Discrimination In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

From the underground railroad of the mid 19th century to the civil rights movement of the 1960s', discrimination has always been a part of human culture, and for nearly as long, the courageous have been trying to fight it. Despite this effort, discrimination and prejudice are still prevalent problems in today's society. In John Steinbeck's world renowned novel, Of Mice and Men, four characters face discrimination at the hands of other characters, and society in general. John Steinbeck asserts that discrimination is a universal social problem that leads to inner turmoil. This discrimination is based upon race, age, sex, and physical ability, and causes pain in the form of peer alienation, physical fatigue, and sheer loneliness.

Racism

The boss often takes out his anger on Crooks, because he is different due to his race, and incapable of leaving or defending himself due to his physical disability. This is shown when George and Lennie arrive late and the boss becomes angry. "He give the stable buck hell too... Ya see the stable buck's a nigger." (Steinbeck, page 19-20) By stating this, the speaker, Candy, is giving validation for the boss' actions. It is implied that Crooks feels pain as a result of being constantly yelled at for the actions of others. Not only is Crooks abused by his boss, but his colleagues recognise the problem and do nothing to prevent it from recurring. The state of this society is so damaged that the mention of an African American being punished for someone else's actions does not convey feelings of remorse or liability in the culpable, but rather a nonchalant attitude. Crooks is also discriminated against and alienated by the other ranch hands,

Curley's wife is viewed by the ranch hands as a "tart". They choose not to speak to her as they fear she will exploit and tempt them, causing guilt and anger from Curley. "I get lonely... You can talk to people but I can't talk to nobody but Curley." (Steinbeck, page 87) Because of Curley's wife's discrimination and alienation, she suffers profuse loneliness. She wanders the ranch alone in search of a companion, which only contributes to her promiscuous label. George warns Lennie to not speak with Curley's wife as he believes she will take advantage of Lennie's naivety and force him to do something he shouldn't. "Don't you even take a look at that bitch. I don't care what she says and what she does. I seen 'em poison before, but I never seen no piece of jail bait worse than her." (Steinbeck page 32) George insults Curley's wife by stating derogatory terms and judging her before truly knowing her as a person, this would cause a person to feel pain no matter how strong they appear on the outside. George also makes a generalisation of women by stating, "I seen 'em poison before". This implies that George has seen bad women but never bad men, and groups women into a deceitful, horrible group of people. This corruption of Lennie's thoughts destroys his innocence and changes him to believe all women lead to trouble. This false education of the weak contributes to the