Discrimination In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

“No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.” This quote said by Nelson Mandela perfectly sums up why people discriminate and how easy it would be to stop. Of Mice and Men is a story that displays many acts of discrimination throughout the whole story with almost every character. The novella describes discrimination not just through race, but with gender, different disabilities, and age. Discrimination in Of Mice and Men is demonstrated by agism against Candy, racism against Crooks, and disability discrimination against Lennie. Throughout the novella Lennie, faces a tremendous amount of discrimination because of his mental disability. Lennie’s disability: It is implied that Lennie has had mental challenges since birth that have affected him throughout his life. Many people think lower of him, or just use him for his strength. George said to Slim “Used to play jokes on ‘im ‘cause he was too dumb to take care of ‘imself. But he was too dumb to even know he had a joke

Crooks is African American, and in this time many people treated African American’s horribly so not many people tried to understand him. He was treated like an animal, almost everyone called him names, and no one tried to even get to know him. In the novella Of Mice and Men Crooks says, ”…You go on get outta my room. I ain’t wanted in the bunk house, and you ain’t wanted in my room.” "Why ain’t you wanted?" Lennie asked. "’Cause I’m black…" (67). This quote shows that people do not want to talk or stay with Crooks because he is different. Crooks wants to be understood, but no one tries to get to know him because of his skin color. Crooks is a misunderstood person that just wants to be