Forms of Prejudice In The Novel Of Mice And Men

Jeffrey

May 20, 2011

Forms of Prejudice

  In the novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, Prejudice is a big part of the novel. Prejudice is an unfavorable opinion or feeling formed beforehand or without knowledge, thought, or reason. I will be explaining three forms of prejudice. The three types are ageism, sexism, and racism. I will start off by explaining ageism.

  Ageism- discrimination based on age, especially prejudice against the elderly. Candy was a target of ageism, he would get pushed around and commit to so certain actions that he did not agree on. For example, the killing of his dog, Carson kept on bragging to candy that his dog was old and needed to be put to death. Candy strongly disagreed over the killing of his dog, but Carson kept on insisting. Candy knew that no matter what he said the dog was going to be killed anyways. So he just laid on his bed, turn his back and moment later he heard a gunshot. Indicating the death of his dog.

  Sexism- discrimination or devaluation based on a person's sex, especially such discrimination directed against women. In the novel, there was a character referred to as Curly’s wife. She was the victim of sexism. As you can see from reading the novel, Steinbeck never gave her a proper name. Which tries to show the audience a form of sexism. The other characters in the book such as Candy, Clerks and Slim would prejudge her and make sexist comments. The men on the farm would refer to her as a “tramp,” a “tart,” or a “Lolo.”

  Racism- hatred or intolerance of another race or other races. Characters in the novel would be racist with Crook because he is African American. For example he couldn’t sleep in the same room with all the other workers, let alone step a foot in the room. He was given a room in the barn with the farm animals. An example from the novel would be when Crooks caught Lennie inside his room and told Lennie that he shouldn’t be in there. Crooks then said, “If no colored man was allowed in there room, then no white man was allowed in his room”. Also when Curly’s wife walked into his room and started asking for Curly, Crooks told her to leave because he did not want any problems in an aggressive tone. Curly’s wife then replied by telling him to watch his mouth because she can have him hanged. Crooks didn’t respond and instantly put his head down in fear.

  In the novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck there were several cases of prejudgment, for example sexism, ageism, and racism. Curly's wife was being discriminated against because she was a female and men would tease and call her names. Candy was also being discriminated because of his age. He had to say goodbye to one of his oldest and loyalist friend. He had no power in stopping Carson because of his age. Last, Crooks was being discriminated over his race. He couldn’t live under the same roof, as the other characters because he is African American. I believe people should get to know things, places, or individuals before judging or leading to false accusations.