Characters in Of Mice And Men Essay

Peoples Differences in Society

In the novelette Of Mice and Men, the setting was based on the depression era. In those days the different werent treated as to what people are today. They treated people as if they were from a different world. If there was a black, mentally disabled, or a woman like in this book, they treated them differently. John Steinbeck, the author, showed a good example of social injustice in this book. He demonstrates how the weak were abused by the strong and all humans suffered because of it.

First of all, Crooks is an outcast not only because he is black, but also because of his curved spine. Crooks is forced to sleep in the barn, because white people feel they are better then him because he is a different color. When Lennie comes wandering into his room, Crooks says I aint wanted in the bunk house, so you aint wanted in my room (Steinbeck 68). All of the other men on the ranch thinks he smells and is like an animal so they wont let him stay bunk with them. Crooks has nothing but time on his hands. All he does is read and play horse shoes by himself. He is so used to people not talking to him that when Lennie and Candy come into his room, he panics you got no right to come into my room, this heres my room (68). The only time people talk to him is when they are giving him an order, for example to warm up the tar for the horses shoes. This is why he is not sure on what to do when people are meaning to start a conversation with him.

At the same time, Curleys wife is the only woman on the ranch. No one but Curley will talk to her because of the fear of getting in trouble. She would walk up to a guy on the ranch and start talking and they would not even acknowledge that she was even there. Whats the matter with me? Aint I got the right to talk to anybody? (87). All she wanted to do was to just try to fit in. She was a tart. She flirted with every guy on the ranch just to get their attention. By her doing this was one of the main reasons why no one talked to her. The only person she could really be with is Curley, and she does not even like him. She is one of those girls that got mad at her mom and runs off and gets married to the first guy that sets eyes on her. Shes always alone and tries to find someone to talk to and the only one that will listen to her is Lenny. She tells Lenny, seems like no one cares on how I got to live (88). She is always trying to find Curley, so she has some interaction with people. But that is not how the guys take it. They think that thats a way for her to get them in trouble.

Finally, George and Lennie are isolated by the fact that Lennie does not know any Pother life then with George. They were travelling buddies from the start. They went to Weed jointly, got fired from Weed together and went to the ranch together. The guys on the ranch thought that its weird for one guy to stick up for another. Slim even told George, aint many guys travel around together (35). Two men do not usually stand up for each other and when they came along people stare at them like they are crazy. The men also thought that they were always up to something. When they first went in for the job on the ranch, George told Lennie not to talk, to let him do all the talking. When he asked Lennie and question and George answered it for him, he got suspicious.

The boss asked why dont you let him talk? What you trying to pull over? (22). The boss always thought that the reason why Lennie was not talking was because they were trying to hide something from him.

Therefore, Of Mice and Men is a good example of social injustice. Perhaps Steinbeck made the book this way to show the readers how life was like back then, and to try to do something about it. To have all the intelligent people make life a better place to live. No matter how hard the citizens tried to change, they are always going to be different. Social injustice has changed a lot since the depression era. Schools for the mentally disabled, African American and white people can be in the same room together, and women are as powerful as men.