In the book "Of Mice and Men," the author, Steinbeck, gave me a whole new view on people with mental handicaps. He really emphasized that mentally challenged people are just young children in an adult body. With that being said, they can be very destructive, if not supervised closely. In Lennie's case, he was truly a nice man, and did not mean any harm, but he could do a lot of damage when out of control. The author has the same ideas, he thinks of people with mental handicaps as adults with immature minds. Steinbeck seems to think that mentally handicapped people need to be watched over almost constantly, in order to prevent problems. The novel has given me somewhat of a new opinion. I never realized how difficult it would be to watch over and communicate properly with someone of mental disability, until reading this book. Since the time of this novel, people with mental disabilities have been treated a lot differently. People are more understanding and compassionate towards them. Lots of studies have been done, and individuals have a better insight on how to handle and treat the mentally handicapped. For example, if Lennie were to kill someone today, there would definitely be punishment, but the punishment would not be as harsh as death.
We both have the same opinion that Steinbeck views mentally disabled people as big children. I had not seen it like that until I read this book either, and reading yours while reading your post made me realize how hard it would be to care for someone like Lennie. While reading this book I guess I had not really thought about what it would be like to care for someone who is mentally disabled. Because they are like a big child, but they're not I can't imagine how difficult it would be to be in George's position in this novel. Also I agree with what you said about how we are now more understanding and compassionate towards people with disabilities. I am glad to see that our world has become more accepting and to know that if someone as innocent as Lennie had done something like he did today, that he wouldn't have to go on the run and eventually end up getting killed by his only friend.
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