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Disabilities In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

584 Words3 Pages

"We're born alone we live alone die alone. Only through love and friendship can we create the illusion for the moment that we're not alone” Orson Welles. In John Steinbeck's novel, “Of Mice and Men”, Steinbeck focuses on the struggle of having a disability while struggling to get by during the American Great Depression on a Californian ranch life. Even though one may have to live around their disability, they do not let that become a big stepping stone in the life, whether they know about it or not. In John Steinbeck's novel, “Of Mice and Men”, Lennie Small, Carlson and Crooks are three great examples of how they keep living their lives despite the facts that they each have a disabilities to their lives.
Lennie Small, being complete opposite of his name, is a big man and has a really good friend. He has a mentally like one of a child. “[George] heard Lennie’s whimpering cry and wheeled about. "Blubberin’ like a baby! Jesus Christ! A big guy like you!" Lennie’s lip quivered and tears started in his eyes. "Aw, Lennie!" George put his hand on Lennie’s shoulder. "I ain’t takin’ it away jus’ for meanness. That mouse …show more content…

He has this big dream of living at a ranch, with his own family, and what a typical ranch has. Unfortunately, he cannot pursue his dream. Crooks is African American. The setting of the novel is during the 1930s which is America's time of the Great Depression. Therefore racial equality by law has a long way to go. Since racial equality does not exist yet, he is subjected to racial inferiority and will not be able to live the life he wishes to live.
If it was not for this assignment, I would of missed such an enjoyable novel as this. Just like in reality, each character in “Of Mice and Men”, had their own disability or wall that they needed to climb over in order to get through life. Honestly, I'm not a great fan of killing animals or anything really but in a sense understand Lennie and

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Lennie is a gentle guy who can 't really control his reactions while in a sudden moment. He makes mistakes very quickly to where he can 't control the outcome. He is a strong guy who isn 't very smart, he lets george do all the thinking out of there group. And his short of intelligence escapes him when he gets into a serious matter. He makes a lot of mistakes very often, but he gets by because everyone knows how he is.

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679 Words | 3 Pages

A great example from the book would be when George heard Lennie’s whimpering cry and wheeled about, “Blubberin’ like a baby! Jesus Christ! A big guy like you!” Lennie’s lip quivered and tears started in his eyes. “Aw, Lennie!”

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630 Words | 3 Pages

Due to his race, he was segregated, and was not allowed to associate with white people. Crooks was the loneliest person on the ranch because his color, there is a lot of racism at the point and so they were considered lower. On page 68 it states " I ain't wanted in the bunkhouse and you ain't wanted in my room.

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1355 Words | 6 Pages

“Only 50 years ago persons with intellectual disabilities were scorned, isolated and neglected. Today, they are able to attend school, become employed and assimilate into their local community” (Nelson Mandela). Prior to the later part of the 20th century people with intellectual disabilities were often ridiculed, treated unfairly, feared, and locked away in institutions. According to Rhonda Nauhaus and Cindy Smith in their article Disability Rights through the Mid-20th Century, The laws of any nation reflect its societal values. The real life issue of discrimination towards people with intellectual disabilities in the United States and Australia is demonstrated in the novel, Of Mice and Men by showing how this issue affects one of the main characters, Lennie Smalls.

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559 Words | 3 Pages

Lonely Characters in Of Mice And Men Imagine a world where people didn’t really care what one said to another, and neither cared enough to ask each other questions. A place where everyone existed in silence, but were together at the same time. As portrayed in the novel, Of Mice And Men by John Steinbeck, in which Steinbeck’s idea of loneliness is isolation in silences. The author teaches the reader that friendship is mostly about conversation, and magnifies the effects of isolation through the eyes of Crooks, Curley’s wife and Candy.

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He acts with great loyalty to George but has no concept of the word. Lennie is a large, lumbering, childlike migrant worker who is kindhearted and gentle. He has unimaginable strength but doesn’t quite understand just how strong he is. Lennie completely depends on George.

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706 Words | 3 Pages

Lennie Small is a rather large and mentally disabled man. His mental disability is what ultimately kills him in the end, as he has no control over his immense strength. This is shown through the many mice that he had killed, which is proven during Lennie and George’s conversation about mice. Lennie talked about his Aunt Clara, his mother figure in a sense, and how she always used to give him mice. George proceeded to tell Lennie “An’ she stopped givem ‘em to ya.

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797 Words | 4 Pages

This historical time period inspires writers such as John Steinbeck to write and inform others about the hardships of the 1930’s. Steinbeck centers Of Mice and Men to exhibit how life’s difficulties inhibited the American Dream. The Great Depression, the Dust Bowl, and many acts of inequality made an impact on the American Dream in this time period. John Steinbeck tells about the American Dream using rhetorical devices such as parallel structures, paradox and pathos.

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796 Words | 4 Pages

One’s self has experienced loneliness from choice or forced into isolation. The novel ¨Of Mice and Men¨ written by John Steinbeck, took place during the Great Depression, near Soledad, California. The protagonist, George and the antagonist, Lennie are mid aged, white men who are working on a ranch with other mid aged, white men. Along with ones who aren’t as focused at the time, such as Crooks, the negro or black, Curley’s wife, the woman and, Candy, the old and weak man were treated differently from all the white, strong males in the novel due to the setting the novel. This making distance in relationships in Of Mice and Men, isolating these characters into loneliness.

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441 Words | 2 Pages

“No matter how much sometimes you dare to dream, send happy thoughts into the universe, no matter what you do some of your dreams will never come true” (Unknown). In Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, at the time of the Great Depression, two men, George and Lennie, venture to California in hopes to find work. Because Lennie is wanted for raping a woman, George and Lennie must escape the “law” by fleeing to the next town. Through the character of Lennie, Steinbeck shows that issues outside the control of an individual often limit the achievement of his dreams. “‘But he never hurt her.

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737 Words | 3 Pages

George treated Lennie like a brother, he loved Lennie very dearly from the beginning to the

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857 Words | 4 Pages

This scene plays out with George saying “ “Blubberin’ like a baby! Jesus Christ! A big guy like you.” Lennie’s lip quivered and tears started in his eyes.” (9).

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705 Words | 3 Pages

Mental and physical disabilities are shown through how the different characters interact with their environment. Disabilities can create obstacles in a person's life but they also allow for other people to create an identity for them. Steinbeck shows that disabilities can create a political statement. They all had dreams to be something better than what they were but the tag that society gave them they were unable to pursue their thoughts and ideas. All these characters possed the same characteristic of being hopeless but in reality if they were given hope they may have been able to achieve their ambitions, prospects, and

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513 Words | 3 Pages

Crooks was forced to sleep in a separate room next to the stable, apart from the bunks where the rest of the ranch workers resided. Crooks was unable to participate in anything that the rest of the ranch workers did. All of this was a result of his ethnicity. “ “Cause I’m black. They play cards, but I can’t play because I’m black.

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573 Words | 3 Pages

“But little Mouse, you are not alone,” is a quote from the poem by Robert Burns, To A Mouse. This quote directly relates to how some of men treat Lennie, Slim and George want to feel like Lennie’s companion. However, Curley feels very intimidated by Lennie because he is big and gets special treatment from the men. In chapter 3, Curley picks a fight with Lennie and instead of stopping Lennie from hurting Curley the men egg Lennie on, Lennie ends up breaking Curley’s hand. Crooks and Curley’s wife have another point of view on Lennie, both of them at different times try to show Lennie that George might not always be as faithful as he has been.

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