Blog #199: “Of Mice and Men” (1992) and It’s Representation of Neurodiversity/Disa
- Jeffrey Snyder
- Mar 10, 2022
- 4 min read
Continuing to roll down the neurodiversity/disability train, the next movie I would like to cover is the 1992 film adaptation of John Steinbeck’s classic novel, “Of Mice and Men” starring John Malkovich and Gary Sinise. Now, I am very well aware that there is also the 1939 film version starring Lon Chaney and Burgress Meredith, but this is the version that I am more familiar with.
Despite whatever version of this story you prefer, the premise is the same: it’s the story of two men, one neurotypical and the other neurodiverse/disabled getting a job as hired hands on a farm in the Great Depression of the 1920s.
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Gary Sinise as George Milton and John Malkovich as Lennie Small in “Of Mice and Men” (1992)
But if there is one character that I would focus on more than anything, it is the character of Lennie Small, a man who has a mental disability that classifies as being neurodiverse. Lennie is a character that I can personally relate to in the sense that we are both mentally disabled and neurodiverse. We both have our flaws and have gotten into trouble on a social level.
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At the beginning of the story, Lennie gets into trouble right away with a woman wearing a red dress that he can’t help himself in wanting to touch and as a result, he and George end up getting chased by a posse with dogs hot on their trail.
Later on, while he and George end up working on the farm, he ends up getting too close to Curley’s wife and ends up killing her, not only violating her personal boundaries, but also ending her life unintentionally. Sometimes it takes real life experiences that makes us understand that while we have good intentions of being around other people, those intentions cause us to get into trouble.
I’ve been involved in plenty of situations with women on the spectrum, not having an understanding of their personal boundaries until it is too late. But those situations made me understand that what I am doing was wrong and made me a better minded individual.
In Lennie’s case, he could never understand the importance of social boundaries because of his mental disability. I’ve actually been lucky to learn from my mistakes whereas Lennie didn’t have that ability.
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Another comparison between me and Lennie Small is our dreams and obsessions. Lennie has a dream of “tending them rabbits” meaning that he and George had a dream of opening their own farm and tending to the animals, particularly the aforementioned rabbits.
Keep in mind that “Of Mice and Men’ takes place during the Great Depression and a lot of these dreams would never be realized given the state of the economy at the time. But Lennie would always air his obsessions out to George, much to his chagrin of course.
However, it’s important for the audience to know is that Lennie airing his obsessions of a dream he will never fully realize was his way of stimming, something that was unheard of in the 1920s. Lennie also has a habit of getting upset easily, another example of neurodiversity at the time. In fact, George remarks when Lennie’s “pet” mouse dies at the beginning of the novel:
“Blubbering like a baby. A big guy like yourself.”
Yes, like Lennie, even I tend to get upset rather easily not just because of our natural emotions, but because of we are having sensory overloads. Case in point? When Lennie fights and badly injures Curley at the farm, he ends up having a sensory overload because not only is he upset with hurting Curley, but because of the overall situation with the lighting and the shouting coming from the other farm hands.
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Finally, it’s important to remember that in the 1920’s, there was absolutely no understanding of neurodiversity or mental disabilities, so unfortunately, the only way for Lennie to truly be free to live out his dreams was to be disposed of at the hands of his own friend, George.
Now, we have the tools we need to help and better support families affected by neurodiversity or disability to make them part of society.
If you are a high school English teacher on both a general education or special education level, I would strongly recommend adding this adaptation of John Steinbeck’s novel to your curriculum or lesson plan if you haven’t done so already.
Not only would your students be exposed to such a powerful story, but your students would get an understanding of what disability and neurodiversity was like back in the 1920’s and how far we have come in better understanding what it is as a whole.
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Catch you all later!!
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