Of mice and men prejudice and alienation article

Prejudice of many groups of persons was prevalent in America during the Great Depression time. In the thirties when the book took place, there is an extreme quantity of racism and sexism, little to no understanding of mental impairment, and assumedly a great deal of ageism. In _Of Mice and Men, _ John Steinbeck uses misjudgment to demonstrate the concept of the alienation through ageism, racism, sexism, and ableism.

Candy was a classic man who also lived within the farm who lost his hand in a major accident while functioning.

The farm hands frequently tortured Candies by sharing with him that his puppy was as well old pertaining to his own good, and that he would be better off dead. Candies takes this personally, let’s assume that they were insinuating that he was also useless to the farm, and too old to get his very own good. The man knows that this may be the only task he’ll ever before have, taking into consideration he only has only had one hand and is as well old to accomplish hard labor and explained, “‘When they will me here I wisht somebody’d shoot me… I will not have no place to go, an’ I can’t get no more jobs'” (60).

The different men appreciate this and rule out Candy for his distinctions. Slim, one other ranch hands, talking about Candy’s dog explained, “‘I wisht somebody’d take me if I got old and a cripple'” (45). Candy’s puppy is an obvious parallel to Candy great physical circumstances that prevent him by working.

Showing racism, Steinbeck uses the smoothness Crooks, a black steady buck who also lives on the ranch. Though sometimes in the book it seems that Criminals isolates him self, it is very clear towards the end of the book that the other men steer clear of associating with him due to color of his skin. A lot of the other hacienda hands make reference to Crooks while “nigger”, a very offensive term, instead of his actual brand. Crooks prevents getting into trouble by remaining in his area (which is in the barn together with the animals) remaining out of the way of the rest of the males.

At 1 point, Criminals aggravates Curley’s wife, as a response the girl threatened, “‘Well you keep your place then, nigger. I could acquire you strung up on a shrub so quickly it ain’t even funny'” (87). When Crooks is definitely talking to Lennie and Candy, he confides in them about his loneliness, admitting, “A dude sets exclusively here at evening, maybe readin’ books or perhaps thinkin’ or stuff like that. Sometimes this individual gets thinkin’, an’ this individual got nothin’ to tell him what’s therefore an’ what ain’t so” (73).

Sexism is another main issue with the novel, and it is shown through the persona of Curley’s wife. Curley’s wife, is who your woman sounds like she’s, because she is married to Curley, the son of the head in the ranch. The girl with never provided a brand, which was likely to show you that the only relevance the lady had was that she was Curley’s control in a way, since she was his wife and had not been allowed to speak to anyone although him. Curley’s wife continuously cries to get attention since she, just like many of the various other characters from this novel, seems lonely most of the time. The men don’t realize why the girl does, and take this as thought she is only being “slutty” in a sense because she failed to like Curley.

George is talking to Chocolate when he says his first sight of Curley’s wife. George said, “‘Well, seems Curley’s married… a tart, ‘” because he did not empathize Curley’s wife’s solitude (28). In turn, Curley’s wife is alone for her sexuality, and admits to Thieves, Lennie, and Candy that she desires she had people to talk to and have chat with. Whilst talking to three other “outcasts” on the farmville farm she admitted, “‘I can’t talk to nobody but Curley. Else he gets mad'” (87). It really is more and more noticeable throughout the publication that the additional ranch hands don’t want to make Curley annoyed by talking to his partner, but in the finish she is continue to alienated because she is a lady.

The most familiar prejudice through this novel was the ablelism toward Lennie. Lennie, the main figure of the book, had some form of mental disorder that eliminated him coming from remembering items and also by controlling the motor unit function and decision making relating to his hands, but of course in this time period there was clearly no understanding of such conditions. Lennie was your most kind-hearted, innocent personality in this book because he won’t understand succinct, pithy alienation or prejudice toward someone because of their sex, competition, age, etc . He aren’t take care of himself, so his best friend George tells him what to do. During one portion of the book once George is usually talking to Slender, George discusses how he used to treat Lennie: “‘I used to have a hell of a lot of entertaining with him.

Used to perform jokes in ‘im ’cause he was too dumb to deal with ‘imself'” (40). Soon after, George told Thin that this individual stopped messing with Lennie as they told him once to jump in a river, and Lennie almost drowned and died because he didn’t know how to swim, and didn’t find out any better than to just tune in to what George says. At the end of the book when Curley found out that Lennie experienced killed his wife, he took it out in anger because he would not understand that Lennie couldn’t control himself, purchasing, “‘When the thing is ‘um, don’t give ‘im no possibility, shoot for his guts'” (97). Lennie is definitely alienated in this novel as a result of his handicap and is separated (and killed) as a result.

In sum, Steinbeck uses ageism, sexism, racism, and ableism to convey the theme of furor in _Of Mice and Men_. Inside the scene with all four in the alienated character types in Crooks’s room, Curley’s wife stated in disappointment with the reality she has not just one to talk to, “‘Standin’ here talkin’ to a bunch of bindle stiffs- a nigger an’ a dum-dum and a shitty ol’ sheep- an’ likin’ it since they ain’t got nobody else. ‘” (78) This kind of line is incredibly significant as it shows that even though they are all excluded from the most the farm hands, and from contemporary society in general, they realize that they can turn to the other person when they think lonely.

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