Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck Chapters 3 through 4...
Jon, I feel like it was very good for you to research in order to find out what kind of mental disability Lennie might have in this story. When I started this book, I was pretty sure that it was some form of autism, and your research has almost confirmed that idea. So far, this book has given a lot of different reasons to believe that being autistic or having a mental disability is a disadvantage, while it is really not so due to the fact that one only needs others to understand his or her situation. Like you said before, these kind of people only need some sort of support, and Lennie has two forms of it with George and his mice.
Although mice cannot stay with Lennie for long because of his tendency of killing them, George does stick up for his companion as often as he can, yet sometimes he falls short or isn't there to protect him. More can be seen about this older society and its ways when Curley starts to beat up Lennie just so that he can vent out his anger on someone too weak to fight back. Although George is here to protect Lennie this time, and he does it very well, the protector cannot always hover around the one he protects forever. For example, Lennie becomes a quick target for Curley's wife's taunts when George is not with him, and he has no way to really defend himself because he knows no better. "Lennie whined, 'I wisht George was here. I wisht George was here.'" (pg. 79). This shows that those thought to be weaker were bullied back then in an even worse fashion than it is done now, and that just reflects on how society worked then compared to how it works now in the West.
Older thinking can also be seen in the way most of these characters treat Crooks' because he is black, and a connection between the two targets of these tragedies blooms almost immediately when they associate with one another. The only people that really even dare to talk to the stable-hand as if he was a normal person are Lennie and Candy, and this is only because neither of them really have a choice or know any better about what society may think. Curley's wife soon made all three men realize what the people of that time really thought of blacks and the mentally unstable when she talked to them in a harsh manner. "She turned to him in scorn. 'Listen, Nigger,' she said. 'You know what I can do to you if you open your trap?'" (pg. 78). This woman showed the men present just how much authority she had, yet she still confided in them to tell her tale of treachery since she knew they wouldn't dare reveal her secrets. The times in which this story takes place did not have much respect for different people, and although people may have mostly changed by now, many examples of such treatment can still be found, here and all around the world.
Jon, I feel like it was very good for you to research in order to find out what kind of mental disability Lennie might have in this story. When I started this book, I was pretty sure that it was some form of autism, and your research has almost confirmed that idea. So far, this book has given a lot of different reasons to believe that being autistic or having a mental disability is a disadvantage, while it is really not so due to the fact that one only needs others to understand his or her situation. Like you said before, these kind of people only need some sort of support, and Lennie has two forms of it with George and his mice.
Although mice cannot stay with Lennie for long because of his tendency of killing them, George does stick up for his companion as often as he can, yet sometimes he falls short or isn't there to protect him. More can be seen about this older society and its ways when Curley starts to beat up Lennie just so that he can vent out his anger on someone too weak to fight back. Although George is here to protect Lennie this time, and he does it very well, the protector cannot always hover around the one he protects forever. For example, Lennie becomes a quick target for Curley's wife's taunts when George is not with him, and he has no way to really defend himself because he knows no better. "Lennie whined, 'I wisht George was here. I wisht George was here.'" (pg. 79). This shows that those thought to be weaker were bullied back then in an even worse fashion than it is done now, and that just reflects on how society worked then compared to how it works now in the West.
Older thinking can also be seen in the way most of these characters treat Crooks' because he is black, and a connection between the two targets of these tragedies blooms almost immediately when they associate with one another. The only people that really even dare to talk to the stable-hand as if he was a normal person are Lennie and Candy, and this is only because neither of them really have a choice or know any better about what society may think. Curley's wife soon made all three men realize what the people of that time really thought of blacks and the mentally unstable when she talked to them in a harsh manner. "She turned to him in scorn. 'Listen, Nigger,' she said. 'You know what I can do to you if you open your trap?'" (pg. 78). This woman showed the men present just how much authority she had, yet she still confided in them to tell her tale of treachery since she knew they wouldn't dare reveal her secrets. The times in which this story takes place did not have much respect for different people, and although people may have mostly changed by now, many examples of such treatment can still be found, here and all around the world.
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