Outcasts In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

Societies vary depending on region and culture, but. But all societies have the characteristics of strict conformity, intolerance for the unique, as well as perfect functionality. The society shown in Harrison Bergeron is as follows: “Everybody was finally equal. They weren't only equal before God and the law. They were equal in every which way. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else. All this equality was due to the 211th, 212th, and 213th Amendments to the Constitution, and to the unceasing vigilance of agents of the United States Handicapper General” (Last name 1). This is the dream of society: perfect conformity and functionality. “Everybody was finally equal” (1) shows that society had finally achieved its goal of conformity.

In the novel, Of Mice and Men, Candy, Lennie, Crooks, and Curly's wife are all seen as four social outcasts as they each relate to a specific group in American Society. After reading Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck and looking at these characters you can see that they are all social outcasts in someway.

The novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck emphasizes the division in social classes and social structure based on power. The novel and its themes are based around the characters’ interactions and decisions. Their motivations come directly from other characters, and the social construct on the ranch that controls the characters within the novel. Each character has their own journey of giving into the powers that control their society and lives which leads to each of their own inescapable demises.

Loneliness is one of many central themes in John Steinbeck’s classic novella, Of Mice and Men. Throughout the story many characters sought after the company and attention of others. Each character has a certain barrier that keeps them isolated from the outside world. Three characters who portray this loneliness throughout the novella are Crooks, Curly’s wife, and Candy. Each having a different wall between them and society.

The long, hard war of human equality in society, has been a war since the beginning of civilization. The Great Depression, a tragic time in America’s history, reflects American determination, but also social inequality. In the fiction novella, Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck uses symbolism and characterization to address ableism and sexism in society. Steinbeck addresses these flaws in society in an attempt to ultimately bring awareness these riffs before society falls.

Friendship. What is friendship? Wikipedia defines friendship as “a relationship of mutual affection between two or more people. Friendship is a stronger form of interpersonal bond than an association.”, which is exactly what I think is friendship. I know most of my friends for many, many years and throughout these years we had fights and good moments and this is what forms this strong “interpersonal bond” also known as friendship. In our novel Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet Henry and his friends faces different challenges throughout the story which strengthens their ties. In Jamie Ford’s novel Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, Ford communicates the theme that friendship is needed especially during difficult times through the character’s actions in the books.

Discrimination have been happening everywhere in the world and as long as anyone can remember. Discrimination is still a problem today. America just had protests dealing with Black Lives Matter and African Americans feel they are still discriminated against and treated differently. The time that the novel Of Mice and Men takes place in is important because during the Great Depression it was hard to find money, so Lennie couldn’t just stay at home while George had to work. They both had to make money to support themselves. Lennie, Crooks, and Curley's wife all face discrimination which greatly impacts their lives.

David Chase a writer for the show Sopranos once said, “I said it's a cold universe and I don't mean that metaphorically. If you go out into space, it's cold. It's really cold and we don't know what's up there. We happen to be in this little pocket where there's a sun. What have we got except love and each other to guard against all that isolation and loneliness?”. Like society today, in Steinbeck’s novel Of Mice and Men there are many outsiders. Ranging from women to people of color. People with differences are looked down upon. Every character is an outsider in their own way. Steinbeck uses the outsider to prove isolation occurs when people have differences.

“Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted is the most terrible poverty,” said Mother Teresa. Humanity has struggled against being left alone and being lonely for a long time. As a result, humans formed a society where they could be together. On the other hand, there are still people who are left out of the society. In other words, there are still people out there who are marginalized, not accepted fairly to the society. John Steinbeck shows the marginalized people’s lives in his novel, Of Mice and Men. In his novel, characters such as Lennie, George, Candy, Curley’s wife, Crooks, and even the ranch workers, are marginalized from the society. Ranch workers like George, Candy, and Lennie have nowhere to go, and they do not have anybody to care for them. Especially for Lennie, he is mentally challenged, too. Crooks, being the colored man, suffers from discrimination. Curley’s wife is constantly surrounded with loneliness. In Of Mice and Men, marginalized people who are neglected from the society, create a society of their own; they share their dreams and help each other out although they are all different from each other.

‘..Guys like us that work on ranches are the loneliest guys in the world they got no family they don’t belong no place.’ This is what many felt during the ‘great depression’ in the 1930’s. John Steinbeck gives us the sense that many felt lonely ‘they got no family they don’t belong no place. The main theme of this novel is alienation; the three characters, Curley’s wife, candy, and crooks are all alienated, and felt it by another person at some point. They all have dreams... it’s the American dream... but not all dreams come true...

Candy a character from Of Mice and Men is a misfit archetype. A misfit archetype is someone who does not fit in right with all the other characters. I chose to write about Candy as a misfit archetype because he gets treated differently than the other people in the story because he is missing a hand. I am invested in this topic because I believe that I am a misfit too. I do not fit in with a lot of the kids these days, therefore kind of making me like Candy only I have two hands. John Steinbeck the author of the novel Of Mice and Men created several interesting characters including Candy who is an example of a misfit archetype. Due to the connections made to the 21st century, time period, and comparing of different

Traveling around California are two best friends, George Milton and Lennie Smalls. Their relationship demonstrates the various characteristics that are shown in a community. In the novella “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck, there are numerous examples that establish what it means to be part of a community; which proves it exemplifies the important traits shown in a community the best out of other books read. Throughout the novella, there are countless examples that demonstrate what it means to be part of a community; this includes friendships, the American dream, and teamwork.

Some people are deemed too dangerous so they are shunned and kicked out of society. This now makes them outcasts. In the book Wolf Children Ame and Yuki are are the outcasts. Society did not want them because they are wolf children. In Of Mice And Men Lennie was the outcast. Society did not want him because they thought he was not mentally stable enough to be in this world. Lennie, Ame, and Yuki are all victims of society. This is because people just don't know enough about them to know they can be good people.

John Steinbeck has written many novels. Of his most famous, the tale, Of Mice and Men, tells the tale about the strife of friendship. The two main characters, George Milton, and Lennie Small, are the best of friends, despite Lennie’s mental disability. Another friendship that is portrayed in the story would be the friendship between Candy and his very old, sickly dog. Another friendship, that is more vague than the others, is the friendship between all the bunkmates; the farm workers. When Steinbeck wrote this epic novella, he not only wrote about friendships, but he showed that friends will go to the ends of the Earth for each other.

Many feel that the most common cause of discrimination is because of someone’s abilities, while in actuality the majority of discrimination is done because of someone’s looks. In the novella Of Mice and Men, Author John Steinbeck crafted numerous characters to give a visual of what this discrimination looks like. Many types of discrimination occur in this novella. Ageism against senior citizens can be seen in a character named Candy and his dog, who are discriminated against for their appearance. Sexism against women can be seen in Curley’s wife, who is neglected countless times by her husband. There’s even a character named Crooks who experiences racism for being an African American, the most devastating example of judging people by appearances. Steinbeck and his creation of these characters can illustrate a message to readers about human nature; people discriminate against others based more on appearances than abilities. Analyzed within this essay is evidence of why Steinbeck created these characters, how the dialogue they experience adds to the claim and the overlooked abilities that each of these characters had.