Of Mice And Men Banned Book Project
By: Nino Teruya
Essential Question
The language that he uses in the books is what most of the controversy is about. In 1937, John Steinbeck explained in a letter to his godmother that “For too long the language of books was different from the language of men. To the men I write about profanity is adornment and ornament and is never vulgar and I try to write it so.”
Brief History on Of MIce And Men
The book has been challenged since 1962 mainly due to the promotion of euthanasia, racial slurs, being anti- business, and containing offensive language. According to the American Library Association, although the book was found to be offensive over the years, it remains a constant within the american literature curriculum in high schools along with other of the authors books such as The Pearl and the Grapes of Wrath.
Theme
Friendship:
"Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They don't belong no place....With us it ain't like that. We got a future. We got somebody to talk to that gives a damn about us." Chapter 1, pg. 13-14.
The Boss, on George and Lennie: "Well, I never seen one guy take so much trouble for another
guy. I just like to know what your interest is" (25).
Loneliness:
Crooks, on a black man's loneliness: "S'pose you didn't have nobody. S'pose you couldn't go into the bunk house and play rummy 'cause you was black. How'd you like that? S'pose you had to sit out here an' read books. Sure you could play horseshoes till it got dark, but then you got to read books. Books ain't no good. A guy needs somebody-to be near him. A guy goes nuts if he ain't got nobody. Don't make no difference who the guy is, long's he's with you. I tell ya, I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an' he gets sick" (80).
A guy sets alone out here at night, maybe readin' books or thinkin' or stuff like that. Sometimes he gets thinkin', an' he got nothing to tell him what's so an' what ain't so. Maybe if he sees somethin', he don't know whether it's right or not. He can't turn to some other guy and ast him if he sees it too. He can't tell. He got nothing to measure by. I seen things out here. I wasn't drunk. I don't know if I was asleep. If some guy was with me, he could tell me I was asleep, an' then it would be all right. But I jus' don't know. (Crooks speaks these words to Lennie in Section 4)
Resources
Thesis: The book should not be banned, it contributes to society and is a huge piece of history that depicts the hard times endured during the era of great depression.
Reference: The author believes that the book should not be banned but should be taught to everyone. The author says that, “Of Mice and Men” teaches life lessons and is importantn for young people to learn. “Regardless of what anybody thinks or has to say about this book, we can all agree that this book teaches important lessons about friendship, shows determination to follow our dreams, and helps us get a true understanding of what history was truly like back in the 1930’s....should not be banned in any local school or library, but instead be taught and understood by society today.” (Jmonkey1080-TeenInk.com)
Jmonkey1080. "Should Of Mice and Men Be Banned Worldwide?" Teen Ink. Teen Ink, n.d. Web. 23 Oct. 2013.
Argument
Of Mice and Men is a book that describes the hardships and adventure of two men through the great depression. Although the book using extreme profanity and uses racial slurs, it is considered to be banned, it still appears in high school literature curriculum. The book should not be banned, it contributes to society and is a huge piece of history that depicts the hard times endured during the era of great depression.