The workers on the ranch degrade him by telling him that he smells and this shows that they have no respect for their feelings what-so-ever. Some people use their race and status against him like Curley’s wife. She tells him that he is nothing and she tells him to keep his place.
Crooks also has a disability. He has a bent back which means that he cannot do much and that is why he is just a stable buck. Just like things in the harness room he is in the ‘process of being mended’. There are many ways in which he is treated like and outcast so he may think that if he is treated like one then why he can’t just be one. Maybe he thinks it would make things easier for him if he just gives up rather than struggling for something that he knows he is not going to win. In all C rooks is basically a victim of his own race and disability.
Another reason for some characters being considered as social misfits is because of their personality or nature. Curley’s wife shows us an example of this.
Curley’s wife is the only female on the ranch therefore she is left out and judged a lot. She is judged a lot because the men don’t spend time with omen except when they go down to Suzie’s place and because the only women they know are the ones at Suzie’s place they think that all women are like that. Even though she is only a 15 year old girl she tries to put on an act to be an older woman and because of this she is considered to be naive. There is also a battle going on within Curley’s wife. Her inner self is just fighting to be let out so that she can be herself but her outer self is fighting to be older and more mature so that she can get attention in the male society.
Because she is a female she is victimised, judged and stereotyped. She feels that she does not get a lot of attention and she has to look and act a certain way in order to get that attention but what she does not realize is that the consequences of her actions makes her less respected. The way she acts around the men is considered to be inappropriate and too flirtatious. She portrays that she is superior to everyone else on the ranch because she is the boss’ son’s wife. This however means nothing to the men because they do not like her or Curley at all. Because of her overprotective husband and her naïve ways she has not made any friends at all but before she gets a chance to change her ways she is stripped of her life and the opportunity to just be herself.
A third example of a social misfit is Lennie. Lennie is an example of a different social misfit because he does not only not fit in but he also fits in just as well.
Lennie is one of the hard working men on the ranch. As George states Lennie is only good for one thing and that is working. H e has not got a very stable mind and is a bit slow in the sense that he is not mentally stable. This is his downfall because it means that he does not have the mind to think for himself so instead he follows George’s orders. He has a certain ‘pattern of behaviour’. This pattern of behaviour happens every time he panics. It starts off with him with him petting something soft, then the person or animal verbally or physically bites him back, so the over reacts and causes the animal or person more pain and eventually kills them. After that he panics at the fear of what George might do to him if he finds out he then goes into denial and blames the incident on the person or animal. This is called his ‘pantomime of innocence’. As a result of this inadequacy he is brought to a terrifying and horrible death by George because of the terrible thing he has done.
There are three characters that show us classic examples of social misfits and the consequences of their inadequacies.
By Sharlynne Wilson 10x/10pt