Prejudice in Of Mice and Men Essay Example for Free

Prejudice in Of Mice and Men Essay Prejudices are the chains forged by ignorance to keep men apart. Marguerite Gardiner. In society, both modern and in the past, prejudice has been a tool of thinking and labeling a group of race, people, class and culture in order to distinguish ones superiority and dominance from one another, but is simply a way to judge without gathering valid facts. In Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, we see that prejudice was just as rampant in the 1930s. In the novel, prejudice is demonstrated on 3 different levels: racial, sexual and social. It is shown how these prejudices generate false perceptions that although meant to aid, do no such good as their end result is clouding the truth. Racial prejudice is most significant when describing Crooks, who happens to be the stable buck for the farm. Crooks is also a Black man with a back disability, hence the reason he is called Crooks. While most of the other workers live in the same area and attend to jobs that are quite similar, Crooks is forced to live by himself, work alone in the stables and is almost never in contact with any of the other characters. People such as Curlys Wife go as far as to ridicule Crooks and even look down at him simply for the fact that he is a Black man with a disability who is a laborer. In one instance, Curlys Wife threatens Crooks by telling him Listen, Nigger, you know what I can do if you open your trap, I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it aint funny (Steinbeck, 98). The open brutality of this comment shows that even a woman, who would normally not have much or any say during this time in the 1930s, is still considered higher in social class than an African-American man. Nothing is known about him as a person by any of the other farm attendants, but the prejudices that in this case are completely false help propel a gap between them, when one does not need to be. Although he may be physically handicap, he is just as capable as any of the others. As a result of being an outcast at the farm, Crooks has become very isolated and disengaged with the other members. When Lennie enters Crooks cabin in order retrieve the puppies, Crooks lashes out and tells Lennie I aint wanted in the bunk room and you aint wanted in my room (Steinbeck,124). This comment shows that Crooks has become bitter and alone because of the prejudice constantly being aimed at him when there is no reason for the way he is treated. He is a great overall example of racial prejudice in Of Mice and Men and society, both past and present, in which a African-American male, who is as capable as any man of another color is denied the same opportunities because of stereotypes and perceptions which can only be supported with biased false facts. Sexual prejudice is strong when Curlys Wife is a part of a scene. Curlys Wife also happens to be the only female that is currently occupying the place of work that the novel is set in. Curlys Wife is presented as a character who tends to be very friendly with all the men on the farm and enjoys the attention she gets because her husband, Curly does not give her the amount of attention that she wants, so she finds it with others. Curlys Wife is often avoided by all other who work at the farm because she is a woman who could get them in a lot of trouble. Curly is the boss son and Curlys Wife being the daughter-in-law always gets her way and can have any man in the farm fired without reason. She got the eye goin all the time on everybody. I bet she even gives the stable buck they eye. I dont know what the hell she wants (Steinbeck,51). Being a woman, there is already significant amount of sexual prejudice directed to her and the fact that she is very flirtatious with the other men further strengthens their perception of her. They all try to remain as calm as possible, careful not to give her the wrong idea cause they know the trouble that she could get them in. In actuality it appears that Curlys Wife only craves attention from the other men and nothing sexual because of the lack of her husband to give her the attention that she wants. The idea of her wanting something only sexual and not spiritual shows the prejudice associated with gender in this novel and how its falsehood prevents a lonely woman from engaging and connecting with others on a mental level. Equally important is the Social prejudice towards characters such as Candy and Lennie in Of Mice and Men. Candy is very old and not capable of doing much around the farm but is still kept around to do the simple chores that the others are seen as more of a waste of time for others. These simple chores are envied by others and this jealousy helps create a division between Candy and the others. Candy also has a dog that in many ways is similar to him [The] dog aint no good to himself. I wisht somebodyd shoot me if I got old an a cripple (pg. 45). They are both described as being old, withered, confused and in many ways more of a nuisance who would do more good dead than alive. Socially being hated by the majority of the men at the ranch shows the prejudice that is directed without any reason, but simply motivated by jealousy. In the instance of Lennie, social prejudice is strongest evident in the perception others have of him because in their eyes, all they see is a big oaf incapable of accomplishing anything intelligent and only kept around for his strength. Before meeting Lennie and even engaging him in conversation, his position has already been established at the Ranch. With Curly we see that [Hes] like a lot of little guys. He hates big guys. Hes alla time picking scraps with big guys. Kind of like hes mad at em because he aint a big guy (pg. 26). Regardless of his ability to be of help at the farm, Curly already establishes his position on Lennie even though he has had no significant direct contact or enough time to accurately depict Lennie as a person and not just a big man physically. Not only Curly, but other members of the farm also have decided Lennies place at work before fully knowing him. He is left out of card games, left back at the ranch when George and the others go out to hand more important jobs. Being considered a simple minded men with little use who spend their days playing with and day dreaming about rabbits or sweeping after others, Lennie and Candy have become outcasts in the sense that one of them is perceived to be mentally unstable and added to the fact that he is physically strong, while the other one is a nuisance who many could live without, make them both isolated and all the more reason to be avoid and singled out. Of Mice and Men is a brilliant novel in demonstrating that prejudice is a tool that people use to become more familiar with other individuals in order to overcome the fear of uncertainty. However, the ending result is that it puts distance between the person and the one they judge because it is not fact, but perception that is completely untrue. Prejudice is simply the reasoning of a fool to make themselves feel secure.

KOSOVO PEACE ACCORD :: essays research papers

Kosovo Peace Accord Kosovo is the southern province of Yugoslavia and is spread over an area of approximately 4300 miles; of the two million population, 90% are Muslims and 10% are Serbs. The Muslims had been demanding independence for the past few years but the Yugoslavian President Slobodan Milosovic played the butcher's role by shelling and destroying valleys of the Albanian Muslims. The Serbs, under his orders, committed heinous crimes, which included gang rapes of Muslim women and torturing thousands of Kosovers to death. The world condemmed Serb atrocities but Milosovic was unmoved and continued his brutal behavior. When the situation got worsened, the European Council and the NATO took a serious note of it. NATO threatened Yugoslavia with air strikes if Milosovic did not come to terms. Peace talks were arranged in France and draft of the peace Agreement was prepared. The Kosovo Albanians signed an international peace plan in 1999 but Milosovic did not sign it, and consequently NATO gave March 24, 1999 as the deadline to Milosovic to sign the peace plan failing which Yugoslavia would face NATO air strikes. NATO started its air strike when Milosevic failed to sign the peace accord by March 24, 1999. It bombed civil and military targets all over the Yugoslavia, which included military installations, oil refineries, ammunition stores, airfields, Radio and T.V. Stations etc. These air strikes continued for 79 days till 10 June 1999, but during this period, the Serb atrocities continued, which forced about half the Muslim population (Muslim Albanians) to leave Kosovo and seek refuge in Albania and Macedonia. Apart from supporting NATO, the United Nations also helped the refugees by providing them food and shelter. The NATO strikes inflicted heavy damages upon Yugoslavia, which forced Milosovic to accept the international peace plan. With the acceptance of the peace plan by Belgrade, the 79 days NATO bombing was temporarily suspended on 10 June 1999. Simultaneously the Serb troops were withdrawn, and NATO and Yugoslavia military commanders held talks in Macedonia to implement the peace terms. The Serb troops were replaced by the UN peacekeeping force (KFOR); thus, began the "Operation Joint Guardian" aiming at the return and rehabilitation of Kosovo refugees in Kosovo. It was a huge and challenging task as the province of Kosovo was badly damaged due to the war. The UN Security Council, on 10 June 1999, had adopted the peace plan for Kosovo by 14-0 votes which asked for the replacement of the Serb forces by the 50,000 peace-keeping force (KFOR) in Kosovo.

Comparing Classical and Operant Conditioning Essay

I will be comparing classical and operant conditioning by explaining fear of heights. Fear of heights is known as Acrophobia. The phobia part does not occur until a person is in an environment that most people would be relatively fine in, such as attending a theme park or being in a building such as a sky scraper for example. Most of the time when treating someone with acrophobia therapists will use graded exposure therapy. Any fear starts by learning, so if a person has a fear of heights it is most likely due to an event that happened early on in life that made a dramatic change in the persons every day behavior, such as falling out of a tree at a young age. If a person has a severe phobia to heights behavior can vary. For example, a person can faint or have extreme anxiety when in an environment around heights. Another example to discuss, research does in fact prove that a certain amount of reluctance around heights is normal for humans and animals. In the 1960’s research psychologists J. Gibson and R. D.  Walker, conducted an experiment known as the visual cliff. The two researchers placed thirty six babies, one at a time on a counter top made of half solid plastic covered with a checkered cloth and the other half clear Plexiglas. Each baby would ponder when crawling and rely on the mother’s facial expression a happy expression would give the okay to keep crawling and an alarming look would signal the babies to stop crawling. This study shows that when we are faced to make an emotional decision people can be like the babies in the study done, we can remain on the counter top until we are faced with uncertainty. This study shows how cognition can be manipulated by emotion. So, if a person has a fear like heights, Psychologists often use conditioning or classical conditioning to help treat a person, because the fear is a learning process, and a person has to relearn which involves repeatedly pairing a neutral stimulus with a response. Doing this produces stimulus until the neutral stimulus elicits the same response. The visual cliff example given, is a great example of a conditioned response. If a person is influenced or is given a negative response it can contribute to fear and through life if more traumatic experiences follow eventually a person can be manipulated by the fear. The more negative reinforcement is involved the bigger the fear develops. For someone having a fear of heights, if the person knows they have to go somewhere a meeting for example, and they have to take an elevator to the 50th , floor, in that persons mind they are going to be going crazy with negative thoughts and feeling overwhelmed with anxiety. But, if the person tells themselves after it is done with â€Å"well what was the big deal? What was I so afraid of? †. That negative reinforcement turns into positive reinforcement eventually. This is known as operant conditioning. Sometimes medication for anxiety may have to be prescribed by a psychiatrist if the fear is so excessive. Talking about the fear is a good start, a psychologist can then determine if the fear was learned possibly through observation or if the fear was through a learned experience. If fear of heights is affecting a person’s environment then a change needs to be made in order help treat the fear. By using positive reinforcement and determining if the person’s behavior from the fear was caused by learning through experience or observed environmentally, it can help determine how to further treat the person. But, if the fear goes untreated the anxiety and stress from it will only grow bigger creating more of an issue for the person and being able to live their everyday lifestyle. Psychotherapy is very helpful in treating anxiety disorders and phobias . In order to treat acrophobia a person needs to find a therapist who can meet their needs. Therapists ill help focus on the best way to treat the person with this disorder, the most common way is using cognitive behavioral therapy. Restructuring a person’s thoughts into positive thoughts is another helpful tip used, and talking about the fear and identifying what is causing the fear to become so out of control, and lastly meeting on a regular basis and determining if medication is needed and seeing what the person with this fear can do in their everyday lifestyle to make themselves more comfortable until they are eventually feeling like they have control over the fear and the fear is no longer controlling them.

Legalization of Drugs Essay - 1305 Words

The current hot-topic debate about the legalization of marijuana for medical exposes the long lasting debate about the economic viability of prohibiting certain kind of drugs considered illicit. Many social costs to society are attributable to illicit drugs, along with tobacco, alcohol, and guns. In fact, each of these vices is allegedly responsible for $200 billion annual expenditure in social costs of the USA (Donohue, 2010). Interestingly, all these commodities mentioned above have common characteristics: a sizeable proportion of consumers responsibly use each of them hence virtually zero social externality; and a trivial subset of society individuals irresponsibly use each of these commodity to create high social externalities. The†¦show more content†¦Of course, their claim is relatively true because drug addicts produce negative externalities that affect non-market participants who include dependents of the drug addicts. This direct causal relationship between drugs an d crime is due to statistics that reveal a large proportion of the newly incinerated convicts have recent prior drug use. One then could counter this premise with the argument that energy drinks cause crimes in case criminals are found to have drunk energy drinks just before committing crimes. This shallow assumption also excludes studies that reveal marijuana as neither a gateway drug (its use leads to use of dangerous drugs like cocaine and Heroin) nor its possession (which is a crime in itself) causes criminal tendencies. Their causal link relationship between drugs and crime negates other factors that include demographics and socio-economics. Proponents of prohibition claim that it reduces demand and restrict supply, thereby diminishing drugs use, and the costs of illness. Prohibition is certain to reduce the supply of drugs due to the stiff penalties imposed on suppliers. 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