Of Mice and Men is a realistic novel from the 1930s with historical lessons of great significance. Many parents are strongly convinced Of Mice and Men is too inappropriate and vulgar for their teenaged children. However there are also many teachers and students who disagree. The teachers want them to read this book for the history and lessons it teaches the students. This essay will be explaining why Of Mice and Men should be taught in high schools in the US. Of Mice and Men is banned in many high schools, due to its foul language, violence and racism, it should be allowed in high schools because of its realistic lessons about American history and peer review.
This book has multiple lessons about the history …show more content…
This book helps people who weren’t there, obtain a good perspective of what happened because of its realistic, historical accuracy in both language and how people were treated. To emphasise, “John Steinbeck’s use of words is to express the way people talked in the 1930’s. Vulgar words were used more frequently than not, and John Steinbeck got his point of history across very well by including them.”(Should of Mice and Men be Banned Worldwide). Similarly, the blacks and whites are treated differently during this time and this book shows it in an appropriate fashion. “ ‘Listen nigger. She said.’ You know what I can do if you open your trap? . . . Well you keep your place then, nigger.” (Pg. 80). Coupled with, “For a moment she stood over him as though waiting for him to move again so that she could whip him again;” (Pg.81). While this event may be uncomfortable for many readers, it is an important part of our history and if we do not learn about it, it could end up happening again. Finally, back then many people wanted to have a farm or their own piece of land so that they could be their own bosses and live a peaceful life. Some also wanted to get rich off of gold and this book talks about both at some point. For instance, Lennie and George say “live on the fatta the lan’.”( throughout the book) many times …show more content…
In this cost vs benefits scenario parents agree that the cost is too high while the teachers believe the benefits are worth the cost. The “cost” in this case would be, teens between the age of 14 and 15 are reading foul language in their heads and, in some cases, outloud. Also, some parents do not like their children reading about rape. “The description of the book the teacher included mentioned that there was a rape,” said (Lisa Baldwin), “but not that it was the rape of a child and it was the homosexual rape of a child, which I felt was something parents needed to know.” This book, by definition, does not have any rape in it. In contrast,Teachers find the lessons to be worth the profanity, “This is my third consecutive year teaching the novel and I imagine I’ll be teaching it for years to come. The students love it.” (By William Johnson). Also, the teachers are not teaching this book to elementary or middle schoolers, all the students who are reading this book are between 13 and 16,almost adults. Furthermore, when the teachers were allowed to teach this book, here are some of the things the students said, “Occasionally it's nice to be reminded of life's simple pleasures. The book of Mice and Men written by John Steinbeck did for me what only a classic book such as this can.” (MegaEssay.com) and “ ‘Of Mice and Men’ shows us a great