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The Role Of Humanity In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

807 Words4 Pages

Men and Men
Humanity. It is such a powerful word, and often used to describe the world in a positive way. It’s ironic how humanity is actually full of terrible things, such as racism, stereotypes, and hostility. John Steinbeck’s brilliantly written book, Of Mice and Men, proves this. The book is about Two guys, George and Lennie, that are migrant farm workers in the 1930’s. Lennie has a mental disability that makes him have memory loss, low mental intelligence, and acts like a child. He is a huge, exceedingly strong man with a love for soft things. He is constantly getting into a lot of trouble (acidental murder), and his best friend George has to protect him. Steinbeck’s purpose of making Lennie have a mental disability/disorder is to demonstrate how screwed up society is. …show more content…

People are often greedy and careless. When Slim saw that George and Lennie traveled around together, he was surprised. “I never seen one guy take so much trouble for another guy...Maybe ever’body in the whole damn world is scared of each other” (Steinbeck,35). This powerful quote explains that human kindness that is so often thought of humanity, is rare. George is looking after Lennie as if they were brothers, which surprises many. A lot of the guys at the ranch just care about making money and moving on in life. Most don’t care about the other guys, so seeing George and Lennie together was bizarre. Racism is also huge in the book. Countless times Crooks was isolated, becuse he is black. This is a new concept for Lennie which makes him curious. “Why ain’t you wanted...cause I’m black” (Steinbeck,68). In this conversation between Lennie and Crooks, Lennie acts just like a little kid. He doesn’t understand the world, and has to learn what a corrupt place it is. With Lennie’s limited knowledge, he sees right past stereotypes and racism, which makes the reader love Lennie even more. Readers get to experience learning about humanity, through a pair of brand-new

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