Tyler Bhame
Ms. Carter
English Hon II
5/17/16
The Human Rights Dilemma of Mental Illness Ignorance During the Great Depression in the Novel Of Mice and Men The stage of Of Mice and Men was set in the age of the Great Depression, which is illustrated by author John Steinbeck; the main characters, short, and short-tempered George Milton and wrongly-named, tall Lennie Small, are dumped into the Californian south, at a lone ranch. The immigrant workers find a job there off-the-bat and begin molding in with the scenery, yet cognitively impaired Lennie instigates mischief soon after arrival. Having presumably a disorder on the Autism spectrum or Asperger’s, mentally ill Lennie was unable to comprehend how to act correctly socially, therefore his loyal best friend George was always there. His love of delicate objects, but rather rough, raw hands leads to the death of multiple animals, and ultimately manslaughter. Blaming Lennie, a mob of ranch hands take a bounty on Lennie’s head, which leaves George only a single option to protect his best friend from torture: to murder his life-long companion Lennie. This all could have been hindered if the government had intervened early in Lennie’s childhood, by counseling and therapy, for this would have helped him behave better socially, and Lennie would life a more self-reliant life.
During the Great Depression, the American government was scrabbling to get the US economy up-and-running again, and amidst of this, it had no time to focus on individual minorities –and certainly not splurging value dollars for them, after all, the green was the focus. This obviously lead to quandaries, as in Lennie’s case, the inability for the government to provide a safe haven for his rehabilitation and therapy to society caused crises for him and other citizens around him in ways preceding to his demise. Not only does this happen to Lennie, but rather any citizen with a cognitive disorder; the government’s lack of funding and aid toward its citizens’ needs was alarming at this time, causing a rise in suicide rates during the 1950s-1970s, (Caplow). A publishment from the United Nation discussing ethnic laws countries must adhere by maintains, “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself…including…medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of…sickness, disability…[in] lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.” The welfare of poor, disabled American citizens was put into the government’s care and where it utterly neglected its citizens; with sights on the banks, policymakers and government officials geared for the green, but it rather should have focused on giving those facing mental disability access to most-needed healthcare.
Used widely as treatments for a variety of categories of mental illnesses, counseling and therapy are interventions proven to help mentally incapacitated suffers; “An estimated 75-90 percent of people feel that psychotherapy has helped them,” states an author in the second addition of Psychology. Additionally, “The longer a person stays in therapy, the greater the improvement,” reports an author in a further paragraph. While psychotherapy is a category of therapies –such as group or client-oriented, there was most defiantly a solution for Lennie. If he had access to an institute or a private practice, he would have been able to participate in an action therapy, where his behavior of harming soft creatures would have been changed to a more sympathetic, gentle caring for them. He may as well partaken in person-centered therapy –where he and whomever Lennie harmed and/or George discussed feelings and social interactions while the therapist remained very indirective. Another resourceful solution would be group therapy, as Lennie could sit down with fellow friends with Asperger’s or Autism and each could help out in social rehabilitation.
In this grey time of poverty and ignorance, civil rights were being violated daily with segregation laws and oppression; nevertheless, social movements and changes were on the rise, yet sadly, this was too late for Lennie’s cause. In 1990, Mental Illness Week was established during the first week of October. The lack of government support for innovative therapies and institutes, and the lack of awareness caused Lennie left to be untreated and dependent on George; “Mental illness is not a personal failure… If there is a failure, it is to be found in the way we have responded to people with mental and brain disorders,” says Nullis, so, was the government at fault, or rather our lack of humanity of killing this poor man when all he needed was help?

Bibliography

Caplow, Theodore. Recent Social Trends in the United States, 1960-1990. Frankfurt Am Main: Campus Verlag, 1991. Google Books. Web. 17 May 2016.
Ciccarelli, Saundra K., and J. Noland. White. Psychology. 2nd ed. New Jeresy: Pearson, 2011. Print. AP Edition.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Lake Success: United Nations Dept. of Public Information, 1949. United Nations. Web. 10 Apr. 2016.
Nullis, Clare. "World Health Organization Urges More Attention to Mental Health Problems." The Associated Press, 4 Oct. 2001. Web. 10 Apr. 2016.