Analysis Of Sacrifice In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

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Guinness World Record holder, Robert M. Hensel once said, “There is no greater disability in society, than the inability to see a person as more.” John Steinbeck’s novel, Of Mice and Men is a beloved American book teaching people to see the true colors of others and to not judge by stereotypes. This novel tells the story of two men with a unique friendship that experience many hardships to find their place in the world and one must make the ultimate sacrifice for the other. Steinbeck portrays the barriers society places against us, or that we place around ourselves, become inescapable prisons through Curley's wife's objectification, desperation for companionship and victimization, Lennie’s vulnerability, and Candy’s isolation. Steinbeck uses Lennie to represent vulnerability through his mental illness and how it held him back from the world. “Yeah? How'd you eat. You ain't got sense enough to find something to eat.” (12). Because Lennie has little to no common sense he forgets almost everything. Therefore, he can not rely on himself to live resulting in George taking care of Lennie. Towards the end of the book George has to make a very tough decision for Lennie, “An' s'pose they lock …show more content…

Lennie, Candy, and Curley’s wife all fit into one of these categories somehow and because of that society wasn't fair to them. Society continues to act this way towards people today, in some ways the 1930’s were more harsh. Today the mentally handicapped are able to get help from someone who cares although, it is still harder for a person of older age to find a job. Through reading Of Mice and Men the readers experience the hardships people went through in the 1930’s to fit in and be successful. In addition, this changes the way you view people in these conditions and helps you understand what they are

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