Social Outcasts In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

All Americans have received or experienced peer pressure at some point in their lives to fit in with the crowd and please other people. The theme in Of Mice and Men is peer pressure. Peer pressure was a very clear problem in the book. Three characters that experienced peer pressure were Curley, Candy, and George. Peer pressure can make people do scary and crazy things.

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.

Gender discrimination has been a large problem throughout the world. This type of discrimination was seen in the past and can still be seen today. In the 1930’s women were not treated nearly as equally as men. They were to do house work: cook, clean and raise the children. This is seen in Of Mice and Men because Curley’s wife is not on the ranch to do “ranch work,” she is there to be Curley’s lady and do things inside the house that the men wouldn’t do. In many countries women are often seen as objects. The reader can imply that the men on the ranch treat Curley’s wife as if she was an object as well since they do not give her a name. Based on how women were treated in the 1930’s readers can imply that the reason only one woman was at the ranch was because that wasn’t there job or that they were not strong or skilled enough to do the ranch work. Gender discrimination was not as large of a role in the novel, however, Curley’s wife being the only woman on the rach it became a bigger

In a society of people all in the same situations how can someone feel so alone. When lives fall apart and people have nothing to hold on to people need each other most, yet are pushed so far from others. The novel Of Mice and Men written by John Steinbeck, follows the storyline of two men who are displaced farm workers during the Great Depression; they travel around and stick by each other’s sides no matter the circumstance. After many jobs they end up on a farm,the farm they hope will be their last stop. The time spent on the farm is filled with blooming friendships and careless quarrels, yet with an abundance of characters and entertainment- many people on the farm feel alone and out of place. Characters such as Crooks and Curley’s wife often come to mind when the subject of loneliness is brought up. Throughout the book using characters such as Crooks and Curley's wife, John Steinbeck demonstrates that humans are immensely impacted by separation from society and it will change the way that people will act and show themselves to others.

Barbara Sher once said, “‘Isolation is a dream killer’” (qtd. in Wishcraft). In his novella, Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck scrutinizes the effects that alienation can have on society. Many characters experience loneliness throughout the novel. He illustrates the results of individuals becoming isolated from their peers. In Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck portrays characters alienated from society in order to illustrate the harmful effects of loneliness caused by discrimination.

In the story Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, he illustrates that when someone is thought of as being different, they tend to be left in the dust and not taken care of properly. Throughout the book he sets the tone as being negative towards those who might not be fit into the social norms. The characters Crooks and Curley's wife are depicted as being isolated and lonely, almost like they are outcasts because of who they are as people, which suggests that isolation from the world can cause people to yearn for a sense of belonging and lose their self-worth.

Isolation and loneliness can plague even those who socialize with others the most. Although all the main characters in this novel live in such close quarters, and socialize with each other on a daily basis, they are still isolated in their own ways. There are many factors that can lead to loneliness, such as race, intelligence and general appearance. The constant fear of being lonely, can also lead a person to be even more isolated. In the novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, isolation and loneliness are evident through several key characters; Crooks, George, and Candy.

“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...

“Want me to tell ya what’ll happen? They’ll take ya to the booby hatch. They’ll tie ya up with a collar, like a dog” (Steinbeck 72). Discrimination plays a large role to feeling lonely. In the novella Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, characters endure attempts by society to make them “invisible.” These include racism, ageism, sexism, and isolation. More specifically, three of these characters experience loneliness from acts of discrimination. Factors contributing to their loneliness include ageism, disability discrimination, and racism. Each of these characters are migrant workers during the Great Depression who are discriminated against in different ways. Thus, through Candy, Crooks, and Curley’s wife, Steinbeck reveals the powerful

Curley’s wife, on the other hand, is not insecure, but suffers from ostracism and isolation because she is a married woman. Michael Meyer points out, “…the hardship for a woman to live on the ranch as presented in the novel should not be ignored”. Curley’s wife only wants someone to talk with her, but the men on the ranch mistake her trying to start conversations as sexual advances: “I never seen nobody like her. She got the eye goin’ all the time on everybody… I don’t know what the hell she wants” (Steinbeck 51). They also ridicule her, calling her a

From black people to white people, to the old and the young, almost every person was discriminated against in some way during the depression and even today. Steinbeck’s novel Of Mice and Men takes place during the Great Depression, 1940s era and describes a very realistic situation about characters who are simply trying to get by and chasing the “American Dream” but struggles with conflict within themselves and the outside world. Discrimination was a common theme of Of Mice and Men and greatly affected the lives of the characters in the novella. Some characters include: Crooks, Curley’s wife, and Candy. The novella is a realistic representation of discrimination in society.

lead him to a life of worry and lack of security, as he is old and a