Lennie's Death In Of Mice And Men By John Steinbeck

In Of Mice and Men, a tragic social novella by John Steinbeck, that takes place in Salinas Valley, California during The Great Depression, we follow two great friends as they travel looking for work. George and Lennie, migrant workers, who work on a ranch to pursue their American Dream. While working on the ranch, they face many challenges such as loneliness, death, sorrow and violence that are a result of inequality created systemic racism, misogyny, ableism and ageism. Throughout this story we see Lennie, who is cared for by George, accidentally kills mice, a puppy, and Curley’s wife due to his disability that causes him to behave like a child with uncontrollable Herculean strength. In this tragic novella Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, society in this case is most to blame for Lennie’s death for the reason being of how society viewed disabled people and how it allowed the mistreatment.

As George finds out that Lennie killed Curley’s wife, he does not really know what to do with Lennie, Slim consolely explains to George, “An’s’pose they lock him up an’ strap him down and put him in a cage” (Steinbeck 97). In making this comment Slim is trying to tell George that it will be best to treat him that way, and kill him out of mercy. Society did not think people with disabilities should be treated the same as “normal” people. Society not only viewed disabled people differently, but it also allowed the mistreatment towards