Similarities Between John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

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Imagine awaiting the day you would be put to death and not being able to comprehend the wrong you have committed. Maybe your intentions were good, yet you were unable to express yourself in ordinary means. Is this an ethical cause to pursue? According to USA TODAY by Richard Wolf, "From 1984 to 2001, 44 people with mental retardation were executed" (text 2). Were those who were put to death aware of what had occurred or were their actions utilized as a self defense mechanism? An individual who is mentally impaired and convicted of homicide should not receive the death penalty due to their intellectual capacity. A person diagnosed with a mental disorder is confronted with the difficulty of carrying out a normal means of functioning. They…show more content…
What one may perceive as a simple task, someone with a disability will be unable to complete. As illustrated during the Supreme Court ruling in 2002, '"the mentally retarded should be categorically excluded from execution because of their disabilities in areas of reasoning, judgment, and control of their impulses"' (text 3). Since those suffering this impediment cannot survive on their own, they should not be held accountable for their actions. Not being able to put their own attention on themselves as well as have rational thoughts makes those afflicted by mental retardation by no means responsible for the lives of others. John Steinbeck, the author of Of Mice and Men, would agree with this statement when writing, "Course he ain't mean. But he gets in trouble alla time because he's so god damn dumb... He s seen this girl in a red dress... So he reaches out to feel this red dress an' the girl lets out a squawk... That gets Lennie all mixed up and he holds on 'cause that's the only thing he can do" (Steinbeck 40). An individual with this disorder may be unaware of their boundaries with others, causing them to exceed their limitations. In addition, they may not be able to recognize an appropriate manner of conducing
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