Of Mice and Men- civil rights essay

“Judgments prevent us from seeing the good that lies beyond appearances”
(“Quotegarden”). Prejudice is simply a prejudgment of something without relative facts.
Gender, age, race, and disabilities fuel people’s judgments (“Understanding
Prejudice”). Of Mice and Men is filled with good examples of discrimination in America during the 1920’s. Lennie, Crooks, and Curley’s wife are the major examples. Not many people have heard of ableism. It is the discrimination against people with disabilities (“disabled feminists”). Lennie Small suffers from this. He has social prejudice for being disabled. Without George, Lennie has a hard time socially interacting with others. He often gets left behind at the bunk house and left out of the card games the other men play. His poor memory, his stutters, and his likes for soft things show his disability. He acts like an innocent child (“Shmoop”). People don’t always understand his disability. Especially in the 1920’s when this story took place. “If he finds out what a crazy bastard you are, we won’t get no job,” (“Of Mice and Men”). People with disabilities did not get jobs very offend back then. The only person who seemed to understand Lennie was George. Some people couldn’t accept their friendship (“Shmoop”). Racism is a more population form of discrimination. In Of Mice and Men, Crooks is a victim of racial bias. Crooks is left out of most of the activities the other men take part in. He doesn’t get invited to go out to town with the men and never is asked to join in their card games. Crooks isn’t even allowed in the white men’s bunkhouse. He lives in a shack by himself. As a result he became bitter and lonely. When Lennie entered Crooks bunk, Crooks was angered. “I aint wanted in the bunk house, you aint wanted in mine,”
(“Of Mice and Men”). Crooks was not use to white men visiting him.

Sexism is a discrimination, typically against women, regarding their gender
(“Understanding Prejudice”). Curley’s wife is a victim of sexism in this novel. In Of
Mice and Men, Curley’s wife has no name. This shows the low status of women in that time period. She is only referred to as a bitch, a tramp, and a tart. “I’ve never seen no piece of jail bait worse then her.” The men all make fun of her. They see her as trouble and never take the time to listen to her wants and needs. When someone finally does listen, he ends up accidentally killing her.

Since the 1920‘s, things have changed. Civil rights laws have been set up to protect the rights of the disabled, the elderly, African Americans, women, and other people who suffered from discrimination. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed those major forms of discrimination (“withy law”). Other laws such as the Equal Pay Act of
1963 and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 prohibited sex-based and age-based prejudice (“withy law”). Today, all American citizen’s have the same basic rights. Everyone has equal educational, social, economical, and political Opportunities
(“scholastic”). No longer is it acceptable to let judgments fuel people’s opinions.