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Impairment In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

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“They left all the weak ones here,” she said finally. (Steinbeck 77) The story Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck takes place on a ranch in the 1960’s where two guys travel around together working. In the story, several of the characters have deficiencies that hold them back, examples are that Candy is missing his right hand, Crooks has a crooked back, and Lennie is mentally challenged. There are a variety of impairments in the story, as George not getting his dream house due to Lennie, Crooks being black and having a crooked back, lastly Lennie being mentally challenged. One of the many characters with impairments in the book is George. George’s impairment is that due to him having to care for Lennie and that Lennie is dumb, and is always …show more content…
Candy is an old Swamper who had lost his hand on the job at the ranch. As it is self-explanatory that him not having his hand would make life on a ranch extremely difficult and frustrating. Another example is when Candy says that he got money for loosing his hand. Well, this shows it is an impairment because they do not just give someone money for getting a scratch. The last example is that he says that he is not handy or needed for anything so they’ll just get rid of him the moment he slips. This shows that he is so bad because of his age and not being able to work due to his hand that he is practically worthless and they just keep him around because they feel remorse. John Steinbeck includes many types of deficiencies in his novella Of Mice and Men. In this novella there are many characters with various losses keeping them from their goals. These characters are Lennie for being dumb. George for not getting his dream due to Lennie always messing it up. Also Crooks for the color of his skin and the crook in his back. Lastly Candy for his lost hand and elderly body. “…You go on get outta my room. I ain’t wanted in the bunk house, and you ain’t wanted in my room.” “Why ain’t you wanted?” Lennie asked. “’Cause I’m black…” (Steinbeck

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