Mental Illness In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

During 1929, the Great Depression became the event that shook America. People lost their jobs, which resulted in unemployment and homelessness. Hobos and “Okies” tried moving to California did not accept the jobless migrations because they feared their opportunities for success would be lost. In Steinbeck's novel Of Mice and Men several characters experience cruelty because society outcasts them. These characters include Lennie, Candy, and Crooks. Of the three characters, Crooks has the least opportunity for success because he's African-American and handicap.

Lenny is on track to an early death as a result of his lifestyle decisions. If he continues his habits on a regular basis, he will most likely develop preventable diseases. These are some of unhealthy things which affect his chances: smoking, obesity, stress, environment, having high blood pressure, and his diet (containing high-salt). There are major health problem that all are linked to these choices; cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and cancer are several key ones. Without changing, Lenny will probably live a shorter life—as a result of his own decisions and way of life.

The novel, Of Mice and Men, talk about different characters and how things were back in the Great Depression by following two ranchers, George and Lennie. When the novel first introduces the setting at the lake, it also introduced the two main characters. George is described as the one that seems to take in everything with his “restless eyes and sharp, strong features” and Lennie follows him. Lennie is described as “a huge man, shapeless of face, with large pale eyes, with wide sloping shoulders;” George and Lennie look like opposites which draws the question, Why are they traveling together? The answer becomes clear once we get into the novel but before that, Lennie starts to drink the scummy water and plays like a toddler in the lake. This shows that he has some mental disability and this is further shown when he starts to forget everything. His disability foreshadows trouble which shows that Lennie is the one that causes the most trouble because of his mental disability to forget everything, how he isn’t wanted anywhere, and how his disability ultimately ends up ruining dreams and lives.

“They left all the weak ones here,” she said finally. (pg 60) The novel Of Mice and Men was written by John Steinbeck in 1937, the setting of the novel is on a ranch just a few miles from Soledad, California. In Of Mice and Men, there are many characters with different impairments, some examples of the impairments are mental or physical such as age, gender or health. The characters are Lennie, Candy, Crooks and Curley’s wife, which all apply to age, gender and health.

“They left all the weak ones here,” she said finally.” (Steinbeck 84). The novel Of Mice and Men was written by John Steinbeck in 1937, the setting of the novel is a ranch just a few miles from Soledad, California. In Of Mice and Men there are many characters with different impairments. Some examples of the impairments are mental or physical such as age, gender or health. The characters are Lennie, Candy, Crooks And Curley’s wife which all apply with age, gender and health.

“Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck, the ending sentence portrays that the characters had to deal with a sad and hard life during the depression. The summary of the book, In the first chapter George and Lennie are walking away from Weed because Lennie scared a girl and a bunch of men were chasing them. In the second chapter G and L are faced with the new challenge of a new job and lots of new people. In the third chapter Lennie gets a new puppy from Slim but Lennie gets in trouble because he’s petting it too much. The fourth chapter Lennie wonders into the bedding room of Crooks the black man and ends up telling him everything about the dream ranch where he’s gonna get to tend the rabbits.

As Americans it becomes natural to undermine those with a mental illness. As a fact, many adults and children deal with mental illness each and everyday. There are many stories that have been told to Americans about depression, anxiety, along with bipolar disorders, with the outcome usually being a negative consequence. For the 1 in every 5 citizens that deal with a mental illness each year. Americans have neglected the fact that many adults and children deal with mental issue(s), the citizens that refrain from getting help; their well being can suffer detrimental effects, there is not a lot of awareness either taught in school, or in public perspectives, American’s stigma has perfected their

American linguist and philosopher, Noam Chomsky once stated, “It is quite possible--overwhelmingly probable, one might guess--that we will always learn more about human life and personality from novels than from scientific psychology.” One such novel, is John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, which introduces a rather grim view of the the human condition. Furthermore, Robert Burns obtains a similar perspective of the human condition, expressed in his poem, “To a Mouse, on Turning Her Up in Her Nest with an Plough.” In their literature, both Steinbeck and Burns explore the nature and events that make up the human condition.

Back in my elementary school, there was a girl who was mentally disabled. A lot of kids assumed that she was just weird and didn’t understand what a mental disability was. For example, one day when our class was walking through the hallway and saw her, they were talking about how she was weird and crazy. What if I told you that back in the 1930’s, everybody was like that. American society is slow to change because people are afraid of things they don’t understand.

What if you were living in the early 1900’s with a mental illness or disease. In the book Of Mice And Men written by John Steinbeck. Lennie Small a large man affected by a mental illness travels with his guardian/friend George trying to accomplish their goal of purchasing their own small ranch. George is the complete opposite of Lennie as he is not very tall, he is quite the hothead due to Lennie constantly getting into trouble but even after acknowledging Lennie's mistakes he forgives him and continues to watch over him.Lennie’s illness gradually causes him to cause more and more trouble throughout the story which ends up with him killing someone. In the early 1900’s having a mental illness would cause someone to be sent to an asylum and be

1930s American Dream Two migrant workers, Lennie Smalls and George Milton, search for a life on a farm, but along the way certain problems with Lennie restrict them to being set back by mental issues. As low class laborers during this time, discrimination is very active, making it significantly more difficult in achieving their dream. In Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck illustrates through the main character, Lennie, how one’s mental disability can have a negative impact in achieving the American Dream during the struggling 1930s. It is difficult to trust a mentally disabled person as a partner during the 1930s.

In his novel Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck uses many characters to show his assertion that man is basically evil. When Curley’s wife confronts Lennie, Crooks, and Candy in Crook’s place, she notes that the others “left all the weak ones here” (77). The “weak” ones that Curley’s wife refer to all attack each other in a vicious circular firing squad. Crooks taunts Lennie about the possibility of George not returning, and takes “pleasure in his torture” as he “[presses] forward for some kind of private victory” (71). Curley’s wife calls Candy and Lennie “a dum-dum and a lousy ol’ sheep” (78) and threatens to get Crooks “strung up on a tree” (81). Meanwhile, all the other characters are the ones that make those Lennie, Candy, Crooks, and Curley’s wife feel “weak” because they are disabled mentally, disabled physically, black, and female, respectively. In this way, Steinbeck shows that all men are basically evil as they do not lend a hand to each other and instead simply attack and prey upon each other.

In life human nature can be known to be thought of as a high quality and/or low quality. Naturally, human nature is there without thought about what it actually is. In the novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, the author sprinkles clues and evidence of how human nature was and still is today. The themes that Steinbeck used throughout the novel were, for example friendship, loneliness, and weak vs. strong.

When people are mentally ill, they suffer social stigma, have higher health costs, and are at an increased risk of becoming poor. Every one out of five Americans is diagnosed with a mental illness. That 20 percent of the population can negatively influence the normal stresses of life, working productively and fruitfully, and being able to make a contribution the community. When humankind as a whole cannot recognize that mental illness is a serious issue, there is more harm being done than good. Any kind of mental illness can be caused merely by society, but also can worsen due to humanity not understanding how injustice can make a serious impact. The mental health problems that people face can be limited to society learning about the injustice of these illnesses.

Imagine a world where a third of the human population suffered from the same type of illness. Imagine a world where the government does little to help those who suffer from this terrible illness. Imagine a world where nobody acknowledged the pain and suffering that comes along with this illness. This is, unfortunately, the world we live in today. The illness is not one that others notice, but it can have terrible consequences to those who suffer from it. The type of illness are the ones that plague people mentally.