My text may be different in reference to page numbers so I will provide chapter numbers and approximate placement in that chapter of quoted sections.
Lennie is the simple minded friend of George. They are the two main characters of Steinbeck's novella Of Mice and Men. They are traveling together through California as migrant farm workers. In today's terms, Lennie would probably be referred to as mentally challenged and would have been in special education classes. Unfortunately those labels and resources were not available in 1930's California. Instead, Lennie is referred to as "not bright," "dumb as hell," "a cuckoo," "crazy as a wedge," and "nuts." Because of his disability Lennie is indeed the victim of discrimination.
Even though he is Lennie's best friend George is guilty of discriminating against the big man. In chapter one George urges Lennie to be quiet when they meet the boss at the ranch where they are going to work. Midway through the chapter George says,
“That ranch we’re goin’ to is right down there about a quarter mile. We’re gonna go in an’ see the boss. Now, look—I’ll give him the work tickets, but you ain’t gonna say a word. You jus’ stand there and don’t say nothing. If he finds out what a crazy bastard you are, we won’t get no job, but if he sees ya work before he hears ya talk, we’re set. Ya got that?”
George is afraid Lennie will say something that will lose them the job since Lennie has a history of getting into trouble and costing them employment. In chapter two, after Lennie forgets George's orders and speaks out in the presence of the boss, George chastises him:
“So you wasn’t gonna say a word. You was gonna leave your big flapper shut and leave me do the talkin’. Damn near lost us the job...Yeah, you forgot. You always forget, an’ I got to talk you out of it.” He sat down heavily on the bunk. “Now he’s got his eye on us. Now we got to be careful and not make no slips. You keep your big flapper shut after this.”
Another example of George discriminating against Lennie is revealed in the beginning of chapter three when George is talking to Slim. George admits that he liked to make fun of Lennie in order to make himself look smarter, even in an incident that could have cost Lennie his life. Toward the beginning of the chapter George relates this incident:
“Funny,” said George. “I used to have a hell of a lot of fun with ‘im. Used to play jokes on ‘im ‘cause he was too dumb to take care of ‘imself. But he was too dumb even to know he had a joke played on him. I had fun. Made me seem God damn smart alongside of him. Why he’d do any damn thing I tol’ him. If I tol’ him to walk over a cliff, over he’d go. That wasn’t so damn much fun after a while. He never got mad about it, neither. I’ve beat the hell outa him, and he coulda bust every bone in my body jus’ with his han’s, but he never lifted a finger against me.” George’s voice was taking on the tone of confession. “Tell you what made me stop that. One day a bunch of guys was standin’ around up on the Sacramento River. I was feelin’ pretty smart. I turns to Lennie and says, ‘Jump in.’ An’ he jumps. Couldn’t swim a stroke. He damn near drowned before we could get him. An’ he was so damn nice to me for pullin’ him out. Clean forgot I told him to jump in. Well, I ain’t done nothing like that no more.”
Although these examples show how Lennie is discriminated against because of his mental disability he is also a victim in other ways. At the end of chapter three Curley, upset about not finding his wife, and the subject of ridicule from the other men, picks on Lennie because of Lennie's size. In the middle of chapter two, Candy explains Curley's strategy:
“Never did seem right to me. S’pose Curley jumps a big guy an’ licks him. Ever’body says what a game guy Curley is. And s’pose he does the same thing and gets licked. Then ever’body says the big guy oughtta pick somebody his own size, and maybe they gang up on the big guy. Never did seem right to me. Seems like Curley ain’t givin’ nobody a chance.”
Of course when they do fight, Lennie breaks Curley's hand, which ultimately leads to Lennie's demise because at the end of the book Curley is out for revenge not only for his wife's death but also because of the beating he took at the hands of the big man.
In chapter four Lennie is the victim of what some today might call "reverse discrimination." Left alone while George goes into town on a Saturday night Lennie happens upon the room of the black stable hand Crooks. Because he is a black man on a ranch dominated by white men Crooks is segregated from the other men and has his own private quarters in the barn. When Lennie, who is quite unaware of any difference between Crooks and the other men, sees the light and tries to enter the stable buck's room, Crooks says,
“Well, I got a right to have a light. You go on get outa my room. I ain’t wanted in the bunk house, and you ain’t wanted in my room."
When Lennie asks why Crooks is not wanted the black man explains the discrimination and segregation on the ranch:
“’Cause I’m black. They play cards in there, but I can’t play because I’m black. They say I stink. Well, I tell you, you all of you stink to me.”
Later in the same chapter Crooks too plays on Lennie's challenged mentality by suggesting that George has ditched the big man and won't return from town. He torments Lennie by saying:
“I said s’pose George went into town tonight and you never heard of him no more...Well, s’pose, jus’ s’pose he don’t come back. What’ll you do then?”
Later Crooks reinforces the idea of Lennie's disability by telling Lennie what might happen if George abandons him:
“Want me ta tell ya what’ll happen? They’ll take ya to the booby hatch. They’ll tie ya up with a collar, like a dog.”
Because Crooks is able to inflict some of the pain he has experienced onto Lennie he feels pretty good about himself and even offers to join the men in their dream of the farm. Eventually, however, he is put back in his place by Curley's wife suggestion that she could get him lynched.
At the end of the book Lennie's disability finally costs him his life as George sees no other alternative than to shoot Lennie in an act of extreme mercy. Had George not killed Lennie the big man would have been the victim of a system he would not have understood without the possibility of a "not guilty by reason of insanity" plea.
No comments:
Post a Comment