Mental Disabilities In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

“One in four people in the world will be affected by mental health … but few of them will seek or receive help …” (Nullis). People don’t seek help for their mental illness because of the facilities they have in place them. These people who don’t receive help are categorized as violent people by a few In America and the UK. John Steinbeck’s novel Of Mice and Men demonstrates the real world problem of how people with mental health issues are not treated and seen as equals and how people deal with others with mental illness. Steinbeck uses Lennie in his novel Of Mice and Men to show how people with mental illnesses are viewed and treated by the public.

In Of Mice And Men society looks down upon people with setbacks, such as mental retardation. Lennie had mental slowness and was always getting in trouble because of it. George and Lennie were in and out of jobs everywhere. They always traveled with their bindles on their backs and had to keep moving because Lennie kept doing things to ruin the

When one is mentally challenged they are not aware of their capabilities. In this case Lennie is not aware of his strength. “The next minute Curley was flopping like a fish on a line, and his closed fist was lost in Lennie’s big hand.”(63) This quote helps the reader make a connection between Curley and a flopping fish. When one thinks of a flopping fish on a line they can assume the fish and struggling and in danger, therefore one can assume Curley is struggling and in danger. “Looks to me like ever’ bone in his han’ is bust.”(63) When one reads this quote they get a better understanding of what Lennie is capable of. Since Lennie is so strong and not aware of it, people view him differently. Therefor

He depicts the world George, Lennie, and the rest of the ranchers live in as very much a “survival of the fittest” type of environment and in such a case, it would not seem normalized for one to want someone with a mental disability to survive. Lennie is, because of his low intelligence, more often compared with animals than humans,

Lennie is rejected by everyone at the ranch, except George, because of his mental disability (“Of Mice and Men” 248). People with a mental disability are often looked down upon in society. Lennie is a very large, strong man, however, people on the ranch don't believe he is a good worker because of his disability. Although Lennie has a mental disability, he has the strength to do a lot of the ranch work and is a very good worker. The men on the ranch do not realize the strength that Lennie has until he breaks Curley’s hand and ends up killing Curley’s wife. Having a disability does not imply that the individuals aren’t skilled in different areas. Handicapped by his lack of adult intelligence, Lennie is doomed in the world of a migrant worker (“Of Mice and Men” 246). He is not able to think as highly as an average adult and often times does not make the best decisions. In the novel, we are able to see the strength that Lennie has and how he is not able to control it when Steinbeck talks about how Lennie killed the mouse, the puppy, Curley’s wife and crushed Curley’s hand. Curley is a small man who tends to pick fights with the bigger men to show his strength. Curley knows about Lennie's lack of intelligence and decides to start hitting him. Lennie doesn’t do anything back until George tells him to fight back. The next punch Curley threw, Lennie caught it and squeezed Curley's hand

Lenny is on track to an early death as a result of his lifestyle decisions. If he continues his habits on a regular basis, he will most likely develop preventable diseases. These are some of unhealthy things which affect his chances: smoking, obesity, stress, environment, having high blood pressure, and his diet (containing high-salt). There are major health problem that all are linked to these choices; cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and cancer are several key ones. Without changing, Lenny will probably live a shorter life—as a result of his own decisions and way of life.

After the loss of Candy’s dog, he becomes lonely but has to find a way to overcome loneliness. John Steinbeck creates Candy to be an old and crippled man. Candy, since he is a older man, might not get as much work. That isn't the only reason. Steinbeck describes Candy with, “a round stick-like wrist, but no hand” (18). At this moment, George and Lennie are meeting and observing Candy for the first time. Throughout the story, the reader does not hear of Candy doing much work on the ranch. He “[shifts] his broom” on the first day but that might be the only deed he does (18). The farm workers stereotype him to be weak because he is old and only has one hand. When we first meet Candy, we learn that Candy has one main friend. That is his

Candy was discriminated in the story because he was old and handicapped.”But he was reassured by the swampers defense.”(Steinbeck 24) Candy was discriminated against his age because he was old, they even gave him a nickname which is swamper because he was old and smelly. “I ain’t much good with on’y hand.”(steinbeck 59) Since he lost his arm and was handicapped he was discriminated against because he couldn’t do much work. His dog played a huge part too because the dog was like a symbol. Since the dog was too old it was

Lennie’s mental disability is one of his most defining traits of how he tends to forget everything. The origin of his mental disability is unclear but his mind seems to be like a two year old and forget everything. George seems to stick around Lennie because he cares for him but most importantly for his disability. In the first chapter when Lennie and George are settling down by the

One of the many reasons why this novella is so highly acclaimed is because of its complex characters. Steinbeck is able to convey a character’s personality and nature through their behavior. Although he never spells it out, readers are able to comprehend that Lennie has some sort of mental disability. Steinbeck first introduces Lennie being reprimanded by George like a parent would reprimand a child. Other obvious hints of “unusual” behavior are Lennie’s choppy speech, his obsession with petting (mostly dead) mice, and his forgetfulness. It seems like no one understands Lennie and what might’ve happened for him to be this way, so George jokes about it. He says, “He got kicked in the head by a horse when he was a kid. He’s awright. Just ain’t bright.” (22 Steinbeck) The readers are almost tricked to believe that it’s okay for George and everyone else to make fun of Lennie’s mental disability because if he’s too dumb to understand, how can it hurt him… right? Of course not! Steinbeck pulls the rug from under everyone by having George reveal that he almost killed Lennie by messing with his inability to understand when someone is taking advantage of him. In a heart-to-heart with Slim, George reveals, “I used to have a hell of a lot of fun with ‘im. Used to play jokes

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 John Steinbeck’s novel Of Mice and Men, Lennie provides a sense of joy and a sense of darkness to the story. Lennie has the mind of a child which allows him to maintain pure. However, he winds up in trouble a lot. Lennie does not mean any harm, but sometimes his actions are taken to an extreme level. Steinbeck writes certain traits for this character that allows Lennie, to be Lennie. Lennie’s mentality, innocence, and strength are the main characteristics Steinbeck creates for this character in Of Mice and Men.

While they hold some different viewpoints, “Of Mice and Men” and The Arc are similar because they both discuss the issue of the lives of the disabled. For example, in “Of Mice and Men”, despite Candy’s reluctance, Carlson killed Candy’s dog because it is old, injured, and no longer serves its purpose. This event is important because Candy’s dog symbolizes not only Lennie with his disability, but anybody who grows old and outlived their purpose. Meanwhile, The Arc believes that “people with intellectual and developmental disabilities are entitled to the respect, dignity, equality, safety, and security accorded to other members of society, and are equal before the law.” Now while they are talking about humans and not dogs, these morals can still