Negative Effect of Discrimination in Of Mice and Men Essay Example

“Prejudice is a burden that confuses the past, threatens the future and renders the present inaccessible,” says Maya Angelou, portraying how apathy prevents societies from being friendly and accepting people. Discrimination occurs when you make stereotypical assumptions about someone based on their assumed characteristics. John Steinbeck demonstrates discrimination through the characters Crooks, a black African American, Lennie, a mentally unstable labourer, Candy, an old ranch worker and Curley’s Wife, women who are presented in a sensual manner and defined based on her relationship with her husband. Many characters face discrimination in the story and they are the obstacles of ageism, racism and sexism.  

Candy is an older ranch worker who was doing strange jobs around the ranch. He is missing a hand from an accident from years ago but is still working. Candy is discriminated against because of his age and the physical limitations that come with it. The people at the ranch thought he had no purpose and Candy believed that he was useless and he was scared he was going to get discarded. Candy was also attached to his stinking, blind old dog. When Carlson suggested killing the dog by shooting “Why’n’t you shoot him, Candy?”(Steinbeck 44). Candy squirmed uncomfortably because he had the dog for so long and the dog was a symbol of his own fears.

Crooks, the only African American stable buck worker, was faced with racism. Crooks got his name from a horse accident that caused him to have a crooked spine. Crooks resents being treated poorly. Lennie on the other hand was forcing Crocks to let him in his room to see if Crooks has company. Crooks stood up from his bunk and faced Curley’s Wife and said “I had enough,” he said coldly (Steinbeck 80). Crooks is telling George about how difficult it is for him to work on the ranch. “S’pose you couldn’t go into the bunkhouse and play rummy ‘cause you was black,” George said (Steinbeck 72). Crooks is talking about how he isn't allowed to stay on the ranch with other men due to his skin colour. “Maybe you guys better go,” he said. “I ain’t sure I want you in here no more. A coloured man got to have some rights even if he doesn’t like ‘em.”

Showing his situation, Crooks also explain how he has been, in a sense, secluded from everyone due to his colour. It's hard for Crooks to advance in life because of the constant harassment he receives from the simple fact he is “different” from your “average” person.

Now there's Curley’s Wife. A very interesting character, she has shown that she has power over the men on the ranch. But she gets discriminated against by the fact she was the only woman on the ranch. She was called many names such as; tart, looloo, and jailbait since she was the only woman. At the beginning of the story, she was portrayed as a big flirt. "Well, she got the eye." "Yeah? Married two weeks and got the eye? Maybe that's why Curley's pants are full of ants." “I see her give Slim the eye…” (Steinbeck 28). Curley’s wife is openly flirting with other men, which makes Curley uncomfortable and jealous. She is facing sexism due to her “name”. Throughout the story, she wasn’t given a name and was called Curley’s wife because they didn’t feel the need to call her by her name because she was just an object.

The characters were faced with many forms of prejudice. The message in the book digs much deeper into the discrimination that our society is experiencing s today and in the past, mostly through the characters such as Candy, Crooks and Curley’s Wife, and the analogy that each one represents.