The Role Of Humanity In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men
Men and Men
Humanity. It is such a powerful word, and often used to describe the world in a positive way. It’s ironic how humanity is actually full of terrible things, such as racism, stereotypes, and hostility. John Steinbeck’s brilliantly written book, Of Mice and Men, proves this. The book is about Two guys, George and Lennie, that are migrant farm workers in the 1930’s. Lennie has a mental disability that makes him have memory loss, low mental intelligence, and acts like a child. He is a huge, exceedingly strong man with a love for soft things. He is constantly getting into a lot of trouble (acidental murder), and his best friend George has to protect him. Steinbeck’s purpose of making Lennie have a mental disability/disorder is to demonstrate how screwed up society is.
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People are often greedy and careless. When Slim saw that George and Lennie traveled around together, he was surprised. “I never seen one guy take so much trouble for another guy...Maybe ever’body in the whole damn world is scared of each other” (Steinbeck,35). This powerful quote explains that human kindness that is so often thought of humanity, is rare. George is looking after Lennie as if they were brothers, which surprises many. A lot of the guys at the ranch just care about making money and moving on in life. Most don’t care about the other guys, so seeing George and Lennie together was bizarre. Racism is also huge in the book. Countless times Crooks was isolated, becuse he is black. This is a new concept for Lennie which makes him curious. “Why ain’t you wanted...cause I’m black” (Steinbeck,68). In this conversation between Lennie and Crooks, Lennie acts just like a little kid. He doesn’t understand the world, and has to learn what a corrupt place it is. With Lennie’s limited knowledge, he sees right past stereotypes and racism, which makes the reader love Lennie even more. Readers get to experience learning about humanity, through a pair of brand-new
Wrongs Of Society In Of Mice And Men By John Steinbeck
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880 Words | 4 Pages”(72) he can’t believe that something like that would happen to George that will leave him alone. After George had scolded him had replies ”If you don 't want me I can go off an’ find a cave. I can go away any time”(13). He requests that it would better off for George and everyone else if he is alone, even though he wants someone to talk to and be with. None of the other people really like Lennie on the farm and especially when the climax of the story happened he was dreadfully hated.
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606 Words | 3 PagesSteinbeck shows how labeling and stereotyping influence how people look at the world by saying someone is one thing, without knowing everything about them. Since George may not fully realize that Lennie has trouble understanding the main point of things, George stereotypes Lennie as stupid. When George is annoyed with Lennie, Lennie thinks George is angry about, ‘“ I was only foolin’ George. I don’t want no ketchup. I wouldn’t eat no ketchup if it was right here beside me.”’
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