How Does Steinbeck Present Prejudice In The 1930's

Today prejudice issues have improved a lot since 1930’s, this has only been the case for 30 or 40 years. But they are still little problems such as the Ku Klux Klan. This is a secret organization founded in the southern states during Reconstruction to terrorize and intimidate former slaves and prevent them from voting or holding public office. In the book people wouldn’t even talk to Crooks and they could be hanged for no reason. Today, this would never happen, this might be because now we are more civilized but between 1930 and now it is a whole different world out there. Crooks from ‘’Of Mice and Men’’ its used to prejudice all his life since he lives in the time period were people were racist to blacks. Also in the movie ‘’What’s Eating Gilbert Grape’’ Arnie’s mom is prejudice all the time because of her size and people always give her dirty looks. Both of this characters have to live their life lonely because people always leave them out of things. Crooks lives alone and Arnie’s mom might as well live alone because her family leaves her out all
the time. Also they are mistreated in their community or in between their family because they are different and they think they should be treated different.

George thinks that his boss would think Lennie is useless if he heard him talk and they wouldn‘t give them the job.
He says, "That ranch we’re goin’ to is right down there about a quarter mile. We’re gonna go in an’ see the boss. Now, look—I’ll give him the work tickets, but you ain’t gonna say a word. You jus’ stand there and don’t say nothing. If he finds out what a crazy bastard you are, we won’t get no job, but if he sees ya work before he hears ya talk, we’re set." (p.44) This shows how George thinks Lennie might be useless if the boss heard him talk. For this reason George is very careful not to let Lennie talk in front of people because he might ruined their opportunities. Just like George, Arnie’s family thinks their mom is useless because of her weight and that she can’t do anything around the house. People thinking they are useless does not give them the opportunity to do what they want to do in their
life.

A lot of the characters in the book, “Of Mice and Men” and the film “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape” face discrimination all the time because of the color of their skin or disability they might have. People discriminate against Crooks by having him live in the barn across from the bunkhouse. Crooks says to lennie,” You go on get outa my room. I ain’t wanted in the bunkhouse, and you ain’t wanted in my room.”(p.68) This shows how discrimination affects the way Crooks treats other people in his community. Since the people in the bunkhouse discriminate him and don’t let him in the bunkhouse, he does not let Lennie in his barn because he wants payback. Discrimination also happens in the film ” What’s Eating Gilbert Grape” between Arnie and his community. When Arnie acts different in front of other people that don’t know him, they discriminate him because of his disability. He does not notice this but Gilbert does and he does not like it at all. That’s why he hates people that make fun of Arnie when he acts funny.

One of the characters in the book” Of Mice and Men” that feel lonely is Candy. He doesn’t do much anymore, except take care to his dog and do little work around the farm that a little kid could do. He knows that he doesn’t have much time anymore and his future doesn’t look very good. Me an’ Lennie an’ George. We gonna have a place to ourselves…Crooks asked, “You say you got the money?” “Damn Right. We got most of it. Just a little bit more to get. Have it in one month. George got the land all picked out, too.”(76). Since Candy asked George and Lennie to share their dream he will not feel as lonely as he used to be. Now candy doesn’t feel like an old dog that is waiting to be shot. Candy is an old man who is not much good to the farm which makes him one of loneliest people on the farm. Just like Candy, Arnie’s mom also feels very lonely because she never gets out the house because of her weight. Even if she goes out people always look at her and then she just wants to be lonely. This affects the characters life’s because they automatically want to be lonely and that’s not good for them.

Some of the characters in both the film and the book get mistreated because of the color of their skin or the disability they have. Crooks is mistreated by most of the ranch hpeople, none of them want to become friends with him or even talk to him. Also the most horrible fact is that he was not allowed in the bunkhouse or as he calls it, the white quarters, and they say as an excuse it is because he smells bad. This is a cover up that is horrible but still they can’t say that he is not admitted because he is black. Candy leaned against the wall beside the broken collar while he scratched his wrist stump. "I been here a long time," he said. "An’ Crooks been here a long time. This’s the first time I ever been in his room." Crooks said darkly, "Guys don’t come into a colored man’s room very much." (p.76-77) The people in the bunkhouse are really used to always mistreating Crooks that they didn’t even take the chance to talk to him. Just like Crooks, Arnie was mistreated by Gilbert when he got frustrated that Arnie wouldn’t take a shower. Gilbert beat up Arnie because of his frustration and Arnie got hurt.

Even when prejudice is admitted, and it’s clear there’s a bit of sheepish apology, it’s still hard to excuse. Prejudice is one of those corrosive things, full of rancor, and while the men have always neatly kept their distance from Crooks’s life, now that they’re in it, we can’t be sure if they previously stayed away out of respect . Until Lennie breaks that wall between the men, this question has never been asked and it won’t easily be answered. Also prejudice brings a lot of problems in the film and it changes how people live.