Test: Beyond The Line

By seeing that the stable buck was always set apart from everyone because he was black, do you know of anyone who has been treated the same?


There are plenty of people in this world that have been set apart from other people because of their race, personality, religion, or just because they are the person that they are. In the particular case in the book “Of Mice and Men” the stable buck was separated from the white people because he was black. Back in those days the blacks were basically kept away and due to that the stable buck had his own room in the barn. I have met plenty of people like him, but here is this one particular boy that comes to mind. There was this boy in elementary school that I knew named Edward.

Edward was a mentally retarded person. Everyday this boy was made fun of because of something that he really had nothing to do with. So when we would have lunch or do any group activities he would always be excluded. The stable buck was excluded because of his race and Edward was excluded because he was mentally retarded.

Many people would probably compare Edward to Lennie, but that would not be a good comparison. In the days that this book was written, it seems to me that you were better off being mentally retarded than being black. To me that doesn’t make any since at all. That means that a person who can barely say their ABCs or can count to twenty is higher than a person that can do just about anything.

Edward wanted a friend just like the stable buck wanted a friend. Edward would cry when he was alone and I’m sure that the stable buck did the same. But there was a time when hope came for both of them, but then that hope was gone. There was a friend for Edward eventually and that friend was good for him for a while. Then there was that day that, that same boy ended up getting kicked out of school. That would be the same situation with Lennie and the sable buck. Lennie became the stable buck’s friend then Lennie turned around and killed Curley’s wife. That killing ended up with Lennie being killed. That left the stable buck with no friends just like it left Edward with no friends.

In conclusion I would like to say that to me the stable buck and Edward were the same. The fact that a mentally retarded person was better of then a black person really touched me in this book. I believe that we should all be treated equal. The reason why we should treat each other equal is because there will be one day when we will be in the same situation that the stable buck and Edward was in.