Plague. “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. First and foremost, Crooks is a person who gets treated with discrimination, much more than anyone else. Simply because he is black and has a crooked back, from which he received his name from. People continuously treat him horribly, one person being Curley’s Wife. “Well you keep your place then, Nigger. I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain’t even …show more content…
Often people treat him poorly because he is always with George. Everyone there, including george at some points in the book get angry about how stupid they think he can be. “God a’mighty, if i was alone i could live so easy. I could go get a job an’ work, an’ no trouble.” (1.4) He often get’s mad at Lennie because he always forgets things and always gets them into trouble, and he often gets treated like this by everyone around him. Curley’s wife also treats Lennie poorly, but when she began to feel lonely, she went to Lennie to talk to him. As a result, Curley’s wife begins to explain how lonely she is, and she cannot talk to anyone except for Curley. Many people think she’s a tart and someone who isn’t worth anything. “I get lonely.’ She said ‘you can talk to people,and i can’t talk to nobody but Curley. Else he gets mad. How’d you like not to talk to anybody?” (5.87) She get’s lonely because of she talks to anyone else then he will get mad and will punish the men, and the men think she’s a tart. With this example, it shows that even someone with so much power, can get treated with discrimination because she’s a
In the novel Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck uses stereotypes and discrimination to convey a message of how the characters feel. A lot of the stereotypes and clichés are just common beliefs of the times, but a few are situational. To quote a quite distinguished reader, "Characters are ‘trapped’- either by what others think of them, or by their situation." A lot of the character’s feelings about themselves and what others think of them will lead to loneliness.
Several characters in the novel Of Mice and Men are presented with additional obstacles throughout the book. Whether because of color, sex, or disabilities, John Steinbeck purposefully did this to illustrate oppression. Of Mice and Men explores the
However, Curley’s wife isn’t really a tramp, she is just looking for someone to talk to because she is always alone and because she doesn't like her husband. We can see how Curley’s wife feels about Curley on page 78 of Of Mice and Men, where John Steinbeck writes that, “ “Sure I gotta husban’. You all seen him. Swell guy, ain’t he? Spends all his time sayin’ what he’s gonna do to the guys he don’t like, and he don't like nobody. Think I’m gonna stay in that two-by-four house and listen how Curley’s gonna lead with his left twict, and then bring in the ol’ right cross?” ,” Here, we can see how much Curley’s wife dislikes her husband because he is always talking about fighting with someone and also because he apparently can’t get along with anyone. Curley’s wife also expresses throughout the novel that she is so lonely that she will talk to anyone, even Lennie, Crooks, and Candy who are outcasts, and who she describes as “bindle stiffs”. On page 78, John Steinbeck writes that, “She was breathless with indignation, “Sat’day night. Ever’body out doin’ som’pin’. Ever’body! An’ what am I doin’? Standin’ here talkin’ to a bunch of bindle stiffs-a nigger an’ a dum-dum and a lousy ol’ sheep-an’ likin’ it because they ain’t nobody else.”” To sum it up, Curley’s wife feels like she’s hit rock-bottom because she is so lonesome to the point where she is
Although discrimination is still present during the time period of the book, Crooks still attempts to make friends. Others treat Crooks unjust because he is different from others given that he is black. He does not know how to treat others because of the way others treat him; with disrespect. Furthermore, he does not know how to vent his frustration and as a result, lashes out at others because they are cruel to him. Crooks is not allowed to participate in daily events with white people. He is treated unfairly and therefore acts the same way toward the white people (the ones who offended him.)
Discrimination was one of the issues that caused conflict in the novel “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck. One example of discrimination in the novel comes in the form of racial discrimination against Crooks, as he is an African American. Another example of discrimination is gender discrimination against Curley’s wife. Finally, there is discrimination against mentally disabled people, which is evident in Lennie’s character. The ranch hands' actions and conversations demonstrated the racial discrimination against Crooks for his skin colour, gender discrimination against Curley’s wife for her gender, and prejudice against Lennie, who was a mentally disabled individual.
Even after George told him numerous times to let go Lennie still would not let go. “ George shouted over and over, ‘leggo his hand, Lennie leggo. Slim, come help me while the guy got any hand left.’ Suddenly Lennie let go his hold. He crouched cowering against the wall, ‘you tol’ me to, George’ he said miserable’”(Steinbeck 64). Since Lennie did not know what the right option was, he kept holding on to Curley's hand. He did not know that he should have listened to George and let go. Lennie is stereotyped as dumb because of theses situations.
In the novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck there are many events in the plot of the story that occur that prove that when man is cruel to man, some peoples lives are negatively affected. One instance in where this is proven true is when the men on the ranch and Curley's wife are cruel and discriminative against Crooks causing him to be the one to mourn. 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 hung 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. Also those examples are part of the theme of the novel, people need to accept and understand those different from themselves, which also helps to prove the interpretation of the quote. Another example in this novel that proves that when man is cruel to man, the lives of people are negatively affected is when Curley picks on and tries to hurt Lennie. Curley chooses to fight Lennie because he thinks he won't fight back but because George gets angry and tells Lennie to fight back, he does. George being angry is not the only negative effect that Curley's teasing had on man, but also now Lennie is angry and in danger of getting in trouble and Curley himself gets hurt.
Crooks is the last and final character shown in the novel Of Mice and Men and, shows that dreams don’t always come true. This novel took place back when race was a huge thing back in the day. He was treated much different than the other workers, in the novel. The different race affected his dream in the story he was treated like a nobody, because of his race. “I ain't wanted in my bank house, and you ain’t wanted in my room. The quote shows that crooks is treated different, by no one wants to be around
Discrimination is a problem that plagues those whose qualities are vulnerable. There are many examples of discrimination in the novel, Of Mice and Men. The characters face discrimination in many different ways including racial, age, gender, and disability. Crooks, the black stable buck, is the victim of racial discrimination. Candy, the old swamper, is a victim of the age discrimination. The victim of gender discrimination is Curley's wife because she is a woman. Life of the victims is hard because of the things they have to go through. Lastly, Lennie is mentally handicap so he discriminated against because of that.
Crooks is a disabled black old man who works and lives in the stable. Crooks once said to Lennie, “they play cards in there, but I can’t play because I'm black. They say I stink. Well, I tell you, all of you stink to me” (Steinbeck 68). this shows anger and doubts against people as he believes they are there to harm him. Crooks has a disabled back due to a horse kicking his back while at work, in fact, that is how he got his name. The main reason for Crook’s isolation is because of the color of his skin. Crooks is not only left aside from activities but he is left in the stable to live along with with the animals instead of sleeping with the men in the bunkhouse. Crooks was thrown and harmed so much that he believes that he should not trust anyone and that he will never be accepted in
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.
One may choose to categorize an individual based upon their appearance or beliefs. On the contrary, one’s character can only be determined based upon their beliefs and happiness, not from what society may assume. The novella entitled, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck highlights the adventures of two outcasts and their quest to find their own utopia. However, they are continuously judged by their position in the world whilst attempting to further their travels. Three characters that are affected by their position in the world are George, Crooks, and Lennie who all feel separated as a result.
Crooks is black and disabled.Crooks represents another type of powerlessness. By being the only black man working on the ranch, he is isolated from the others.Even /curley’s wife is more powerful than Crooks when.the insignificance of black people during the 1930s can also be seen by how often Steinbeck makes Crooks appear in the novel. This is never more apparent than when Curley's wife threatens to have him lynched.The fact that she, another powerless person, wields such power over him demonstrates how powerless he is in this
Crooks is a black man and because of this, he is oppressed and looked down upon by the men around him. Because of his skin color, all throughout his life he has been treated unfairly. Such as when he was a little boy. “ ‘I was born right here in California. My old man had a chicken ranch...The white kids come to play at our place, an’ sometimes I went to play with them...My ol’ man didn’t like that. I never knew till long later why he didn’t like that. But I know now.’ ” (4.69) What Crooks means by this is that his father didn’t like him playing with the white children
This is the time period where racism was horrible and crooks was treated bad. He just tries to keep his distance from people to prevent problems. A example was when curley's wife came In his cabin and she was asking where Curley was and Crooks was telling her that he got hurt. She didn't believe him and it climaxed up. Crooks just asks her to leave because he doesn't want her there and that he was going to tell. Curley’s wife says “listen you what I can do to you if you open your trap?”(80). Crooks just shuts his mouth up and just stays quiet because he doesn't want any problems with anyone. He's just tired that he gets treated differently.