Saturday, June 1, 2019
Trapped Characters in John Steinbecks Of Mice and Men :: Steinbeck Of Mice and Men Essays
In the novel Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck uses stereotypes and discrimination to convey a message of how the characters feel. A lot of the stereotypes and clichs are just common beliefs of the times, but a few are situational. To quote a quite distinguished reader, "Characters are trapped- either by what others think of them, or by their situation." A lot of the characters feelings about themselves and what others think of them will lead to loneliness.   Crooks is a character who is mistreated in many ways because he is black. Crooks is the stable buck of the barn. Its not certain whether Crooks is his name, or his nickname, but we know he got kicked in the back by a horse and had a crooked back ever since. Nevertheless he gets yelled at by the boss every time somethings wrong. " The boss gives him hell when hes mad. But the stable buck dont give a damn about that, " says Candy, p.32. Crooks also isnt allowed in the bunk houses because people say he stinks. Crooks talks with Lennie in the book, "Crooks laughed again. A guy can talk to you an be sure you wont go blabbin." p.78. This most likely makes Crooks feel not wanted at all, Which roots to loneliness.   Lennie is not so much stereotyped, but rather trapped because of his size. Because Lennie is so big, Curley thinks he has to prove something by beating up Lennie. Lennie gets on Curleys bad side when he didnt do anything wrong. Lennie is then forced to fight. " I dont want no trouble, he said plaintively. Dont let him sock me, George. " p.32. This is not an everyday discrimination like racism. Its one of those circumstantial incidents that was described in quote in the introduction. This is an excellent example of how John Steinbeck uses extraordinary circumstances to create appeal and realism to the reader.   Curleys wife is probably the most loathed on the ranch. Because of the way she looks and acts, people think she is easy, or a "ta rt". " Jesus, what a tramp, he said. So thats what Curley picks for a wife. " said George, p.35. She just wants someone to talk to.
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