What is stereotyping? To those of us in reality, it means classifying people into groups. To the characters in John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men, it means judging the way people look and act. Stereotyping in the 1930's has the same, if not less, harshness of today's stereotyping. There are many characters in this novel that are stereotyped. It is all based on what they are like. There are also a few characters that are not stereotyped. Stereotyping affects these people in many different ways.
             Lennie is the character that is stereotyped the most often. George always comes up with excuses to explain Lennie's handicap. He does this because he knows Lennie would get himself into trouble. 'He got kicked in the head by a horse when he was a kid. He's awright. Just ain't bright' (22). Lennie is slow in the mind, therefore people treat him kind of like a child. George would always tell Lennie 'Say it to yourself, Lennie, so you won't forget it' (31). Lennie's difficulty to remember things led to a lot of problems for him. It was also part of the reason he was killed.
             Another character that is stereotyped in this novel is Curley's wife. 'Well, you look her over, mister. You see if she ain't a tart' (28). Curley's wife was stereotyped as a slut. This was mainly because 'Well – she got the eye' (28). Since the men on the ranch believed this, they also believed they could treat her badly when they were in groups. She only did what she did because she was not truly in love with Curley. She would rather be acting. Marrying Curley led to her life being full of pain from stereotyping.
             Although most of the characters in this novel are stereotyped, there are at least two that are not. One of those two characters is George. George is not stereotyped because of the fact that he is stronger minded than others. He also ho...