Struggle In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

As a writer, John Steinbeck was incredibly conscious of social issues of his time. He portrays these bits of social commentary through certain archetypes within his writing, one of his most famous being Of Mice And Men. The novel portrays the hardships that characters had to struggle through in the 1930’s, internally and externally. The most obvious character with an internal struggle is that of Lennie Smalls. Lennie Smalls as a character who stands as a sort of posterchild as to how the mentally ill were treated during this time.
During the 1930’s era, the world was in a ‘ride or die’ or ‘every man for himself’ state, meaning that those who desperately needed help could not receive said help. Those unfortunate enough to be mentally disabled during this time were often viewed as unhealthy or defective, and may have been abandoned by their families who did not …show more content…
He was seen as slow with a terrible memory, acting somewhat like a young child. While he was a strong and powerful man, that in combination with his mental state, was his downfall. Smalls knew the difference between right and wrong, he just had the wrong ideals behind why it was. He fixates on certain childish things, such as his dreams of tending rabbits in the farm that he and George were supposedly going to own. The story of the farm was the only thing he truly could remember. George stood as Lennie’s caretaker, but it was a sort of co-dependency. George took care of Lennie in the terms of making sure he didn’t get himself killed, while on the other hand, Lennie took care of George in the terms of providing him protection. This co-dependency kept them out of their respective places; whorehouses, asylums, or even death or harm. George really did not need to take care of Lennie, as because of Lennie, he had lost so many opportunities. Yet he felt an obligation to do so, via the promise he made to Lennie’s Aunt