How Does Steinbeck Present Injustice In Of Mice And Men

From the first look, there seems to be little to no justice in Steinbecks' novella Of Mice and Men. Set on a ranch in Weeds during the Great Depression, Steinbeck portrays a simplistic Lennie and a well defined George, who seem to depend on each other in certain ways. Lennie is seen as having the mental capacity of a child, but he makes mistakes by harming creatures; human and animal alike. Steinbeck seems to have slipped in more morals in the story than at first glance. Steinbeck introduces Lennie, one of the characters that faces the most injustice in the book. Lennie is described as a “huge man, shapeless of face..with wide, sloping shoulders”(2), he is also mentally ill, and know not to control his strength. George admits to Slim that the reason they left the other town was because …show more content…
Lennie has the mind capacity of a young child, and is therefore easily influenced by others actions and affected by their words. An example of injustice is when Curley meets Lennie. He seems as if he is intimidated by Lennie’s rather large size, and as most guys do, bulk up to show dominance. Curleys’ “hands [closing] into fists”(25) made Lennie uncomfortable from the beginning. Curley, as most others back in these times, doesn’t understand the way Lennie acts nor does he seem to care. Curleys jealousy over Lennie leads to him later swinging at him, in return, poor Lennie gets frightened and reached for his fist, holding “the flopping little man”(63) like a fish on a line, and ends up breaking his hand. Later in the story the reader is faced with the conflict of Lennie