Role Of Racism In Of Mice And Men And The Pearl By John Steinbeck

Both Of Mice and Men and The Pearl are literary pieces from the author John Steinbeck. One (OMAM) contains two main characters, George and Lennie who are two people living in the Great Depression just trying to make a little money by working on a farm. Lennie is big in stature but due to a mental disability, needs assistance from George just to do basic tasks. On the other hand, George is a small, skinny man who took it upon himself to take care of Lennie after his aunt died. The Pearl not having a specific time of when it took place, is about two parents, Kino and Juana, poor like George and Lennie, attempting to pay for a doctor’s appointment for their child (Coyotito) who received a scorpion sting with an abnormally large sized pearl but having the misfortune that they get an unfair estimate on the value of that said pearl. Ultimately leading to them throwing the pearl back where it came from, the ocean. Having

Taking place in Of Mice and Men, there is a character by the name of Crooks who is an African American who is repeatedly said the n-word to. During a scene where Lennie, Crooks, and another character, Curley’s wife are having a conversation, Curley’s Wife attacks and threaten Crooks by defiantly saying, “‘Well, you keep your place then n*gger. I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain 't even funny,’” (OMAN 81). Calling him by the n-word, a racial slur, is the one of the most racist things one could say to an African American. And as a person of color, Crooks realizes and sees all this happening, just before the conversation, Lennie asked, “‘Why ain’t you wanted. Cause I 'm black,’” Crooks responded (OMAN 68). Crooks sees all of the small but racist actions that are done upon him by the other workers, not letting him play cards, saying he stinks, Crooks knows that this is all just because he is