Central Message of Of Mice And Men by John Steinbeck

Why nowadays, everybody says that if you try hard, you can achieve your aspirations; but some people can’t? Set in Soledad, California during the Great Depression, Steinbeck’s Of Mice And Men tells the story of George, the small and intelligent protagonist, and Lennie, the protagonist’s tall disabled friend, and how they want to achieve their American Dream regardless to their place in the social hierarchy. Individuals experiencing prejudice are often persecuted which dooms their humble aspirations.

George Lennie and Crooks are experiencing prejudice because of their difference. After Slim, the man that works on the same ranch as George and Lennie, mercy killedLuly, the Old Swamper’s dog, Slim talks about Lennie’s strength to George and says, “Funny how you and he string along together”(Stenbeck, 44). By saying that it’s “funny”, Slim implies that it is not really normal for George, a small and intelligent man, to be with Lennie, a strong and mentally disabled man, because they are very different; this shows that Slim is prejudiced. When Lennie enters Crooks’ room, Crooks doesn’t want him in it because they don’t want him in their bunkhouse, and Lennie asks, “‘Why ain’t you wanted?’ ‘Cause I’m black They play cards in there but I can’t play because I’m black. They say I stink.’”(77). By saying that he can’t play cards because of his skin colour, it shows that he is experiencing racism, which is prejudice.

When Curley, the boss’s son of the ranch in which they work, and his wife are empowering themselves to make Lennie and Crooks disempowered, they start mistreating them. After Curley asks Slim if he has seen his wife, Carlson responds, which doesn’t please to Curley, after which he sees Lennie smiling and starts yelling at him full of rage, “Come on ya big bastard. Get up on your feetµ. No big son-of-a-bitch is gonna laugh at me. I’ll show ya who’s yella”(70). By treating Lennie badly, Curley empowers himself and he thinks Lennie is less powerful than him because Lennie is different. When Curley’s wife entered in Crooks’s room, she starts talking to Lennie to bring attention to her, but Crooks doesn’t want her in his room and tells her to get out, she responds, “Listen Nigger, you know what I can do to you if you open your trap? Well, you keep your place then, Nigger. I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain’t even funny.”(91). By telling Crooks that he can be lynched, Curley’s wife thinks that he can be mistreated because he is black.

Before Lennie kills accidentally Curley’s wife, he understands that his dream to have a little place and rabbits is threatened. While Curley’s wife is having attention form Lennie, she tells him her dream and Lennie says, “We gonna have a little place-an’ rabbits”(99). By saying that he is going to have a “little place and rabbits”, it shows that his dream is simple and modest, that it is a humble dream. After Curley’s wife showed Lennie how soft her hair was, Lennie Starts touching them, but she says it’s enough and starts screaming because Lennie doesn’t stop, and Lennie says, “Oh please, don’t do that, George’s gonna say I don a bad thing! George gonna say I done a bad thing? He ain’t gonna let me tend no rabbits.”(103). By saying that George “ain’t gonna let [him]tend no rabbits”, Lennie expresses that his dream is gonna be over; his dream is going to be

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