Discrimination In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

688 Words3 Pages
Discrimination “Defeating racism, tribalism, intolerance and all forms of discrimination will liberate us all, victim and perpetrator alike” Ban Ki-moon. The book, Of Mice and Men, written by John Steinbeck, was published around the 1930’s which was during the Great Depression. In the book, three main characters experience discrimination. Those three main characters are Curley’s wife, Crooks, and Lennie. Crooks experiences racism, Lennie is taught differently because of his disability, and Curley’s wife is treated differently because of her gender. Curly’s wife faced discrimination throughout the book because of her gender. Many characters didn’t even see Curley’s wife as a human, they just saw her as an object that shouldn’t be messed with. George said, “She’s gonna make a mess. They’s gonna be a bad mess about her. She’s a jail bait all set on the trigger. Then Curley got his work cut out for him. Ranch with a bunch of guys on it ain’t no place for a girl, specially like her.” Clearly, George and many other characters felt like she was a problem that should be avoided in order to stay out of trouble. Another example of Curley’s wife being discriminated was when she was trying to talk to Lennie in the barn house but Lennie wouldn’t talk to her for two…show more content…
Even though Crooks was one of the best workers on that farm he didn’t receive the respect that he deserved. “Well, you keep your place then, Nigger. I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain’t even funny.” Crooks had reduced himself to nothing. There was no personality, no ego-nothing to arouse either like or dislike. Crooks says, “yes, ma’am,” and his voice was toneless. Obviously,Crooks experienced a lot of racism and disrespect. Another example of racism against Crooks was that they didn’t refer to him as Crooks they referred to him as Nigger. He also was forced to sleep by himself because of his skin
Open Document