Stereotyping In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

In Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck one of the main themes is stereotyping. A stereotype is when people are grouped as being the same. There has always been stereotyping, and while some people break stereotypes or do not believe in them, there is still a number of people who do. Being stereotyped can make people want to act like what they are stereotyped as. Being stereotyped can slowly change how you act and who you are. Trying to break stereotypes, Lennie and George, Slim, Crooks, and Curley’s wife go against the norm for people like them in Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. Throughout Of Mice and Men the ranch workers do stereotypical things and things that go against what others stereotype them as. Before getting to know Slim, he seems like a stereotypical ranch worker, but he does many things that go against the ranch worker stereotype. George quickly trusts Slim because of his calm and trustworthy demeanor, and after telling Slim about why they had to leave Weed (Steinbeck). “Slim neither [encourages] nor [discourages]” (Steinbeck) George to talk, and after George tells him, Slim does not judge George and Lennie. Slim shows his kindness by giving Lennie a puppy from
At the beginning of the book, the reader may see her as a flirt. The workers believe that she should stay in the house, cook, clean and only talk to her husband like most wives in 1929 (Steinbeck). She breaks the stereotype that believes women should stay in their house and cook and clean (Steinbeck). It is easy to see her as the antagonist because there is “no piece of jail bait worse than her” (Steinbeck), but towards the end of the book she shows a different side of herself. It becomes easier and easier to see her as a rebellious girl that is trying to make something of herself instead of an unloyal flirt. By doing this, Steinbeck shows that everyone stereotypes people without knowing what they are really