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Brief introduction of discrimination
Key terms of discrimination
Discrimination Introduction
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How would you feel if all you wanted to do was to have friend’s and fit in but instead you were laughed at and was treated like you were non-existing. There are multiple characters that are discriminated against and excluded from certain things. Lennie’s discriminated against because of him being mentally challenged and he’s a joke around the bunk house. Curley’s wife is also discriminated because she’s a women and women back then were irrelevant. Crooks was discriminated because of his color, he wasn’t even allowed to go in the bunk house cause he “stinks”. Lennie is a perfect example of discrimination in Of Mice and Men because he has a disability, people treat him very differently. Georgie would treat lennie as if he was a helpless baby …show more content…
She is so irrelevant the author didn’t even give her a name in the story. Curley’s wife is considered a minority around the ranch because she’s a girl and is helpless to the guys and has no use on the ranch. Curley’s wife is oppressed by the guys due to her being feminine no one wanted to speak or associate with her. Crook’s was a black man who was considered a minority and that he “stinks” due to his color. All of the other men thought they were too good for Crook’s just because he was black and they were white. Crook’s wasn’t allowed in the bunk house with all the other men, he couldn’t even go out in the field with the other white men because he was black he had to stay at the barn. He was looked down on and Crook’s only dream was to fit in with the other men. These three characters were extremely discriminated and laughed at, they were jokes around the ranch like there only purpose for being there is for them to laugh at. Lennie was discriminated without him even knowing it, he didn’t know that when they were laughing that they were laughing at him. Curley’s wife is discriminated and not even looked at around the ranch, she is nothing else except Curley’s wife. Crooks was discriminated as well, he wasn’t allowed to work with the other men all he could do was tend the horses and play horseshoes, he can’t even sleep with the other
Curley’s wife comes off as a provocative, flirtatious, lustful woman, but is really hiding her true identity as a depressed and lonely person. Throughout the book Curley’s wife does show her true identity, but still tries to stay positive and deal with the bad hand she was dealt. Curley’s wife is a prime example of even though your life took a wrong turn that you shouldn’t give up. Curley’s wife may of been depressed, but she still tried to communicate everyday with someone no matter what they said to her.
Right off the bat, Lennie is described as lesser, and rather than helped he is given a “slap on the wrist”. To begin with, Lennie is always described as less capable or unable to do certain activities to the extent of others. For example, at the beginning of the book George and Lennie were attempting to get a job. George always said, “He can do anything, just give him a try” (22). George implied that the likelihood of Lennie receiving a job is significantly less due to him being disabled. Lennie being less likely to receive a job due to his mental disability shows discrimination and expresses how difficult it could have been for a mentally handicapped person to get a job during this era. Moving forward, rather than George helping Lennie, Lennie is put down and scolded for his mistakes. During a scene between Lennie and George, George exclaimed, “You forget. You always forget, an’ I got to talk you out of it” (23). As it is not necessarily Lennie’s fault, George is in the wrong to put down Lennie for his actions. However, rather than attempting to help Lennie, George puts him down for his mistakes and then is forced to apologize for his own actions later. Lennie is a prime example of oppression against the mentally disabled in Of Mice and Men.
“Discrimination is alive and soaring.” (Jonathan Kozol) Discrimination has always been an issue but in the story, Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck shows how discrimination is an issue for a lot of people, even without colored skin. He shows how discrimination plagues society, there are multiple people who are victims of this. Those including Crooks, Lennie, and Curley’s Wife.
Curley's wife is seen as a cheap possession, a toy that belongs to Curley. A possession that he gets to control. His lack of love, respect and attention results to her death in the end. By all the men she’s seen as a tramp, they think that she’s out cause trouble. But the truth is she’s desperately lonely. She just wants someone to talk to. She’s missed out on a wonderful life that could have been hers, and that hurts her.
Curley’s wife is a difficult character to understand. Steinbeck hasn’t named her; this could be for a number of reasons. He may have wanted her to be seen as lonely therefore not naming her shows no one gets close enough to her to call her by her first name. He may have done it to show the other characters only see her as the wife of Curley rather than an individual. He may also have done it to show the male attitudes towards females. Curley’s wife also helps to provoke mixed emotions in the reader. We often feel sorry for her such as when she talks of her loneliness, but on other occasions the reader can find her cold hearted. This is seen when she is racist towards the other characters.
Because of Crooks, Curley’s wife, and Lennie’s differences from most people on the ranch; these people are considered to be the main outcasts on the ranch in California. As the novel shows, an outcast can be any person who stands out from the crowd. Although everyone is somewhat an outcast; because they are all different from each other, these three characters in the story are
An example of how the men are discriminative towards Crooks is that he is forced to live in a shack away from the bunkhouse and also Crooks says that "They play cards in there, but I can't play because I'm black. They say "I stink" and "I ain't wanted in the bunkhouse." An example of when Curley's Wife is critical towards Crooks is when she looks into his room to see what Lennie and Crooks are doing and then she states, shaking her head, that they left the weak ones behind. Also, she threatens to have Crooks hanged because a black man should never talk to a white woman the way he just had. As a result of all of these discriminatory acts against him, Crooks feels unwanted and lonely because of his color and placement on the farm.
Steinbeck describes Curley's Wife as a very friendly young women. For example, when Steinbeck describes her when she says, “She put her hands behind her back and leaned against the door frame so that her body was thrown forward” (31). When reading this, one can learn that Curley’s Wife is a very friendly women who is just looking for someone to talk to. She is forced to live on the farm and needs to find something to do, or someone to talk to while she is stuck there.
These examples illustrated the general idea of discrimination due to the isolation of characters. Some were discriminated against because they were different and didn’t fit in with the other people at the ranch. Once we finished the story, I thought that it was just a story about two men’s lives but after deeper thought, I realize that there is much more to it. There are problems occurring in the story that still happen today and the story does a great job in showing us that. The author of the story may be trying to tell the readers that discrimination was a big problem back then, and is still a big problem today. In cases nowadays, some people are discriminated against and judged because of small characteristics that a person may have. People get discriminated against all the time about these things and the author may be telling us that we should think twice about discriminating against
All through the book Curley’s Wife is very “open” to everyone she meets. The reason for this can be interpreted by her and Curley’s “so-called” marriage. The relationship between Curley’s Wife and Curley seems to be somewhat unstable as he is always asking “Any you guys seen my wife?” (pg. ). This also shows how protective Curley seems to be as he is always checking up on where his wife is. Curley’s insecurity seems to cage in his wife from having any kind of a friendship with any other men. In turn, the wife gets so sick of being isolated like this and relieves her loneliness by conducting secret conversations with many other men on the ranch. As a result many of the ranch hands see her as a tramp but it can be viewed that all she really wants is a person to talk to.
The issue of sexism was still very present in 1930’s America compared to our present day now. Steinbeck uses Curley’s wife as the only female character in the novel because the ranch was no place for a women. He uses many different methods to portray the attitudes towards Curley’s wife and to belittle the importance of her.
Curley’s wife is probably the most loathed on the ranch. Because of the way she looks and acts, people think she is easy, or a "tart". " ‘Jesus, what a tramp,’ he said. ‘So that’s what Curley picks for a wife.’ " said George, p.35. She just wants someone to talk to.
Curley’s wife is an outsider on the ranch, simply because she is the one. only woman there is. Steinbeck never named Curley’s wife. She is defined by her relationship with Curley, as his property, not as an individual. Namelessness also has the effect of reinforcing how insignificant she is in the life of the ranch, how dependent she is on Curley, for her.
This prevented the characters from reaching their full potential and causes tragedy. Racial discrimination was one of the aspects of the discrimination in this story. Consequently, Crooks had to battle with various difficulties and conflicts, which prevented him from reaching his full potential. The ranch hands did not let Crooks live, eat, and play with them because his skin colour was different. It led to the conflict between him and Lennie.
The character of Curley’s Wife is very hard to unravel, as throughout the book, Steinbeck’s representation of women through characters such as George and Candy, is very harsh. This is because the sociological opinion at that time was that they were either, mothers, sisters, or prostitutes, as the audience soon see, George and other ranch workers refer to her as “bitch” “loo loo” and “tramp”. There were also a growing number of prostitutes during the Great Depression period, as they would offload their services to those whom were able to pay and have some decent income during the Depression. Other aspects that may make Curley’s Wife seem like a tart, is Curley’s “Glove Fulla’ Vaseline”. Curley literally keeps a glove full of Vaseline, in order to keep his hand soft, possibly for a sexual act. Curley boasts to Candy that the hand is for his wife, which tells us that she gives him consent to do these acts to her, and also, Curley’s nerve to inform fellow workers about his glove shows that he believes that his own wife is a tart, which is very controversial today, but back then, women were seen as nothing more than possessions, yours to do what you will. George informs Lennie to avoid Curley’s Wife at all costs, and not to talk to her, because of her promiscuous behaviour, he believes t...