Of Mice and Me
Of Mice and Men
John Steinbeck’s ‘Of Mice and Men’ reveals to us a prejudice society where people are not treated fairly. The novel is set during the Great Depression, this period in time influenced people to be have prejudice to one another. The ways in which we see people not being treated fairly is the way they see Lennie, Candy and Crooks as either weak or old and this is why they are discriminated against.
One of the characters in ‘Of Mice and Men’ that is not treated fairly is Candy. At the beginning of the novel we learn that Candy is very old, weak and is missing a hand. During these times we learn that the elderly aren’t really cared about or treated well, we also see this by the way the ranch men treat Candy’s dog. “That dog of Candy is so god damn old”; “you get Candy to shoot his old dog”. This event of the killing of Candy’s dog makes Candy fall into depression and grief because it shows us that if you’re old, weak and useless you must be disposed of because you are only seen as a waste of space. This event is also significant because Steinbeck is showing us how Carlson’s attitude towards wanting to kill the dog simply because he was old and useless reflects on the people in society and how they only cared about themselves and how they don’t consider other people’s feelings.
Crooks is another character in the novel that has been treated unfairly. Crooks received a lot of racism simply because he was a coloured man. Crooks has a broken back resulting in him being known as a disabled stable buck. The men working on the ranch always refer to rooks as a ‘nigger’ even though he was never a slave in Africa but in fact was born in America. Crooks is not allowed to join the men in the bunk house so he is forced to live in the barn with the horses because they don’t want to be with him. "Cause I'm black, they play cards in there but I can't play because I'm black. They say I stink.” This quote shows us how they are excluding him from playing a game of
John Steinbeck’s ‘Of Mice and Men’ reveals to us a prejudice society where people are not treated fairly. The novel is set during the Great Depression, this period in time influenced people to be have prejudice to one another. The ways in which we see people not being treated fairly is the way they see Lennie, Candy and Crooks as either weak or old and this is why they are discriminated against.
One of the characters in ‘Of Mice and Men’ that is not treated fairly is Candy. At the beginning of the novel we learn that Candy is very old, weak and is missing a hand. During these times we learn that the elderly aren’t really cared about or treated well, we also see this by the way the ranch men treat Candy’s dog. “That dog of Candy is so god damn old”; “you get Candy to shoot his old dog”. This event of the killing of Candy’s dog makes Candy fall into depression and grief because it shows us that if you’re old, weak and useless you must be disposed of because you are only seen as a waste of space. This event is also significant because Steinbeck is showing us how Carlson’s attitude towards wanting to kill the dog simply because he was old and useless reflects on the people in society and how they only cared about themselves and how they don’t consider other people’s feelings.
Crooks is another character in the novel that has been treated unfairly. Crooks received a lot of racism simply because he was a coloured man. Crooks has a broken back resulting in him being known as a disabled stable buck. The men working on the ranch always refer to rooks as a ‘nigger’ even though he was never a slave in Africa but in fact was born in America. Crooks is not allowed to join the men in the bunk house so he is forced to live in the barn with the horses because they don’t want to be with him. "Cause I'm black, they play cards in there but I can't play because I'm black. They say I stink.” This quote shows us how they are excluding him from playing a game of