Mental Disabilities In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

Lennie symbolizes ignorance. More specifically, he is the American dream. Lennie is an inadequate thinker, and more importantly, has little common sense. In this section of the book, Lennie killed a pup by playing with it too harsh, his ignorance and stupidity doesn't help: “Why do you got to get killed? You ain't so little as mice. I didn't bounce you hard” (Steinback 85). This justifies Lennie’s ignorance. Lennie's mind troubles to process little everyday issues, therefore, he has to have George to help him survive in a society of snobs. He’s incapable of doing things on his own, George is his mind and tells him everything of what to say and do. Lennie went back and looked at Curley’s dead wife. The puppy lying close to her. Lennie picked

Even with a weird sense of wonder, Lennie is man who was traveling with George to Soledad to receive a job on a ranch in the book Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. Lennie has a mental disorder who does not understand what is right and what is wrong the way we do. When someone asks Lennie to stop because he is hurting them he begins thinking that the character is just overreacting , so he continues to do what he is doing. After having a dead mouse in his pocket for comfort George makes Lennie give the mouse to him and throws it across the pool and Lennie gets upset, but not for long. Lennie wants everyone to like him, but that is hard for some because Lennie can get aggravating sometimes due to his mental disability. Lennie shows that his

Due to child like qualities, Lennie is a person which would be easy prey and a vulnerable person. Lennie is a vulnerable person who is quite dumb. His has an obsession for touching soft thing and this will often lead him in to trouble. But

It was 1937, and the Great Depression was almost over; unemployment was higher than ever. Many people were seeking jobs and in the novel, Of Mice and Men, Lennie Small was one of them. The author John Steinbeck’s portrayal of Lennie helps one understand what it is like to be mentally challenged. Steinbeck does this by highlighting Lennie’s strength, naiveness, and caring nature. Steinbeck succeeded in teaching the reader of the social aspect of being mentally challenged.

Lennie is a pivotal character as he is the literal demonstration of how a person can be both bad and good. Lennie is immediately shown as childlike when he hides the dead mouse from George on the walk to the ranch. ‘I ain’t got nothing George. Honest’ said Lennie which also shows his love for soft little things which is common amongst children, this is exemplified by the many animal connotations throughout. An example of this is when ‘Lennie dabbled his big paw in the water’. This is imagery of a bear which references the size and strength of Lennie but his lack of intelligence. He is very simple-minded and cannot even remember his own Aunt Clara. Being such a simpleminded person, Lennie does not comprehend the intricacies of laws in society like the majority of people do. Lennie depends on George to lead and guide him and to show him what’s right and wrong. We learn that Lennie tries to be good and repeatedly asks George to hear the dream of the rabbits and their planned simple life on a farm but when Lennie is met with a situation like with Curley’s Wife in the barn, he is unable to fight his evil actions because he himself does not understand nor realise that they are evil. Furthermore, he is incapable of distinguishing the difference

The novel, Of Mice and Men, talk about different characters and how things were back in the Great Depression by following two ranchers, George and Lennie. When the novel first introduces the setting at the lake, it also introduced the two main characters. George is described as the one that seems to take in everything with his “restless eyes and sharp, strong features” and Lennie follows him. Lennie is described as “a huge man, shapeless of face, with large pale eyes, with wide sloping shoulders;” George and Lennie look like opposites which draws the question, Why are they traveling together? The answer becomes clear once we get into the novel but before that, Lennie starts to drink the scummy water and plays like a toddler in the lake. This shows that he has some mental disability and this is further shown when he starts to forget everything. His disability foreshadows trouble which shows that Lennie is the one that causes the most trouble because of his mental disability to forget everything, how he isn’t wanted anywhere, and how his disability ultimately ends up ruining dreams and lives.

At first, people see Lennie as a very strong and dumb character. But, Lennie is only child-minded and he doesn’t understand how strong he really is. For example, when George introduces Lennie, he says, “We kinda look after eachother. [...] He ain’t bright. Hell of a good worker, though. Hell of a nice fella, but he ain't bright,” (34). This quote shows that, many people, meeting Lennie at first, think that he is strong but not that smart. Ironically, despite him being a big guy, he can’t grasp on how strong he is. It shows that people think this way about Lennie when they meet him, but, unless they know him, he’s not that dumb. Just childish. Another example, is when Lennie breaks Curley’s hand, “But Lennie watched in terror the flopping little man whom he held. [...] George slapped him

Lennie 's personality is like that of a child. He is innocent and mentally handicapped with no ability to understand abstract concepts like death.

Just about anyone can experience mental health problems, this is not something people should be ashamed or embarrassed about and talking about it is so much more beneficial than hiding it. Many people tend to try and hide their mental illness from other people. People tend to do this because having a mental illness can affect someone's job, social life, health, and their image. John Steinbeck’s novel Of Mice and Men demonstrates the hardships that come along with having a mental illness and demonstrates the difficulties of maintaining a normal life when society isn’t willing to give you any opportunities.

Mental illness in America has always been a sensitive topic because people with mental illness were often times treated as inferior to the common man. Someone with a mental illness can often contribute to society just as well and sometimes better than the average person. The Great Depression was a significant period in the treatment of the mentally ill. It was one of the most difficult eras in this nation’s history. Many people faced extreme hardships. People with mental illness faced discrimination, therefore they faced aggrandized adversity. In Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck demonstrates this through Lennie, a large man with an apparent mental disability that experiences lots of problems on his journey.

“I could get along so easy and so nice if I didn’t have you on my tail”(Steinbeck 7). If a person has a mental or physical challenge, it will have a major effect on how that person is capable of living the rest of their life. In Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck illustrates how the mental and physical challenges and state of mind of the characters makes them incapable of achieving their American Dreams. Individuals with mental challenges in the 1930’s and now a days, were and still may be considered to be worthless and not good for much. Having a physical challenge, like a missing hand, will affect the type of work someone can do, and could limit someone job opportunities. Usually when a person is told something as a child, they will believe

In the past, mental illness has been misunderstood as nobody knew how to treat it and didn't know how to react to it. In the novella Of Mice and Men written by John Steinbeck, George Milton and Lennie Small are two ranch workers traveling together looking for a better future. While on their journey, they face hardships. For example, Lennie has a mental disability that makes him depend on George for guidance and protection. Lennie is depicted as a sympathetic character through his mental disability and his childlike personality; Steinbeck is trying to convey that people with mental disabilities have a challenging life and face difficult situations.

This is the story about two men struggling to fulfill the American dream. “Of Mice and Men” is told by John Steinbeck and is set in California in the 1930’s. Many people go through struggles in this novel, some are physical and some are mental. Some of the characters with impairments are Lennie, Crooks, Curley’s wife, George, and Candy. One of the many characters with an impairment in the book is a man called Lennie Small.

In John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, Lennie’s mental illness and large size causes him to get into trouble. Lennie doesn’t know what is right and wrong because of his mental problems. He causes deaths and pain unintentionally wherever he goes. When he pets living creatures, he kills them, like the mice, the puppy, and Curley’s wife. Lenny is kneeling over a dog that he killed by petting it, when Curley’s wife comes in.

When dealing with a mental disability, whether it be taking care of, diagnosing, or simply knowing how to act and react to the disabled; it can be very nerve racking wondering if what you're doing is respectful, helpful, and correct. There are hundreds of different symptoms that may or may not present themselves in hundreds of mental disabilities and a thousand more combinations of those. Knowing just what handicap you’re dealing with is normally just a shot in the dark and the hope that you got it right on the first try. My shot in the dark for Lennie is Autism.