Of Mice and Men
Monica Prell
Mrs. Gordon
English 10 Honors
14 December 2012
Marginalizing: Major Problem in Of Mice and Men Have you ever witnessed someone being mistreated because they are not the same as everyone else? If you saw that person was belittled, made fun of, how would you react? In the novel Of Mice and Men how Lennie, Crooks, and Curley’s wife are marginalized is what conveys the meaning of what it’s like to be put down for such unnecessary reasons. The first character to be marginalized is Lennie. He is belittled for being unintelligent throughout the book. Numerous times George was ranting about Lennie discussing how he’s not smart. For instance, when he says, “He ain’t bright. Hell of a good worker, though. Hell of a nice fella, but he ain’t bright” (29). George was even saying this right in front of Lennie like he didn’t care; like calling him dumb wouldn’t hurt his feelings. In another quote, George judges Lennie by his past mistakes by saying, “Course he ain’t mean. But he gets in trouble alla time because he’s so God damn dumb” (32). Everyone makes mistakes, but that doesn’t mean anyone should judge people by their mistakes. The second character to be marginalized is Crooks. Many people count him as worthless because he is a black man. In one of the quotes by Crooks himself, he says, “’Cause I’m black. They play cards in there, but I can’t play because I’m black” (49). This meant that he wasn’t allowed in their room to play cards. He had his own room to remain isolated from the other men; an act of segregation. On many occasions in the book, Crooks is called a “nigger” (20) by different people because of his skin color. This form of marginalizing someone is mainly because of the time period in the book, which is when racism was occurring. In this time period, the blacks were slaves of whites, and blacks were basically considered property, so this is why the men in the book were insulting Crooks with such a derogatory
Mrs. Gordon
English 10 Honors
14 December 2012
Marginalizing: Major Problem in Of Mice and Men Have you ever witnessed someone being mistreated because they are not the same as everyone else? If you saw that person was belittled, made fun of, how would you react? In the novel Of Mice and Men how Lennie, Crooks, and Curley’s wife are marginalized is what conveys the meaning of what it’s like to be put down for such unnecessary reasons. The first character to be marginalized is Lennie. He is belittled for being unintelligent throughout the book. Numerous times George was ranting about Lennie discussing how he’s not smart. For instance, when he says, “He ain’t bright. Hell of a good worker, though. Hell of a nice fella, but he ain’t bright” (29). George was even saying this right in front of Lennie like he didn’t care; like calling him dumb wouldn’t hurt his feelings. In another quote, George judges Lennie by his past mistakes by saying, “Course he ain’t mean. But he gets in trouble alla time because he’s so God damn dumb” (32). Everyone makes mistakes, but that doesn’t mean anyone should judge people by their mistakes. The second character to be marginalized is Crooks. Many people count him as worthless because he is a black man. In one of the quotes by Crooks himself, he says, “’Cause I’m black. They play cards in there, but I can’t play because I’m black” (49). This meant that he wasn’t allowed in their room to play cards. He had his own room to remain isolated from the other men; an act of segregation. On many occasions in the book, Crooks is called a “nigger” (20) by different people because of his skin color. This form of marginalizing someone is mainly because of the time period in the book, which is when racism was occurring. In this time period, the blacks were slaves of whites, and blacks were basically considered property, so this is why the men in the book were insulting Crooks with such a derogatory