Dealing With Loneliness
If you’re different, best of luck to you. In John Steinbeck’s novel Of Mice and Men, there are many characters who deal with discrimination. Three characters who experience this the most are Curley’s wife, Crooks, and Lennie. Curley’s wife faces discrimination because she is a woman. Crooks experiences discrimination because he is black, and Lennie is discriminated against because of his mental disability. Curley’s wife, Crooks, and Lennie all have learned to live with discrimination, but they still long to someday be accepted. Curley’s wife experiences a lot of discrimination in the novel Of Mice and Men for being a woman. In the time setting of this novel, women did not have many options or much control over their lives. Either they went into the show business or they got married and stayed at home.
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While he does have his own quarters, he feels shunned because of his color. Many people at this time period thought that blacks were dirty and lower than caucasians. Crooks has gotten used to this way of life, and so he isn’t used to having anyone who treats him as an equal. Having his own place is nice for Crooks; however, he would like nothing more than to get to live in the barracks with the other men and fit in. Sadly, as Crooks says himself to Lennie, “You go on get outta my room. I ain’t wanted in the bunkhouse, and you ain’t wanted in my room. “Why ain’t you wanted?” Lennie asked. “ ‘Cause I’m black” (68). As Crooks explains, his hope of fitting in is not possible, but it remains his greatest hope. Finally, Lennie is discriminated against in Of Mice and Men because he is mentally disabled. Like Crooks who is black, he has no control over this fact, but it separates him from other men and makes him feel a little isolated. It also can get him into a lot of trouble as is shown when they leave