Lennie and society

Lennie is the lowest of low in society at that time. The way everybody treats lennie shows how the stronger ones always provoke the weaker ones, even crooks is malicious to lennie as he knows he is more intelligent than him, despite knowing what it feels like to be discriminated. It shows how society worked at that time, it's a never ending circle. The Character of Lennie represents the rural community of America; uneducated and simple, causing problems for themselves and others. His representation as a farmer can be seen in the references to rabbits, his obsession with the natural world, his aversion to the modern urban world. The book takes place at the height of the great depression and Lennie becomes not just a figure representing the rural community, but the countryside itself; the decline in farming caused by the great Depression caused duststorms across the mid-west, leaving large areas desolate and empty, Lennie becomes the personification of this; he is literally vast and empty, but innocent of blame. In Of Mice And Men, Steinbeck’s character Lennie had a mental disability which came across as him having the physical strength and build of a man but the mind of a 5 year old. Because of this, the other workers treated him differently and spoke to him like he was mad or a child. ‘crazy fool’ even his best friend, George, called him crazy. However, George could see Lennie differently to all the other workers. The only reason Lennie survived in the Great Depression was because of his physical ability, if he hadn’t had that then he wouldn’t have work. None of the workers spoke to Lennie apart from Candy and George, other than that the other workers kept their distance. Overall Steinbeck tries to convey what life was like in the 1930's America. He presents his ideas that it was wrong to discriminate, mistreat and devalue people but it still happened. Steinbeck was trying to convey what life was like in 1930's America and how hard it was to achieve the 'American