Social Stereotypes In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

777 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Lennie characterisation in mice and men

In the novel Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck walks us through the journey of best friends named George and Lennie, who work on a ranch during the Great Depression in California’s Salinas Valley to achieve their goals. Throughout the book, Steinbeck suggest that social hierarchy and classification can lead toward a treatment to lower class workers, different genders and race, and the mentally disabled, when compared to white men workers. To begin with, when George and Lennie entered the farm looking for a job, they were viewed as lower class ranch workers. In Chapter 2 George and Lennie just entered the farm and are having a talk to their boss about getting the job. “‘So you wasn’t gonna say a word. You was gonna leave your big flapper shut …show more content…

Curly’s wife was someone who experienced sexism and loneliness. Towards the end of the book, before she gets killed she talks to Lennie about this. “‘ I get lonely.’ She said. ‘You can talk to people, but i can’t talk to nobody but Curley. Else he gets mad. How’d you like not to talk to anybody. (87)”’ She is talking to Lennie about how lonely and depressing her life is, due to her only being able to talk to her husband. Since Curley gets angry when she talks to other men. At the time, this demonstrates that women were not equal to men. Her feelings were that she was not a part of everyone else, and could not do a lot of things. Such as have just a simple conversation with other men due to her genders, nor play cards or games with everyone. Crooks on the other hand experienced racism. He was the only African American working on the farm and injured his back severely when getting kicked by a horse. Around the end of Chapter 4 Curley’s wife is disrespecting Crooks. “Well, you keep your place then, nigger. I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain't even funny.(81)” After Curley’s wife gets angry at him and then even threatens him, Crook begins to obey what she is saying and stops talking. This quote proves that African Americans had to obey what everyone else said like slaves, and were considered at the very bottom of the social class during that …show more content…

He was treated like a little kid and someone that they just fooled around with him. George, his best friend even played with him too. “‘Come on, ya big bastard. Get up on your feet.No big son-of-a-bitch is gonna laugh at me. I’ll show ya who’s yella.(62)”’ The people on the farm enjoyed messing with his mind, although Lennie thought they were serious. Due to his special condition he had, he was bullied and treated in a negative way, that could’ve ended very bad. As a friend, George could’ve stood up for Lennie but instead he went along with the mistreatment and bullying. “I turns to Lennie and says, 'Jump in.' An' he jumps. Couldn't swim a stroke. He damn near drowned before we could get him. (57)”’ Lennie is a very gullible person that will do anything you say if he trusts you. Letting him jump in the pool when not knowing how to swim was not a smart choice of the farmers and could’ve ended very badly. All the other workers do not respect him and just use him as a toy when they want to have fun. This shows that social hierarchy and classification towards the mentally challenged has been shown throughout this

Show More
Related

  • Archetypes In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

    1079 Words  | 3 Pages

    why Lennie and George Travel together and is not very understanding. Although you never find

    Read More

  • Themes in John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men

    1108 Words  | 3 Pages

    Lennie Small, a mentally impaired man, is first introduced to us traveling with George. George, however, is not related to Lennie. Lennie travels with George because no one else understands him like he does. Lennie says, “Because…because I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you…” (Steinbeck 14). Lennie believes if George ever left him that he could live in a cave by himself and not bother anyone again (Steinbeck 12). Lennie realizes he would be alone without George, but he never has known anyone else to depend on but George, and from that, they have a bond, a friendship. This shows Lennie’s need for his relationship with George.

    Read More

  • Social Outcasts in John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men

    698 Words  | 2 Pages

    didn't allow him to hang out in the bunkhouse with them.  At one point in the

    Read More

  • Characteristics And Similes In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

    1227 Words  | 3 Pages

    At the beginning, the author describes his movement using a metaphor, as Lennie “[drags] his feet… the way a bear drags his paws” (p.2), to show that he is much alike a bear physically. In addition, Steinbeck uses a simile to emphasize Lennie’s animal-like behaviour, as he “[drinks] wit long gulps, snorting into the water like a horse” (p.3). By comparing his physical and behavioural characteristics, this can foreshadow that the author implies that Lennie is seen as more animal than human because of his metal disabilities. George further makes it evident when he infers that “somebody [would] shoot [him] for a coyote if [he] was by [himself]” (p.12). This shows that people are scared of him and his unpredictable, animal-like behaviour because of the lack of understanding about mental health during the early 1900s. Furthermore, this can be the foundation for the theme where the lack of communication and understanding with the mentally disabled can lead to dire and tragic

    Read More

  • Conventions In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

    824 Words  | 2 Pages

    Novels that exhibit what the life is like for the people at ranch can help readers reflect on how they might react in comparable situation. George and Lennie who struggle to transcend the plight of inerrant farmworkers are followed by the novel Of Mice and Men written by John Steinbeck. Readers are positioned to respond to themes through Steinbeck’s use of conventions that are dispirit. Themes such as Freedom and confinement, loneliness, and racism are pivotal in the novel and draw out a range of responses from the readers.

    Read More

  • Lennie's Disability In Of Mice And Men

    600 Words  | 2 Pages

    During the beginning, Lennie is characterized as childish. He is very small minded. Steinbeck indirectly states that he has a mental disability. Readers notice this because of his child-like actions, specifically on page 3, “Lennie dipped his whole head under, hat and all, and then he sat up on the bank and his hat dripped down on his blue coat and ran down his back.” This disability forces George to sacrifice his freedom to help survive with his disability. George gets frustrated with Lennie’s playful personality easily, as a father might with his son. On page 11, George lets his anger out on Lennie. “I wisht I could put you in a cage with

    Read More

  • Systemic Oppression In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

    1385 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Social Misfits In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

    1328 Words  | 3 Pages

    and has no family and the only old man on the ranch. We are told him

    Read More

  • Literary Analysis of Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men

    922 Words  | 2 Pages

    "In other periods of depression, it has always been possible to see some things which were solid and upon which you could base hope, but as I look about, I now see nothing to give ground to hope—nothing of man.” (Calvin Coolidge) The Great Depression was a period with high inflation and unemployment, where millions of families lost their savings and their livelihoods. During this time many men moved out west to become ranch hands, one of the few jobs available. Many of these ranch hands were fueled by a false dream, to one day own a piece of land, and start a family. Of Mice and Men is a story set in this historical era and tells the story of two unlikely companions, George and Lennie, who work from job to job to survive only to meet an unfortunate end. Using Symbolism as represented in nature, material objects, and character traits, Steinbeck explores the theme that despite the best efforts of man, sometimes the cruelty and overwhelming power of fate is too strong.

    Read More

  • The Great Depression's Effect on American People Depicted in Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men

    532 Words  | 2 Pages

    ‘Of Mice and Men’ was written by John Steinbeck and published in 1937. The story is based on migrant workers in California during the time of the Great Depression. The Great Depression was caused by the Wall Street Crash in America which effected many business and banks many of which became bankrupt. This resulted in mass unemployment, inflation and economic migration from the city to the countryside. Steinbeck wrote this novel to show what life was like for low-paid, poor workers and to show how the Great Depression effected American people. He represents what life was like for many unprivileged people in 1930s America: migrant workers, women and black Americans.

    Read More

  • In The Rest of the Novel, How does Steinbeck Use Crooks to Present Attitudes to Black People at the Time the Novel Is Set?

    797 Words  | 2 Pages

    Steinbeck uses the novella ’Of Mice and Men’ and the workers on the ranch to show the microcosm of the 1930s American Society and culture. He especially portrays Crooks in a particular way to show how Black Americans were treated in this time that the novella was set.

    Read More

  • The Role Of Stereotypes In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

    528 Words  | 2 Pages

    “People are always going to stereotype others… it may be without conscious thought, but it still has the same negative effects.”- Author Unknown. In the book “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck, he includes many stereotypes; for example, Lennie was mean and dumb and Curley had small man syndrome. Other characters were stereotyped as hot headed, a tart, and a leader.

    Read More

  • Of Mice and Men

    784 Words  | 2 Pages

    Men and women who are discriminated by society feel alone and afraid because they have nobody to talk or turn to. Of Mice and Men, a novel written by John Steinbeck, conveys the feelings of discriminated farm workers in the 1930’s, and how they yearned for a friend. The marginalized characters in the story were Candy, Crooks, and Curley’s wife. often found themselves feeling lonely and excluded because the other farm workers thought of them as their inferiors. These characters were beaten, scoffed at, or even avoided entirely. The book follows the lives of two men who travel together and earn their money by farming. The two men, named George and Lennie, went to a new ranch where they witnessed, and even partaken in the cruel judgment of others. Throughout the novel, the author demonstrates how unfair men can be to one another through Crooks’ experience with racism, Candy’s experience with ageism, and Curley’s wife’s experience with sexism.

    Read More

  • Friendship and Overcoming Adversity

    1190 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the novel, Lennie faces the adversity in explaining himself to the rest of the world. Thus ,Lennie’s adversity is his mental illness which he is continuously throughout the book trying to overcome.Since ,he is mentally challenged, most people, even George intermittently, underestimates his intelligence and logic skills. At the ranch in Soledad,...

    Read More

  • Character of Significant Growth in Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

    885 Words  | 2 Pages

    George understands that he can’t hide Lennie from the world forever and that the natural order of things is that the strong pick off the weak, and he will eventually have to let Lennie go. This motivates him to seize reality, meaning he had to kill Lennie, which itself was a sign of tremendous growth in himself. Killing Lennie had many effects on George; one of them being that he became one of the men he’d tell Lennie stories about. George believed that he and Lennie were not like the other migrant workers – travelling alone and spending all their earning on a whim. When George would te...

    Read More

More about Social Stereotypes In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

Open Document