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How Does Steinbeck Use Discrimination In Of Mice And Men

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Loneliness and Discrimination: Of Mice and Men Essay Of Mice and Men took place in the 1930s this was the era of the Great Depression. The Great Depression was a downfall in our history where money and industrial jobs slumped. In the 1930s loneliness had a direct correlation with discrimination. In Steinbeck’s novella Lennie, Crooks, and Curley’s wife experienced loneliness due to preconceived notions about intellectual ability, race, and gender. Back during the time period of the Great Depression if there was anyone with a disability they were looked at differently, and it seemed to be the case with Lennie. Lennie has this unknown mental disability that is revealed in the novella when he pets a dead mouse. Lennie is lonely because he does not really have friends nor family he only has George which he depends upon for everything. Lennie is already considered a lonely person because he lives on a ranch. According to George, “Guys like us that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They don’t belong no place” (Steinbeck 13). On the ranch there is discrimination but Lennie is …show more content…

The only female on the ranch was Curley’s wife. Curley’s wife had restrictions placed on her by her husband prohibiting her from being able to do certain things because she was the only female. By these restrictions being in place she had no one. Yes, she was married to Curley but no it was not because she loved him. So, she lived in the house with a man whom she never really loved. She was in the house all day because she didn’t have a job. No one on the ranch would dare talk to her when Curley was around and even when he wasn’t they still wouldn’t communicate with her. It is evident the guys do not communicate with her when she comments “I never get to talk to nobody. I get awful lonely” (Steinbeck 86). Curley’s wife is given no attention and that is her main source of

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873 Words | 4 Pages

As the only women on the ranch, this causes Curley's wife to be the minority to all of the men on the farm. This causes her to become very lonely and isolated since she is the only women. In the texts Curley's wife says, “‘I get lonely,’... ‘You can talk to people, but I can't talk to nobody but Curley. Else he gets mad, ‘How’d you like not to talk to anybody?’”

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276 Words | 2 Pages

I myself find Curley 's wife to be a bit misunderstood. She is the only woman on a ranch full of grown men who work all day, I can see how she could get lonely and seek attention to herself to pass the time. Meester states that John Steinbeck isn’t being outright

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427 Words | 2 Pages

There was nowhere in the novel that states there was another female. Curley’s wife didn’t have or wasn’t allowed to have any friends at the ranch. This would contribute to as why she is so lonely. When she did try to make friends with the ranch hands Curley would get mad or they would ignore her. Curley’s wife didn’t understand why they would never talk to her.

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1314 Words | 6 Pages

She expresses these feelings of loneliness when she said to Lennie, “I get lonely,’ she said. ‘You can talk to people, but I can’t talk to nobody but Curley. Else he gets mad. How’d you like not to talk to to anybody?”(87). Understanding that men on the ranch as a group treat Curley’s Wife poorly, it can be inferred that the men as individuals treat her fairly: “If I catch any one man, and he’s alone, I get along fine with him.

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2354 Words | 10 Pages

In the novella Of Mice and Men, published in 1937, John Steinbeck shares the controversial story of two ranch men, George and Lennie. The story highlights the oppression many types of people face by sharing not just the lives of two ranch men, but also the lives of people that experience marginalization or scapegoating or live alongside minorities. George and Lennie are constantly drifting from one place to another looking for work because of the struggles and challenges they, like many others, face living in a world where people like Lennie experience harsh, unfair treatment. Lennie, a mentally disabled ranch man, is unfairly judged and seen as a target of society's frustration. Further into the book, Steinbeck introduces more characters as

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422 Words | 2 Pages

In “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian” by Sherman Alexie, the most important chapter is “Hope Against Hope” because it shows the theme of hope. This is the chapter where Mr. P talks personally to Junior about life and his sister so he can understand her better. Eventually he tells Junior to leave the reservation and to find a better life for himself. But, without this chapter Junior might not have ever left the reservation and gone to Rearden.

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Kaitlyn Paul Mrs.Schaffer English 11-5 05/02/24 Loneliness will follow In the novel “of mice and men” John Steinbeck masterfully portrays loneliness through several of his many characters. He emphasizes the isolation and desperation that is persuasive in the society of that time. Focusing on three of his troubled characters are George, Crooks, and Curley Wife. Despite being surrounded by others, George feels profoundly isolated, due to the burdens that have been placed on him such as caring for Lennie and his many troubles, and the lack of companionship he seems to often struggle with. In the book George confides in Lennie about his feelings saying, “Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world.

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880 Words | 4 Pages

We all may have had the feeling of loneliness and isolation, wanting companionship feeling abandonment. In John Steinbeck’s novella, Of Mice and Men, there are men living on a ranch having their own reasons for loneliness or being isolated. The three characters Crooks, George, and Lennie crusade dealing with own ways of loneliness and isolation. Crooks has no one that likes him because he’s black, Lennie struggles mentally and George struggles with always having to care for him. They all can’t decide whether it is that they want to be alone or not.

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681 Words | 3 Pages

Lennie was one of the characters that was discriminated. People would call him dumb, and idiot because he would forget things. But what they didn't know was the lennie had a mental disability. In the novel George a character that travels with lennie After Lennie's

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437 Words | 2 Pages

All humans experience a heartbreaking sense of loneliness throughout their lives. The novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck explores the basic aspects of human nature through migrant workers searching for jobs in California during the Great Depression. The experiences of two of these characters: Lennie and Crooks, exposes how loneliness drastically decreases an individual’s quality of life. Crooks’ isolation changes his personality in several ways. Crooks often keeps his emotions in check unlike many of the other characters.

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844 Words | 4 Pages

Over the course of the book, she often tries to have conversations with the other people on the farm to combat her loneliness, but the people on the ranch only see her as disobedient. This negative perception of Curley’s wife leads George to tell Lennie that “[she’ll] get us into a mess,” (p. 88) and that he should not try to interact with her. The assumed actions of Curley’s wife reflect her loneliness. She was denied from acting, which was a dream of hers, and restricted from ever talking to anybody, therefore sinking into a place where she had nothing

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650 Words | 3 Pages

Because Curley’s wife is a girl, everyone on the ranch doesn’t like her. “What kinda harm am i doin’ to you? Seems like they ain’t none of them cares how I gotta live. I tell you I ain’t used to livin’ like this. I coulda made somethin’ of myself” (88).

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723 Words | 3 Pages

“I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an’ he gets sick.” (73) Of Mice and Men follows two men, Lennie and George, as they navigate the desolate society of the Great Depression as ranch hands looking for work. However, surviving the Depression is not their biggest problem, but staying together and staying out of trouble. In Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck illustrates the various ways humans cope with the feeling of loneliness.

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584 Words | 3 Pages

She perhaps is the loneliest person and becomes set apart from the others because she is the only woman on the ranch. Her husband, Curley, ignores her as a person who is needing love and companionship but uses and pushes her around. Curley’s wife has no love for her husband and wishes to leave him but the fact that her father has died and her mom doesn’t want her, she has no way to escape. As she is trying to look for companionship, she tries to find it with the other men on the ranch but most often ignored because they fear of losing their job for associating with her. Everyone knows her as a“Tart,” who is flirtatious and seeking for love.

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602 Words | 3 Pages

Respect Esteem, rather than tolerance, must be the goal to lessen prejudice in life. Discrimination is frequently based on a person’s knowledge, age, or race. For many reasons, people suffer from loneliness as a result of this kind of discrimination. Everybody should receive fair treatment. In the story Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, one can see how discrimination greatly affects Lennie and Crooks, which is important because it shows the detrimental effects of oppression and loneliness.

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