Discrimination In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

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Novels will often make comment on issues such as discriminating against people for their sex, race and disability; either mental or physical. This one of the main themes of Of Mice and Men written by John Steinbeck, which relates and discusses these topics of racism, sexism and discriminate against mental or physical disability. Of Mice and Men communicates this theme of discrimination by the use of speech and how the characters act through the characterisation of the characters, and the setting of the novel.. To have more attention drawn to these issues I believe is so important because we are still faced discrimination, which is completely wrong and Steinbeck presents that unless you were a ‘normal’, white man, you were treated differently. …show more content…
Basically, people believed that coloured people being lesser than us was morally correct. The only mentioned person of colour in this novel is Crooks, the stable buck. He worked on the farm tending the horses as a means of cheap labour and slept in the stables, for in those days black people were segregated. Lennie tried to enter Crooks room and was told, “I ain’t wanted in the bunkhouse, and you ain’t wanted in my room” by Crooks. When he says, “I ain’t wanted in the bunkhouse” shows how he was not permitted to live in the same area as the other white men due to his colour, therefore when Lennie came to enter his room he had set up an emotional barrier to other people. Crooks is aware that it is merely for his colour, and we see this when Lennie asks why he isn’t wanted his response is “Cause I’m black”. The other men aren't shy and do not care how irrational their reasons are for treating him this way, making Crooks an accurate example of a black man living with prejudice around the 1930’s when the book was set. This is communicated through the use of dialogue within characterisation, and from the words we hear from Crooks we see what an isolated character he is. We can assume that Crooks is most likely the loneliest character in the book, even though at first he denied Lennie’s company; …show more content…
In the novel, there is only one main female character which is Curley’s wife; who isn’t even given a name. This novel is aimed at men, and during the time it was written women were labelled as ‘objects’ as they were not important. What the men don't know is that Curley’s wife is very lonely, but assume other because they are misunderstanding and only know of the women they have met at cat houses and guess she is no different. We are able to see in the characters dialogue, through characterisation. George said spoke about her, saying: “She’s gonna make a mess. They’s gonna be a bad mess about her. That Curley guy got his work cut out for him. Ranch with a bunch of guys ain’t no place for a girl, specially like her.” The final sentence, ‘ranch with a bunch of guys ain’t no place for a girl, specially like her’, tells us how George believes that she does not belong at the ranch with ‘a bunch of guys’. They believe the flirtatious way she acts and provocative clothing is to lure other men to her and cause a ‘mess’, when in reality it is merely to communicate with other people for she too is very lonely. George refers to her, “Jesus what a tramp” showing how other men perceive her without fully understanding her of her intentions. This is shown through the speech of the characters, how they communicate with each other and express their opinions on Curley’s wife. They talk about her behind her back, which I feel is
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