John Steinbeck s Social Responsibility - 1747 Words

The mentally ill were not always treated the same way as they are being treated today. People began to â€Å"treat† them from around the early 1800s, and they were put into mental institutions. Instead of being patients receiving help, they were more similar to lab rats for scientists, so they could perform inhuman experiments on them and see how they would react. However, it is evident in today’s modern times that the mentally ill in the United States are being treated extremely fairly, and they are receiving the help that they need. But this improvement in treatment does not come without the hard work of numerous people throughout the decades. One of the many people is John Steinbeck. Steinbeck’s emphasis on social responsibility brought much light to many important issues in the country. Seeing as how Lennie, who is intellectually ill, is a one of the main characters, Steinbeck clearly believed that the treatment of the mentally ill was poor in the country. Th e treatments that the mentally disabled underwent in the early 1900s, George and Lennie’s struggles against the anti-mentally disabled, and how Steinbeck brought light to the issue, caused many Americans to realize their ignorance about many of the prominent problems in our society. The treatments of the mentally disabled were extremely inhumane back in the early 1900s. No one really no sincerity for the mentally ill, and they were treated more like lab rats than actual people. And the â€Å"treatments† that they were givenShow MoreRelatedUnderstanding Steinbeck, His Work, And The Criticism. Many1693 Words   |  7 PagesUnderstanding Steinbeck, His Work, and The Criticism Many writers throughout history have endured both positive and negative criticism of their works. Just as John Steinbeck introduced to us â€Å"Of Mice and Men† in 1937, he faced both biographical and historical Criticism. Mr. Steinbeck was on point with his writing in the ways that he made clear to the reader just what he was talking about. He made it possible for the reader to sink deeply into the story and feel as though they are walking right alongsideRead MoreIs It Really A Dream?933 Words   |  4 Pagesand Men, F. Scott Fitzgerald and John Steinbeck present the idea of searching for the American Dream as ineffectual, only supplying moral corruption and disappointment. In the article The Demise of the 1920s American Dream in The Great Gatsby, the para-graphs discuss diverse cultural elements shown in The Great Gatsby: During the 1920s, the perception of the American Dream was that an individual can achieve success in life regardless of family history or social status if they only work hard enoughRead MoreThe Portrayal of Society in Of Mice and Men and The Outsider Essay1430 Words   |  6 Pages The book of mice and men is a fiction written by john Steinbeck (1902-1968). 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