The idea of ​​suppression of weak people or characters can be seen in many literary works. Suppression is the act of removing by or as if by authority or of abolishing. A literary work in which this can be seen is the short story Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. Many characters are seen as weak in the short story. Some of them are weak physically, others mentally and one because of their gender. These weak characters are Lennie, Crooks, Candy and Curley's wife. Through these characters, it is easy to see that it is human nature for the strong to suppress the weak. A character considered weak in the story is Lennie. He is very limited mentally and the other characters take advantage of this. This can be seen by the way George played pranks on Lennie and the fact that Lennie never pranked him. This is shown when George says, “I used to have a lot of fun with him. I used to make jokes about him because he was too stupid to take care of himself. But he was too stupid to know that someone had played a joke on him. I had fun. It made me look pretty darn smart around him. Why would he do anything, I told him. If I told him to go over a cliff, he would go” (Steinbeck 40). This shows that the strong naturally suppress the weak because even though George cares for Lennie like he was a brother, he would risk Lennie's life for a laugh. Another example of Lennie's repression is when Curley beats him. Since Lennie is such a nice person to everyone, he doesn't fight Curley and lets Curley beat him. Steinbeck writes: “Lennie looked at George helplessly, then he stood up and tried to retreat. Curley was poised and composed. He hit Lennie with his left, then smashed his nose with a r...... middle of paper ... and he leaned against the wall. “Yes, ma’am. » "Well, you keep your place then, Nigger. I could have you hung from a tree so easily it's not even funny" (Steinbeck 80-81). This can be seen as repression because the woman of Curley threatens Crooks because he is African American This can be seen as human nature, because for hundreds of years, African Americans have always been inferior to white people. Therefore, this example of repression can be. seen as human nature because of how it shows segregation between whites and African Americans This is how Crooks' character is removed and his removal shows that it is human nature. that the strong suppresses the weak. As mentioned earlier, Lennie and Crooks are not the only weak characters in the story Steinbeck, John. New York: Penguin, 1993. Print..