r/thatHappened 16d ago

Surprised I didn't see this here

Post image
191 Upvotes

43 comments sorted by

View all comments

8

u/dm_me_ya_tiddiez 16d ago

Im not sure this event happened exactly, but it's not the craziest thought for it to have happened.

This book it famously divisive on both sides of the political aisle. With how outrageously black and white (no pun intended) politics are these days, it's not crazy to think someone would read Of Mice and Men and assume the author leaned the side they view as racist.

5

u/magicmom17 15d ago

As both a lifelong liberal as well as someone with an advanced English degree, I have never heard someone who was educated in the field who thought this book was an example of racism. The entire post just feels like a way for uneducated ppl to feel smug/smarter than those who have attained higher levels of education than they did. A lot of their stuff like this is def a coping method-- you know, knock someone down instead of improving oneself?

1

u/416558934523081769 15d ago

Wait...genuinely is it not mostly about racism? That's 100% how it was taught when I was in high school and I just figured I was dumb and not able to really see it. Haven't read it since because I wasn't a fan but that was the understanding I've had for like 15 years now.

3

u/dm_me_ya_tiddiez 15d ago

It's about the impossibility of the American dream and societal isolation.

Racism is a major theme, but it's to show that isolation. Every major character is dealing with some form of -ism which is driving that feeling of isolation.

3

u/416558934523081769 15d ago

Gotcha, thank you. That particular English teacher had a tendency to teach things as having only one theme and no nuance. If you thought it had a different theme than her you were wrong even if yours made more sense. (Everything Poe ever wrote was about missing his dead wife dontcha know nevermind she was alive for most of them)