitations on what that person can accomplish. Candy’s dog was getting old and couldn’t do as much, so Carlson wanted it dead. Carlson tried to persuade Candy, “I’ll put the old devil out of his misery right now and get it over with. Ain’t nothing left for him. Can’t eat, can’t see, can’t even walk without hurtin’ ” (47). He decided that his age dictated his future, and it was the end for him. Oppression set limits on what Candy’s dog
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In this novella, oppression is shown to be a dangerous weapon. Through oppression, the people had to live in fear that one day they would get canned or even killed. Oppression forces them to feel like they aren’t good enough and not as valuable. Steinbeck showed that it is human nature to want to feel superior to others. Within the cycle of oppression, the individuals do not seem to challenge the status quo; they accept it and reinforce their place in the hierarchy. Because of oppression, everyone’s dreams ended up not working out. John Steinbeck concluded with such a conflicting end that brought up so many interesting debates with no easy
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