Of Mice And Men Critical Lens

One of the strongest and detrimental effects of disability portrayal in literature on society is how it carries the capability to create stereotypes regarding the disabled community. The direct effect of the portrayal of disabilities in literature on society (or in this case young children) is shown in the article “Is Lennie a monster? A reconsideration of Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men in a 21st century inclusive classroom context” by Clare Lawrence. In this article, Lawrence quoted a research done by Heather Garrison where several adolescents were asked of their thoughts on disabilities after reading Of Mice and Men. In their responses, they “described disability as being ‘abnormal’ or ‘inferior’ and indicated that they were less likely to

In Five Feet Apart by Rachael Lippincott, Mikki Daughtry, and Tobias laconis, medical disabilities are tackled from a personal standpoint, the book is covered in many perspectives, most of which speak from the point of view of someone who is suffering from the medical disability firsthand. This makes the readers understand the struggle and relate to the character, fostering this sense of empathy. This book has brought Cystic Fibrosis into the light and readers have come to understand the difficulties of staying connected while battling this disease. However, in contrast, Of Mice and Men manages to do the complete opposite. Perhaps, one of the biggest problems is that literature that doesn’t sympathize with disabled characters is due to the fact that they never cover their perspective or how they feel. As recognized, “One of the fundamental issues regarding the portrayal of Lennie in Of Mice and Men lies in the way that Steinbeck position the reader from the very beginning to identify with George” (Lawrence). Once readers have their views aligned with a different character, it is hard to create that empathy, especially if the main character doesn’t support disabilities themselves. However, when empathy is created it can completely alter the audience’s perception of the character and often the entire disability itself. This idea is supported in

Melissa Shang decided to attempt to publish a book of a young girl who uses a wheelchair, and she recalled her publishers to give her responses such as “for a girl who was in a wheelchair with a degenerative nerve disease, Mia Lee was just too happy” or how they thought that “Mia Lee’s character didn’t seem suited for a lighthearted story” (Shang). These publishers all had their own views on what disabilities were suppose to look like, they didn’t particularly enjoy Shang’s book as it challenged their perception. Like so, Shang drew the same conclusion, “what she meant is that Mia Lee, my sassy, You-Tube-loving heroine, differed too much from the conversation of what a disabled kid is supposed to be like. There are very few stories about kids in wheelchairs, and there are even fewer with a disabled person who is cheerful and happy. Disability is always seen as a misfortune” (Shang). Regardless of the response tho, Melissa published her own novel, where the responses were surprisingly positive, and it successfully challenged the view that all disabled kids are “misfortunate.” These views towards disabilities affect both the public perception and attitude toward the disabled population and directly affects the disabled population themselves. “Disability, unseen, unacknowledged, and unexamined is always present in the [classroom]” (Lawrence). Disabilities