Analysis: An Elephant Versus A Mouse

Tyler Ennis
Dr. Marion
English 112/FJT12
8 October 2015
An Elephant Versus a Mouse
English courses are taught many different ways, starting in kindergarten all the way through college. However the number of books students are required to read, the papers, format and grammar all seem to have a little variant from teacher to teacher. While English is a class to focus all of these things and more. English encompasses history as well; as much history can be learned in an English class as a History class, this is important. Not too many students are fond of history classes anymore because they are considered boring. Maybe history is overthought and over taught, whereas in English students unconsciously absorb history lessons through litterature.

One look at this word in today’s society causes a different feeling for every individual. Racism is discriminating against someone for the color of their skin. One of the main reasons this book is targeted as inappropriate is the fact that it uses the word “nigger”. Of course in today’s society this word has many different variations and meanings, depending on who says it. Before the 1950’s, this word had no other meaning than “African-American”. To the people in those days, it was how they talked. Dana Washington is an activist in successfully having the book removed from school reading lists. She recommends the following substitute: “[African-American], I could have you strung up on a tree so easy it ain’t even funny.”(Lawyer guy). This would be an easy fix for an overprotective parent. Washington’s son did, however, say that his teacher was reading sections out of the book in class using “nigger”. Without proper discussion of the context of the word and how it was used in the time period, this word should not be read aloud to students in schools. When teaching this book, teachers should begin talking to their students about the word, and how it was appropriate for the time period, but not

The stable buck, who is African-American, gets bossed around a lot. He does not get bossed around because of his skin color, though; the job he has is almost a servant of some kind. The fact that he was black in these days most likely kept him from getting any better jobs. There was still plenty of racism in the early-1900’s, which is the time in which the book is set. (some government article). Steinbeck, when writing this book, instead of making up a fairy tale, decided to write the cold hard truth, good and bad. What the reader gets from this novel is a good read, accurate for the time period. The historical benefits of the book, and its accurate portrayal of life in this time period, are what makes it famous. Of Mice and Men is the result of Steinbeck’s research into the social economic American culture of the day. Crooks the stable buck has been put in the book because he shows us the racial separation in the 1930’s. His presence shows us that black people around this era are not respected and thought to be less important than the whites. So the problem of the book being racist is answered, it is racist, but there is justification for it. Steinbeck did not try romanticizing this time period; he wrote what he saw in everyday life. Racism in the 1920’s and 30’s was still prominent in society: there were separate bathrooms, schools,