Examples Of Prejudice In Of Mice And Men

870 Words2 Pages

If being unique and not jumping into the bandwagon is pushed in society, why is it that those who take the challenge are so harshly judged? Throughout the novella Of Mice And Men, many of the characters experienced prejudice because they either chose to not fit the mold or they just were not able to. Lennie, who was mentally retarded, had struggled to fit into society and his life had been significantly affected by his disability. Crooks, the stable hand, was not naturally accepted into society at the time only because he was black. And finally, Curley’s wife was treated as if she was dangerous because of her persona around the men. In Of Mice And Men, by John Steinbeck, prejudice is displayed through the treatment of and interactions with …show more content…

At the beginning of the novella, an argument left Lennie “Blubberin’ like a baby!” (Steinbeck 9). according to George. Despite the fact Lennie was an adult, his reaction was equivalent to a child in the eyes of George. His mental retardedness had placed him at a lower level in the eyes of the other men considering his intelligence. Curley’s wife was more direct with Lennie in telling him “I think you’re nuts!” (Steinbeck 93) as he explained his fixation of soft objects. Lennie had previously faced a problem in another town with touching soft things, and it is what caused him and George to travel away. This strange obsession was out of Lennie’s control and all he could do about it was to embrace it. The prejudices against Lennie were all based off of his condition because it medically made him unique and uncomfortably different to the other …show more content…

Crooks was undeserving of the neglect and ignorance of the other men, but received it anyways because his race was detested in his society. Gender and personality was the source of Curley’s wife’s discriminatory treatment from the other men. Lastly, shameful prejudice was directed toward Lennie, caused by his mental incapabilities and his strange social skills. Today, like all three of these characters, people experience prejudices caused by characteristics that they have no control over. People are judged because of their beauty, skin, gender, and capabilities, but that is just what makes them unique, and that is what makes prejudice wrong. Being unique is what brings out a person’s character, and it should not be detested by society, especially if society promotes

Show More
Related

  • Lennie's Dignity In Of Mice And Men

    1359 Words  | 3 Pages

    Although Lennie was unattractive and has the tendency of accidental violence, compassion was still something readers had for him. Steinbeck constantly reminded us that he has a mental disability which automatically makes someone feel pity for him. Additionally he was ignored and made fun of by other characters, “Blubberin’ like a baby! Jesus Christ! A big guy like you”(Steinbeck 10). Him getting in trouble was beyond his control because of his mental disability which is something else that makes a reader feel sympathetic for him. Also, the readers are solicitous towards Lennie because of how much he looks up to George. This is portrayed when Crooks asks Lennie what he would do if George never came back, “Well, s’pose, jus’ s’pose he don’t come back. What’ll you do then?”(Steinbeck 70). Because of his inability to comprehend information, he got extremely defensive and said, “George is careful. He won’t get hurt” (Steinbeck 70). This scene is crafted in such a way that it automatically

    Read More

  • Lennie's Mistakes In Of Mice And Men

    980 Words  | 2 Pages

    Lennie’s illness was seen as common and nothing to take concern over, which pertains to the vague yet soft sympathy from George whom “babysits” Lennie. George was an older brother to Lennie in a sense, helping him to get through life without any mishaps. However for George, Lennie’s illness determined their income and job status. In several incidences, Lennie overreacted in certain situations causing them to lose or leave their job spontaneously. At different points in the book, George became frustrated with Lennie: “You can't keep a job and you lose me ever' job I get. Jus' keep me shovin' all over the country all the time. An' that ain't the worst. You get in trouble. You do bad things and I got to get you out” (Steinbeck 12). This showed the overall frustration yet compassion towards Lennie, however extreme concern. According to Lennie, when he killed the puppy he said: “Why do you got to get killed, you ain’t as little as mice I didn’t bounce you hard” (Steinbeck 85). This really brought out the fact that Lennie’s illness was not to be tempered with, as he really couldn’t ever contemplate the harsh, unintentional things he’s done. When George and Lennie arrive at their new job, tension rises in the book and the author brings out that possible aspect of Lennie unintentionally doing something wrong which in turn would cause them to lose their job--or

    Read More

  • Essay On George's Love For Lennie Sympathy

    630 Words  | 2 Pages

    George’s love for Lennie is simply an unconscious effort to make up for Lennie’s mental weakness, yet at the same time his sentiment and kindness is out of sympathy. In chapter one, it is apparent to the reader that Lennie does have a slight mental impairment, but we do not yet know how acute it actually is. For example, when George asks Lennie what he has in his pocket, Lennie responded, “Ain’t a thing in my pocket,” (Steinbeck 5) as if he were intelligent. George knew something was in Lennie’s pocket, yet Lennie still tried to act as if there was nothing there. This gives the reader just a quick glimpse into the thought process of this complex character that is actually quite unpretentious.

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Selfishness In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

    1246 Words  | 3 Pages

    He clearly calls for women and the disabled to be treated and cared for better, as well as to be understood for their differences. He demonstrates through Curley’s bitterness that the selfishness of the elite is disadvantageous to the elite themselves. He also sends a clear message that pain inflicted onto one person or group of people can make them want to inflict pain back, a clear warning to the perpetrators of this pain onto minorities and the poor during this era. This is evident when Crooks jealousy says to Lennie, “I ain’t wanted in the bunkhouse, and you ain 't wanted in my room” (Steinbeck, 68). Lennie’s response of confusion emphasises that hatred and bitterness is not pure, since Lennie in many ways has the mind of a pure child. In the time since The Great Depression, African Americans, women, and the disabled have all gained greater rights and, in most cases, the general public has learned to accept these people as the equals they truly

    Read More

  • Of Mice and Men

    1260 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, some of the characters experience several examples of both mistreatment and marginalization. Throughout the book Curley’s wife is mistreated due to her female gender. The farm hands were always calling her a ‘tramp’ and George once said, “I seen ‘em poison before, but I never seen no piece of jail bait worse than her” (Steinbeck, 32). When George says this, he is warning Lennie to stay away from Curley’s wife because he thinks that she is very effective at deceiving men to get what she wants. Lennie was also mistreated throughout the book, though not because of his gender but due to the fact that he was developmentally delayed. He was even neglected by his own friend, George, who would constantly be thinking of a life without Lennie. George continuously blamed Lennie for causing him to lose his jobs and having to move all around the country (Steinbeck, 11). Unlike Lennie, Crooks was discriminated against considering his race and color. One example from the book would be: “Where the hell is that God damn nigger” (Steinbeck, 29)? Just like in this example, throughout the book Curley would refer to Crooks as a ‘nigger’,...

    Read More

  • Lennie's Fondness Over Soft Things

    543 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the novel, Lennie is obsessed with stroking soft things. It could be a piece of fabric, animals fur, and even a womens dress and hair. For example, when Lennie had a dead mouse in his pocket so he could stroke it during the walk up to the ranch. Another example is of the situations that happened in Weed, and on the ranch. In Weed Lennie got so obsessed with feeling a womans dress, that when she tried to back away Lennie held on. That is also what happened at the ranch but instead of feeling a woman's dress, it was Curley’s wife’s hair. Steinbeck lets the reader know that Lennie has a mental disability when he writes about how Lennie has a fondness over soft

    Read More

  • Lennie Smalls: A Man With No Chance

    1587 Words  | 4 Pages

    With his disability, he needs something to feel connected to. He loves to pet furry and soft things. In chapter one in “Of Mice and Men”, Lennie and George are walking along a dirt road, on there way to a ranch. George discovers Lennie playing with something in his pocket. Lennie states to George before the dead mouse was taken away. ““ I could pet it with my thumb while we walked along”” (Steinbeck 6) . In order to prove that Lennie is not smart enough to fulfill the American Dream, Steinbeck creates Lennie to seem as not normal as possible. Steinbeck places Lennie in a state, where he does not understand right from wrong. He does not know nor understand, that playing with a deceased critter is not only gross but unacceptable as a

    Read More

  • Sympathy In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

    919 Words  | 2 Pages

    The reader empathizes with him because Steinbeck’s characters say,“he ain’t mean” and sets him to be a favorable character the reader feels sorry for (41). The reader understands that Lennie doesn’t want to hurt or harm anybody but “he gets in trouble alla time because he’s so God damn dumb” and simply doesn’t understand what he’s doing wrong like the time he touched a girls dress which got both Lennie and George run out of the town (41). Finally he even gets killed to put him out of his misery by George for accidentally breaking Curley’s wife's’ neck, although all he actually wanted to do is to feel her

    Read More

  • Mercy Killing In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

    1485 Words  | 3 Pages

    “He shook her then, and he was angry with her. ‘Don’t you go yellin’,’ he said, and he shook her; and her body flopped like a fish. And then she was still, for Lennie had broken her neck” (Steinbeck 91). Lennie, in Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, is a young man, with a figure like bear, who suffers from a mental disorder that gives him an obsession with wanting to touch soft things, such as a girl’s hair. His companion, George, is the exact opposite, being small, with defined features, he is the one who looks after Lennie.

    Read More

  • Child's Dream In Of Mice And Men By John Steinbeck

    809 Words  | 2 Pages

    Since the beginning of the book, Steinbeck characterizes Lennie as a man who sees the world through the perspective of a child, as if it is a dream. Lennie is a big guy, but he acts like a baby. In the beginning of the story, after George threw the dead mouse Lennie was petting, Lennie was “…‘Blubberin’ like a baby!” (9). This juvenile action demonstrates Lennie’s immaturity and childish

    Read More

  • Stereotypes in Of Mice and Men

    522 Words  | 2 Pages

    Lennie was not very smart and couldn't do much by himself. He had to be told what to do or he wouldn't do anything at all. He fits all the profiles for a retarded person. He doesn't have any self-control. When he starts to panic he gets out of control and even kills Curly's wife because she starts to scream. Lennie loves animals and can't stop talking about them. He always says that when they get their own place that he wants lots of rabbits, his favorite animal. To him George is like his father figure, since Lennie never really had any parents. He is easily amused and panics quickly.

    Read More

  • Appearance Deceives In Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

    996 Words  | 2 Pages

    Lennie apologized to George for killing the mice; he told him that the reason for killing the mice was because “they bit my[Lennie’s] fingers” but he only “pinched their heads a little”(Steinbeck 10). Lennie’s guilt drives him to apologize about the mice but he appears to underestimate his own strength because he claimed that he vaguely pinched their heads, but Lennie being a vast man, that couldn't have been the case. He didn't know the consequences of pinching the mice even after he had done it so many times. This shows the lack of perception he holds, meaning he can't become cognizant of the things happening around him on his own, causing the reader to initiate sympathy for Lennie. Lennie’s immaturity is so big it can be misunderstood for cleverness. George sharply asks Lennie to give him the object from his pocket but he claims “ I ain't got nothin’”but later on admits he has a dead mouse but [George] insists to “ have it”,but George insisted to have the mouse then he “slowly obeyed”(Steinbeck 5-6). It appears as if Lennie was being clever but by handing the mice to George, his childish behavior is revealed. His ingenuous acts portray identically to a child influencing the reader to gain sensitivity to the way Lennie is treated. The way Lennie understands the world and process thoughts makes him mentally stable, for a child. Not only is he innocent but he is also ironically characterized.

    Read More

  • Discrimination in the Book “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck

    1457 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...ntally disabled people prevented Lennie from being trusted and be respected as a human being. In this novel, discrimination that Lennie had to face prevented him from showing his abilities.

    Read More

  • Suppression in the Novella Of Mice and Men

    650 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...d he pressed himself against the wall. ‘Yes, ma'am.’ ‘Well, you keep your place then, Nigger. I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain't even funny,’” (Steinbeck 80-81). This can be seen as suppression because Curley’s wife is threatening Crooks because he is an African-American. This can be seen as human nature because for hundreds of years in the past African-Americans have always been beneath white people. Therefore this example of suppression can be thought of as human nature because of how it shows segregation between whites and African-Americans. That is how the character Crooks is suppressed and how him being suppressed shows that it is human nature for the strong to suppress the weak. As mentioned before Lennie and Crooks are not the only weak characters in the story.

    Read More

  • First Impressions about George and Lennies Relationship in Of Mice and Men

    827 Words  | 2 Pages

    Steinbeck makes is obvious from the first moment that Lennie is mentally retarded. Many times he is referred to as animal like and having animal like features. He is like a big baby, he is huge and clearly very strong but he has the mind of a small child. Lennie's personality and life seem based on three things: soft things, devotion to George and his dream of one day owning a farm. It is quite sad and Steinbeck makes you feel really sorry for him be exaggerating his simplicity and his innocence. Lennie is absent-minded for a good portion of the novel. He is unaware of what he's doing sometimes until he has done it. For example, he enjoyed to pet soft objects. But we find out that while living in Weed, he decided to ’pet’ a woman’s dress but she thought that he was raping her so she screamed and he almost got himself killed. He is greatly forgetful and needs a lot of looking after otherwise he would never be able so survive and quite often this can come between his relationship with George.

    Read More

More about Examples Of Prejudice In Of Mice And Men

Open Document