Impairments In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

Of Mice and Men displays a lot of characters with a variety of impairments. These impairments help develop the characters and it tells us more about them. Some characters show physical impairments while others have mental impairments. In the beginning, the impairments may not be noticeable at first but as the story progresses, the impairments are easier to find. Many characters in the story have physical and mental impairments but the most obvious ones are George Milton, Lennie Small and Candy.
George Milton is the first character in Of Mice and Men that is introduced with an impairment.
“The first man was small and quick, dark of face, with restless eyes and sharp, strong features”
(Steinbeck 2). George has restless eyes which
is unusual for him because it also describes him with strong features.
Usually, people who have restless eyes are not strong because they lack rest. Also, when George is describing Curley, he is ironically describing himself as well. “This guy Curley sounds like a son-of-a-bitch to me. I don’t like mean little guys” (27). Not only does George have a physical impairment, he has a mental impairment as well. “Well, we ain’t got any,” George exploded (11). This shows that George has an anger management problem which he tends to take out on Lennie. Lennie Small’s last name is very ironic because his physical features are the complete opposite of his last name. “A huge man, shapeless of face, with large, pale eyes, with wide, sloping shoulders; and he walked heavily, dragging his feet a little” (2). Lennie has an impairment which is that his brain and maturity level is like a young child’s. “I ain’t gonna say nothin’ [...] I ain’t gonna say nothin’”” (7). Also,
Lennie will not do things unless George commands him. “Lennie’s hands remained at his sides; he was too frightened to defend himself” (63). Due to his impairment he also does not know how strong he really is “He shook her [...] and her body flopped like a fish” (91). While George and Lennie were working on the ranch, they had met a man who had no
hand. Candy is the third and final character that had an impairment which was the most noticeable. He has no arm because he had lost it while working on the ranch. “He pointed with his right arm, and out of the sleeve came a round stick-like wrist, but no hand” (18). Throughout Of Mice and Men Candy has a trouble doing work because he only has one hand to work with. Later on in the book, he admits that he is not useful with only one hand. “Candy said, “I ain’t much good with on’y one hand. I lost my hand right here on this ranch” (59). Also, Candy has to shoot his dog which could have been difficult for him mentally and physically. “I ought to of shot that dog myself George” (61). It’s tough mentally for Candy because he has to kill a pet that he took care for a while and also, he only has one hand which would make aiming that gun at the dog more difficult for him physically. Also, this scenario foreshadows what
George does to Lennie in the end of the book.
In conclusion, George Milton, Lennie Small and Candy are the characters with the most noticeable impairments. George and Candy have physical impairments while Lennie has a mental impairment. During the middle and the end of the book is when their impairments impact these characters the most. Unfortunately for Lennie, his impairment cost him his life while George and Candy are still alive.