BANNED Of Mice and Men- by John Steinbeck

By, Kaylie McGivney and Desmond Djekovic

Two migrant workers, George, a small dark man with strong features and his companion, Lennie, a giant man who has a mild mental disability, are traveling in California to find a stable job on a ranch.

George and Lennie appear on the ranch, and are introduced to Candy and Curley. Curley is newly married, and possessive over his flirtatious wife. When George and Lennie are alone, Curley’s wife enters and flirts with the men. Lennie thinks she is “purty”, and George senses trouble in the future.

One night, Curley is maniacally searching for his wife, and because he cannot find her he becomes angry. He takes his anger out on Lennie by picking a fight, and because Lennie is so massive, Lennie easily crushes Curley’s hand.

Lennie accidently kills his puppy because he stroked it with too much force. Curley’s wife enters the barn to console him. Curley’ wife offers Lennie to feel her hair, when Lennie openly shares with her that he loves touching soft things. Lennie accepts and when he grabs too tightly, she cries out in pain. In attempting to silence her, Lennie’s strength over took him and accidently broke her neck.

Lennie flees to the Salinas River that George had designated them to go as a meeting place should either of them get into trouble. The men back at the ranch, begin to search for Lennie. George is the first to meet Lennie. George shoots Lennie in the back of the head, and makes the guys think other wise when they see the scene. Only Slim understands what really happened; George killed his friend out of mercy.

WHY?

John Steinbeck’s classical novel, Of Mice and Men, has been constantly up for dispute because of profanity and vulgar language.

Throughout the novel, the characters speak in a crude language to represent the uneducated social status in life. The book continually insults African Americans by repeating the ‘N’ word.

The book also discusses sex, when Lennie is accused of raping Curley’s wife. It has also been stated that, Steinbeck promotes euthanasia, the practicing of ending life in a manner that relieves pain and suffering, in his novel. Because of the words, and behavior of characters in this book, many people interpret it as insulting and disrespectful, causing it to appear on lists of challenged books.

Opinion on Banned Books

Every year, books in the U.S. and around the world are challenged. In our opinion, the process of banning, or challenging books is completely unnecessary. We believe that every book is a great example of one’s freedom of speech.

This can be explained through Henry Steele Commager’s quote “The fact is that censorship always defeats its own purpose, for it creates, in the end, the kind of society that is incapable of exercising real discretion.” In other words, the censorship of certain books develops a civilization that is unable to express one’s judgments or thoughts portrayed in their writing.

Works CitedQuote in slide 12: Commager, Henry Steele. "Censorship Quotes." Find the Famous Quotes You Need, ThinkExist.com

Quotations. Web. 29 Sept. 2010. <http://thinkexist.com/quotation/the_fact_is_that_censorship_always_defeats_its/208152.html>.

Pictures about censorship: Jam, Billy. "Indy Arts' Censorship Panel in San Francisco Tonight - Free at the Amoeblog." Amoeba

Music – The World's Largest Independent Record Store. 2009. Web. 29 Sept. 2010. <http://www.amoeba.com/blog/2009/02/jamoeblog/indy-arts-censorship-panel-in-san-francisco-tonight-free.html>.

Of Mice and Men pictures:Yearling, Brian. "Google Image Result for Http://brianyearling.pbworks.com/f/curley's Wife.gif." Google. Web. 29

Sept. 2010. <http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://brianyearling.pbworks.com/f/curley's%20wife.gif&imgrefurl=http://brianyearling.pbworks.com/Treatment-and-Representation-of-Women&usg=__XBtOWOnMuh1SlxQCFwgnTNtyv_Y=&h=400&w=400&sz=137&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=MAt9AX9VSrl55M:&tbnh=170&tbnw=201&prev=/images?q=of+mice+and+men+lennie+and+george&hl=en&biw=1026&bih=644&gbv=2&tbs=isch:10,34&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=314&vpy=300&dur=328&hovh=202&hovw=202&tx=106&ty=222&ei=k9CjTKOMDcKRjAfQpIWlDA&oeik9CjTKOMDcKRjAfQpIWlDA&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=15&ved=1t:429,r:11,s:0&biw=1026&bih=644 .

Reasons for Banning books:

Mcintyre, Stella. "Why Is Of Mice and Men Often Placed on Banned Book Lists? - by Stella Mcintyre - Helium." Helium - Where Knowledge Rules. 2002. Web. 27 Sept. 2010. <http://www.helium.com/items/1356811-steinbeck-of-mice-and-men-banned-books>.

Summary:

"SparkNotes: Of Mice and Men: Plot Overview." SparkNotes: Today's Most Popular Study Guides. Web. 29 Sept. 2010. <http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/micemen/summary.html>.

Pictutre:Rivers, Shane. "Google Image Result for Http://www.a1moviereviews.com/images/content/mice-men-movie-

review.jpg." Google. 200. Web. 29 Sept. 2010. <http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.a1moviereviews.com/images/content/mice-men-movie-review.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.a1moviereviews.com/mice-men/&usg=__3vSsO0ilQNXaGZhkcpJ8kVXCWZw=&h=473&w=300&sz=55&hl=en&start=1&zoom=1&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=NgI1NtphguZasM:&tbnh=129&tbnw=82&prev=/images?q=of+mice+and+men&um=1&hl=en&safe=active&sa=N&tbs=isch:1>.