By including the defensive actions characters show when around other people, Steinbeck shows the difficulty of trusting someone once you have been hurt in the past due to discrimination. When Lennie enters Crooks’ house, he was immediately told to exit by Crooks himself. At the sight of Lennie standing at the entrance of his home, Crooks had a sense of invasion and felt like Lennie had “no right” to be in his house. Steinbeck includes this reaction to demonstrate the difficulty of trusting a person once discrimination has been a big part of your life. This understanding that trust is a difficult thing to earn from someone who has previously ben discriminated is also shown when Lennie and George are trying to gain Candy’s trust. At first Candy …show more content…
During the conversation with Crooks, Lennie, Candy and herself, Curley’s wife used foul language about Crooks’ race and bullied him for being “black”. This was due to her feeling that her heritage was very superior compared to Crooks’ dark heritage. At the time, white people had much more power of black people, which is why Curley’s wife was able to easily discriminate and abuse Crooks about his race. Steinbeck includes this scenario to express the how having power over your peers can lead you to making their lives miserable if your authority is used incorrectly. Another instance where power comes into play when discriminating a person is the relationship between Curley and his wife. Curley’s wife is constantly told to stay in the house and is restricted on her conversations with the other ranch men which is why she is on the “lookout” for Curley whenever she is around the other men. The amount of fear and abuse Curley has put on his wife is because he finds that since he is a male he should oversee her and the relationship. Steinbeck includes both interactions to demonstrate how power plays a big part in