Every human is different, and sometimes that difference leads to one being a social outcast. In the novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, there is a ranch, and on that ranch there are three obvious social outcasts. Lennie, a child in the body of a full grown man, is the first social outcast revealed in the book. As the story goes on, we meet another social outcast, an old man named Candy. The third obvious social outcast is a black man named Crooks. The differences these three men had were big enough differences to make them social outcasts. Lennie is the first social outcast introduced in the story. He has some type of mental disability; his mind appears to be that of a child’s mind and yet he is a full grown man. While other men are driven on the dream of having their own farm (76), Lennie is driven on his dream of “tending to the rabbits” (14,16,57,58,65,69,73,75,80,85,88,89,90,91,101,102,105). Another part of the package in his mental disability, is the fact that he can’t seem to remember anything. When questioned by George about his orders, “Lennie stopped chewing and swallowed. His face was concentrated. I… I ain’t gonna… say a word” (15). …show more content…
Crooks is by far the most pitiful of the three outcasts. We have to keep in mind the setting of this novel. In this time period in history, black people were oppressed. Crooks was not allowed to play cards with the other men, nor was he allowed in the bunkhouse (68). He had to stay out in the stable with the animals, because that’s how big the difference was between him and the other guys. So significant a difference, that he was counted as closer to an animal than to a human being. Crooks expresses his loneliness to Lennie, which makes his case all the more pitiful (70-73). Crooks fits the definition of social outcast better than the other two combined and what’s more shocking is that in the time period, every man of Crooks’ type would be just as