Of Mice and Men is set in 1930’s America in the middle of the economic depression. It is geared towards the pursuit of the American dream, promoting the ideas of equality, life, liberty and happiness. Steinbeck uses Crooks, and to some extent Curley’s wife to challenge the perception of equality and sometimes the language used is, by modern standards, racist and misogynistic. There is an irony in the fact that the people judging Crooks are less intelligent than he is and they refuse to look at anything other than the stereotype of his ethnicity. Steinbeck reveals as much about Crooks in the things he does not express as in the things he does.…
When the Europeans first came to North America, they only inhabited the east coast. Naturally, wanting more land, they needed to explore the rest of the country. Two explorers named Lewis and Clark set out to do just that. However, what would Lewis have done without Clark, and how would Clark fair without Lewis? In Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, characters provide each other the same purpose that Lewis and Clark did. In this way, the novel demonstrates that friendship gives life meaning.…
I like the new guys. George is a nice fella, an’ so is Lennie. Lennie is the only fella’ I have power over in this ranch, and I like it because imma’ black guy and he’s a white guy. Like the other night when all the boys went to town and it were just me and Lennie. I said “s’pose George went into town tonight and you never heard of him no more”. I could tell that the doubt was too much for him to handle. I felt bad but I felt good at the same time, but straight after that it went back to normal; me being the powerless lonely guy. Loneliness is a disease. It eats away at people slowly, gradually tearing them limb from limb and it is turning me insane.…
“Discrimination has a lot of layers that make it tough for minorities to get a leg up.” -Bill Gates. In John Steinbeck’s novel, Of Mice and Men takes place during The Great Depression is 1937. In Of Mice and Men John Steinbeck uses some of his characters to show discrimination. The characters that i’m choosing to tell about the discrimination are Curley’s wife, Crooks, and Lennie. Steinbeck’s focuses are showing how discrimination was used during the early 1900’s from slavery, gender, or just people that are disliked.…
In current times and in the past people have divided for many different reasons. This prejudice can be the result of many things, some of which include race and gender. In the novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, set on a Californian ranch during the great depression, two individuals are targeted by prejudice. One of them, a worker by the named Crooks, is experiencing discrimination because he is an African American on a ranch filled with whites. The other, Curley’s wife, is disregarded and avoided by ranch hands because they perceive her as jail bait because of her overprotective…
John Steinbeck shows that discrimination can lead to aggression in the novel, Of Mice and Men, through the character Lennie. Lennie tries to explain to George that he doesn’t try to kill the mice, but he ends up killing them anyway; “I’d pet ‘em and pretty soon they bit my fingers and I pinched their heads a little and then they was dead-because they was so little” (Steinbeck 10). Lennie wants the comfort of having something to take care of even if it is just a mouse. George doesn’t understand why Lennie wants to pet the mouse and discriminates him for it, making Lennie act aggressively. Lennie says they died “because they was so little” and that he didn’t mean to act aggressively, but since he was discriminated, he killed the mouse. When Lennie…
In “Of Mice and Men”, Steinbeck uses the character of Crooks to convey ideas about racism in 1930 America during the Great Depression. Crooks is the only black man in the novella who is ostracized by the other ranch hands and it is through his character that we experience the view of blacks in America during 1930s. Crooks doesn’t live in the bunkhouse with the…
Discrimination is the unjust treatment of people and things based on their ethnicity/race, age, gender, disabilities, or religion. People who are victims of discrimination permanently face it throughout their life. In John Steinbeck’s novel Of Mice and Men, discrimination is obviously seen, but it is also seen in some characters in the book even if they don’t know they’re discriminated against. Through each of these discriminated characters, Steinbeck depicts how discrimination affects the character, and how they respond to it.…
During the 1930s in America, life for people with colour was difficult due to racism, segregation and isolation which was seen as normality back then. Black people did everything to stay out of troubled and avoid been lynched; especially by the Ku-klux-klan who still had a lot of power. Of Mice and Men written by John Steinbeck reflects to all these themes and other such as: The American Dream, discrimination, friendship, prejudice etc. It also reflects to the Great depression of the 1930s through Lennie and George who travelled from place to place to work (frontiersmen) and through Crooks, who reviews how Blacks were treated in the 1930s. For example, he worked as hard as or even harder than anyone in the ranch but still was unworthy because of his race and position in the society in the 1930s. The title Of Mice and men comes from Robert Burns’ poem “To a Mouse”, this is relevant to the novel as Steinbeck portrays his characters to be at the mercy of fate, almost as powerless as mice. The purpose of my essay is to show how Steinbeck portrays Crooks in the novel.…
People tend to be biased about the color of people's skin. Today society still uses prejudice discrimination, but not as extreme within the novel towards Crooks. Inward the novel Crooks, tends to get very discriminated by the color of his skin. Even with the rights Crooks has, the discrimination between white and colored men tend to show up many times in Of Mice and Men. Lennie isn’t like the other men on the ranch, for more explanation he has no sense and doesn’t think of Crooks any different, this is supported by the quotation, “ why ain’t you wanted “(Steinback 68) when Crooks mentioned, “Well, I got a right to have a light. You go on get outta my room. I ain’t wanted in the bunk house, and you ain’t wanted in my room” (Steinback 68). While Lennie couldn’t care about the factors of prejudice, he tends to think of options that most of the men on that land wouldn’t have thought about in two years. Crooks has accepted that the racism or prejudice beliefs against colored men at this point. Crooks is often alone in the stable with nobody to associate with, because the white men on the farm never have talked to Crooks due to his skin color. The result of this lead the men to judge Crooks, to the prejudice belief of black people will end up…
People have been discriminating each other since the beginning of humanity, and the twentieth century is no exception. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck does a magnificent job at showcasing the kinds of discrimination that people had gone through. Of Mice and Men is a book based in the early 1900s that follows the story of two migrant workers, George and Lennie, who are working towards their dream of sharing a small plot of land and finally living the life of stability and happiness that they have always wanted. While George and Lennie are working towards their dreams, the readers get a front row seat to many different types of discrimination including racism, sexism, ableism, ageism, and sizeism. Curley’s…
Portraying him as a person afflicted by racial prejudice, Steinbeck details the effects of discrimination on Crooks, including his feelings of loneliness, shattered dreams, and resentful characters. While racism serves as a source of conflict in the story, Steinbeck extends Crooks’ experiences to racism’s prominent role during the Great Depression. In the 1930s, African-Americans suffered from economic inequality, poverty, and unemployment. However, more severe harm came from the racial discrimination and bigotry directed towards them in a mainly white society. John Steinbeck calls the plight of African-Americans to attention in Of Mice and Men. He argues that while all groups had financial losses, African-Americans lost much more. Living in an economically crippled and racist society, they lost their…
Steinbeck illustrates racism on the ranch through the workers ignoring Crooks and sometimes even forgetting Crooks works on the ranch. For instance, the fact that the boss gives Crooks his own to live in, suggests that the boss wants to separate Crooks from the other workers who are all white. Considering that Crooks lives with the animals he takes care of, implies that the boss and the other workers view him as an animal. Additionally, Crook's bed, "was a long box filled with straw" (Steinbeck 66). Also, the other workers ignore Crooks by not allowing him to play cards or go out with them. According to Crooks, the reason they do not allow him to play cards with them is, "… because I'm[he is] black" (Steinbeck 68). Because the other workers ignore him and do not allow him to participate in activities with them, he claims, "… all of you[white people] stink to me" (Steinbeck 68). Likewise, many of workers rarely talk to Crooks, because of his color. In fact when Candy visits Crooks' room, Crooks explains that, "Guys don’t come into a colored man's room very much" (Steinbeck 75). As a result of being deprived from social interactions with the other workers, Crooks becomes very lonely and hostile towards white people. Moreover the boss and the other workers on the ranch have ignored the needs of Crooks. However, despite most of the workers on the ranch being racist towards Crooks, Lennie does not see a difference between Crooks and himself. While Lennie does not have any prejudices towards Crooks, it can be likely contributed to his child-like personality. Despite Lennie's lack of awareness of the situation, the interaction between the two gives hope that one day racism will come to an…
In the book Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, Steinbeck uses descriptive language and diction to explain Crook’s room. After reading the two paragraphs explaining Crooks’s room, a reader can infer that Crooks is caring, lonely and informed about his rights. Crooks’s room is described as “a little shed” with many personal possessions.” Furthermore, unlike the other men on the ranch he has books which consist of “a tattered dictionary and a mauled copy of the California civil code for 1905” and medicine for the horses.…
Steinbeck finally shows how socially incapable Crooks is when he describes him as merely the “backup”. Since Slim is in the bunkhouse discussing with George and Lennie, he is not available to play the beloved game of horseshoes. Due to this, Crooks is the only one to take his place. The readers are then shown the discomfort Carlson has with him playing, he exclaims in frustration “Jesus, how that nigger can toss shoes” (44). With the anger in Carlson’s voice, and the fact that Slim is not playing, the conclusion can be drawn that Crooks only plays with needed or convenient for others. Steinbeck shows that Crooks is socially isolated not because of how good he is, which is shown in the quote, but only because of his skin tone being different.…