ESSAY

Of Mice and men is written by Steinbeck to present the true friendship between men and the
cruelty in society. The story is set against the background of the great recession after WWI in
the 1930s when masses of farmers lost their lands and property by the force of capitalism. The
main characters in Of Mice and Men, George and Lennie, are just part of the group who migrate
from one branch to another with the expectation to own their little house and a couple of acres
one day. Yet, their experience on the ranch, along with the conflicts existing between several
coworkers, had revealed a crucial fact that the discrimination between the weak or the
disadvantaged is the main contributor to their tragedy.

The discrimination on Crooks for his skin color and race has turned him into a “walking dead” on
the ranch. Firstly, he is not allowed to live with coworkers in the bunkhouse. Being a nigger, he
has his bunk in the harness room. It is not a privilege to own an independent space but the
symbol of being isolated by others. So when Lennie makes his attempt to make friends with
Crooks, he gives up his resistance immediately. After a short argument on whether Lennie has
no right to come in his room, Crooks soon finds Lennie a good man to talk with since Lennie will
not remember whatever he says. “This is just a nigger talkin’, an’ a busted-back nigger. So it
doesn't mean nothing, see? You couldn’t remember it anyways...” From his self-mocking, it is
self- evident that the loneliness and isolation has tortured him much, making him desperate to
find someone to talk with. This is just a tiny moment which reveals the grim picture on the Black
in 1930’s America. In addition, his racial difference also makes him scorned by anyone. Once
being a free man in California, Crooks still keeps his indignity and dreams deep in his mind.
When Lennie and Candy talk about their dream of owning one little house and land, he is also
seduced and even offers his suggestion, “...If you ... guys would want a hand to work for nothing
— just his keep...” Unlike his dismissive attitude towards Lennie’s words at first, this is the only
moment to express his hope so directly. At that time, any farmer who is deprived of his property
by the force of capitalism has a dream to take back what they’ve lost. Few people have made
the dream come true, but it roots in every farmer’s mind, in spite of their skin color. However,
such a dream seems to be more intangible for blacks discriminated by the mainstream. When
Curley’s wife threatens him to “get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain’t even funny”, his hope
vanishes. Nigger has no right. He “pressed himself against the wall”, “reduced himself to
nothing”, and “nothing to arouse either like or dislike”. The change in his tone, from hesitated
and excited in front of Lennie to the toneless and hopeless towards Curley’s wife, has
demonstrated the death of his mind and dream. His tragedy, without doubt, is caused by his
race, but what deepens his pain is the discrimination from other discriminated people, namely
Curley’s wife.

Moreover , the discrimination on Curely’s wife on her sex and marriage has turned her to a
outcast on the ranch.She is Isolated and discriminated by men on the ranch who sneer behind
her back, calling her a “tart” or “tramp”. Even Lennie had been told by George to stay away from
her by saying
“Lennie! Listen to me, God damn it! Don't you even look at her! I don't care what she says or what she
does, she's a rat trap if I ever saw one.”However, Instead of withdrawing like Crooks does, she seeks
men’s attention to deal with her outcast loneliness，which had proved that she’s different. “Ever’body
out doin’ som’pin. Ever’body! ...talkin’ to a bunch of bindle stiffs – a nigger an’ a dum- dum and a
lousy ol’ sheep – an’ likin’ it because they ain’t nobody else”This had showed that she also tries
talk down apon lennie and crook to hide her outcasting insecurity and present her own dignity.
Curely’s wife also mentioned her dream of becoming an actor stating “w' I met one of the
actors. He says I could go with that show. But my ol' lady wouldn't let me. She says because I
was only fifteen...If I'd gone, I wouldn't be livin' like this, you bet.``she doesn't want to stay in the
ranch, she had dreams of wearing dresses and putting pretty makeup on instead of marrying
Curly. However, because of the discrimination by the men , she could only talk to Lennie about
her sadness and dreams because " nut I can't talk to nobody but Curley. Else he gets mad.
How'd you like not to talk to anybody?"'.like Crooks, she desires nothing more than another
person’s companionship. The way she is defined by Curley is one of the largest examples of
discrimination in Of Mice and Men. Her place in this novel is only viewed as curley's wife and
curley's property.In addition, when curley's wife comes to death, is the only time when people
describe her as a beauty" her reddened lips made her seem alive and sleeping very lightly. The
curls, tiny little sausages, were spread on the hay behind her head, and her lips were
parted."Unlike the discriminated and reaction from before, Curely’s wife is viewed as a woman
which showed the discrimination upon sexes in the book.She was never viewed as a women but
a “tramp” or a flirting married women. Curely’s wife”s tragedy is caused not only by her
sexuality,but also being the only woman on the ranch who is discriminated against by
everyone.

Another example to support my claim is the main character of this book:Lennie. From the
beginning it was cleared that Lennie wasn’t a usual main character like in other
novels.Steinbeck had showed that in the beginning Lennie had some mental issue and is
different from people.He had showed us by telling the story and childhood of Lennie , where we
experienced his action and how he had been treated by the society. Even the double outcast
Crook tried to make fun of him to raise his own value.: “Nobody never gets heaven, and nobody
gets no land. It’s just in their head. They’re all the time talkin’ about it, but it’s just’ in their head”
(Steinbeck 84). However, what's different about Lennie is that he doesn’t care about what other
people say about him.He only listens to George.Lennie”s reaction toward dircrimination is the
biggest difference between him and other characters. Unlike how Cook just sits quiet, Lennie
doesn’t care what other people say or think because “They ain’t got nothing to look ahead to....
With us it ain’t like that. We got a future. We got somebody to talk to that gives a damn about
us” (Steinbeck 15)His relationship with George had made him strong and no need to fight back
because the only important event he cared about was to tend the rabbit and get his own little
land.However, Lennie is constantly treated differently because of his disabilities, and the
overrelyness on George had caused the ending’s tragedy.

Steinback had clearly drawn a picture of this desperate society.The outcasts are just people
who only need someone who is willing to accept them and be there for them, their different
reaction toward the discrimination had lead to each’s ending and proved clearly that
discrimination between each other only present harm and tragedy.In conclusion, Of Mice and
men os a "small universe" that is a cold world that lacks warmth. It pursues the law of
competition for the survival of the fittest, and loneliness and disappointment are the general
mentality of the disadvantaged in the society, and the strong survive because they bully the
weak, and the weak bullies each other and creates the sad Tragedy.