Of Mice and Men
From your reading of the novel so far comment on the way in which the theme of prejudice is presented.
Prejudice is an important theme in ‘Of Mice and Men’ and is shown in different ways throughout the novel. There are some obvious cases of it being in effect and also some subconscious prejudices.
Crooks has been, according to his soliloquy during chapter 4 when he speaks to Lennie, discriminated against all of his life. He has spent most of his life alone as there was only one other coloured family remotely near to them. This has created an almost hermit-like lifestyle for Crooks. He only socializes with the other men on the ranch when they make him fight or play horseshoes. Crooks never has anybody to confide in or speak to unlike all the other men on the ranch and whenever he says anything its, “…just a nigger talkin’, an’ a busted-back nigger. So it don’t mean nothing…” Whenever anybody makes any reference to Crooks they rarely use the name “Crooks” which may be a nickname given to him because of his bent back but usually call him “nigger”. This means that he is even discriminated against when people are trying to talk to him or be kind to him because they subconsciously refer to him by his colour.
Candy is, along with Crooks, one of the constant workers at the ranch and along with Crooks he is past his best working years. They are both the subject of prejudice, Crooks because of colour and Candy because of age but they don’t become close because despite knowing what it feels like to be discriminated against Candy cannot get past the colour boundaries and likes to use his supposed colour superiority over Crooks. The prejudice against Candy is based on his age and health, he is nearly completely crippled by work, so he is excluded from conversation by the workers generally and is always an outsider from the main group of workers. He responds to this by gossiping and trying to engage the workers in conversation by talking to them about other people on the ranch who they might have an interest in, namely Curley and his wife. The prejudice against Candy, like Crooks, is subconscious and doesn’t seem to be out of place at all and Candy knows that he is at a disadvantage. When he speaks to George for the first time he immediately starts talking to him about people on the ranch. When he says something against Curley, either directly or through his wife, he immediately regresses and asks George to not say anything to anyone. Candy acknowledges that he could be canned at any time by Curley and he would have no appeal and no other place to go. When Lennie and Curley have their fight the prejudice held by the men is obvious. Whilst all the workers go to town with Curley the people left at the ranch are Candy, Crooks, Curley’s Wife and Lennie, although Lennie is also left behind because he wouldn’t be much use in town particularly as he had caused the injury. The ones left are the outsiders, Curley’s Wife refers to them as “Bindle Stiffs” but she herself tries to talk and keep company with them.
