Discrimination In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

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“A sad soul can kill quicker than a germ.” (John Steinbeck). In the novella Of Mice and Men, discrimination is a major part of the plot; it makes people feel lonely and fend only for themselves. Lennie, Crooks, Candy, and Curly’s wife are discriminated against immensely, in ways considered racist, ageist, and sexist. Discrimination is a major part of society in the 1930’s, which is when this novella was written and based upon, and is represented in the plot. Racial discrimination is very prevalent in the plot of Of Mice and Men and is represented by those who face discrimination. “Well, you keep your place then, nigger. I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain’t even funny” (Curley’s Wife 81). This quote demonstrates Curley’s wife…show more content…
Curley’s wife, being the only young woman on the ranch, is isolated because of her husband. “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. That 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” (Crooks 51). George makes himself very clear in not having anything to do with her, because of Curly. In the plot, Curly gets into a fight with Slim because Curley’s wife entered the barn after Slim. This causes the characters in the book to isolate her, like Slim and George. This further isolation eventually lead to her death, but isolation is not the only form of sexism. Curley’s wife was also treated like half human half object, Curley’s play thing. “Well, that glove's fulla Vaseline. Vaseline? What the hell for? Well, I will tell ya what—Curley says he's keepin' that hand soft for his wife." (Candy 27) As seen in the quote, he may be trying to please her, but she has to do whatever he says. Later in the plot even the mentally handicapped treated her as though she is an object, and thrashed her around like a doll. Sometimes even other women treated other women like objects, like when Curley's Wife's mother said she could not go with a man because she was young. As proven, sexism is very clear in the plot, and sexism ultimately lead to the tragic end of…show more content…
“George can tell you screwy things, and it don't matter It's just the talking. It's just bein' with another guy. That's all" (Crooks 70). Lennie is even segregated by his closest friend, George, who has always been there for him. He doesn’t understand, which is discouraging, because people took advantage of this. George and a few of his buddies messed around with him and told him to jump into a body of water nearby, so he did and almost drowned. This is not the only way he was discriminated though, he almost didn’t get to work because of his disability. "That ranch we're goin' to is right down there about a quarter mile. We're gonna go in an' see the boss. Now, look—I'll give him the work tickets, but you ain't gonna say a word. You jus' stand there and don't say nothing. If he finds out what a crazy bastard you are, we won't get no job, but if he sees ya work before he hears ya talk, we're set" (George
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