Of Mice and Men and Curley’s Wife Essay

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Of Mice and men
The novel of mice and men was written by john Steinbeck during the year 1937. Steinbeck was telling a highly emotional story to make the audience feel sympathy for some of the characters. Steinbeck wrote the story in response to his own experience of working with transients during the great depression. In this novel Steinbeck looks at prejudice and discrimination against the poor women, the elderly, “the colour folk” and the disabled.
Of mice and men deals with sexism, racism, and discrimination against those with disability. Mainly this prejudice isn’t noted or fought against by any character – they all just suffer. Curley’s wife is perhaps the loneliest person, because she is that only girl on the ranch. She tries to communicate with other men because Curley, her own jealous husband, ignores her. The same goes with other men: they ignore her because they just think she’s a troublemaker, but all she wants is someone to talk to. To make this worse, the men are afraid Curley will fire them. Racial prejudice keeps crooks isolated; by telling that he “reads a lot”, Steinbeck seems to be suggesting that he’s intelligent but because of his colour, crooks must live by himself in a small room in the barn. Prejudice against those with disability affects Lennie because he is mentally disabled, like a big baby. He refuses to defend himself and often cannot be held responsible for his actions. It is up to George to be his protector; even when Lennie has accidentally killed the lonely girl, George makes sure Lennie has a painless death.
The story of Lennie and George is about 2 farm workers travelling together after Lennie’s aunty past away, all they want is some money to own a farm, but it seems that where ever they go trouble follows them. Lennie needs George to survive. He tends to get himself into trouble, and without George around, he would stay in trouble or get himself killed. Lennie cannot fend for himself. George, on the other hand, could fend for himself, but he needs Lennie in other ways e.g. George needs Lennie to keep him hopeful. Throughout the novel, George and Lennie talk about their dream to live on a ranch, raise rabbits, and
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