“Prejudice is a learned trait. You’re not born prejudiced; you’re taught it” -Charles R. Swindoll. In the novel Of Mice and Men, written by John Steinbeck, prejudice is a strong, occurring theme that affects two important characters. The men working on this ranch in the 1930’s show discrimination towards Curley’s Wife, the only woman on the ranch, and Crooks, a crippled black man, simply because they were taught to. Curley’s Wife is a subject to prejudice, and it causes a sense of loneliness, hatred, and of being misunderstood. When two characters in the novel encounter Curley’s Wife, on of them tells the other to not, “... even look at that bitch. I dont care what she says and what she does. I seen ‘em poison before, but I never …show more content…
When Crooks tells Curley’s Wife that she has, “... no rights comin’ in a colored man’s room. You got no rights messing around in here at all. Now you jus’ get out, an’ get out quick. If you don’t, I’m gonna ast the boss not to ever let you come in the barn no more” (78). Crooks is telling Curley’s Wife to leave because she can cause trouble for him and she has no rights as a woman. He is being rude to her and he has no power over her because of the prejudice labeled against her. One more example of prejudice against Curley’s Wife and Crooks is when after Crooks tells Curleys Wife to leave his room, she retorts, “Listen, Nigger... You know what I can do to you if you open your trap?... I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain’t even funny” (78). Curley’s Wife’s threat displays even further the prejudice they react with. Instead of coming together, they tear each other apart trying to fit in with the social norms. Sometimes the animosity that is shined onto others reflects onto other people’s pain. John Steinbeck shows this in his book Of MIce and Men with his characters Curley’s Wife and Crooks. They both have mistreatment and intolerance, so they took that mistreatment and intolerance and abused other people. Many people in this world are shown prejudice once in their life, or more. To make them feel better, they revert the bigotry they receive onto others. The importance of this novel is that people cannot collapse on themselves, they must come up and rise together to ease their