[Updated] Of Mice and Men Trigger Warning List

Here is the updated version of the trigger warning list for Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. I added a few new sections, and I think I did a pretty good job of not missing anything, but as always, don't take these lists as absolute. Even with a practiced eye, its very easy to miss things. I also changed the formatting so that it better matched the ones I created after.

[Important: Please note that trigger warnings are not necessarily to make it so that you can just avoid the content. There is a fairly popular mistaken belief that trigger warnings are censorship. That is not true. Trigger warnings exist so that, if you are sensitive to the content, you are made aware of it before it occurs and surprises you. This gives you a chance to prepare yourself mentally before reading it so that it does not affect you as negatively as it might if you didn’t know that it was going to happen. Also, please note that if you rely on triggers for the shock-value or plot twists (aka, “Well I can’t use trigger warnings because they’re spoilers!”), you aren’t a very good writer and you definitely aren’t taking into consideration the potential sensitivity of your audience.]

Triggers, listed in order of the number of occurrences: death, ableist language, derogatory language toward women, sexual content, racism, sexual assault, emetophobia (fear of vomiting), and suicide.

I didn’t note the period-typical misogyny while reading, but its there, so watch out for that too.

The paragraph numbers and a general summary of each are listed on the following pages. For reference, the italicized numbers in the parenthesis are the page numbers in my book, and the total number of paragraphs in each chapter are listed below:

Chapter 1 - 144

Chapter 2 - 213

Chapter 3 - 275

Chapter 4 - 156

Chapter 5 - 113

Chapter 6 - 107

Death

This book contains are fair amount of death, mostly in relation to animals, so you’re going to want to prepare yourself for that.

• In paragraphs 32 (7) through 79 (8) of chapter 1, there are mentions of a dead mouse. Lennie likes stroking the mice, but he also accidentally kills them. There’s at least one brief mention of the mouse later in the novel that I didn’t write down because it wasn’t explicitly stated that the mouse was dead.

By far, the most relevant scenes of this warning (by number of occurrences) is the mentioning of killing dogs or dead dogs. The occurrences are as follows:

• Starting on paragraph 185 of chapter 2 (35), Slim mentions killing puppies because his dog gave birth to too many. This is mentioned several more times--in paragraph 201 (36) and paragraph 3 of chapter 3 (38).
• Carlson suggests that Candy shoot his old dog and take care of one of the remaining puppies instead in paragraph 192 (35). This is mentioned several more times, starting in paragraph 55 of chapter 3 (44) and going on for several more pages until paragraph 104 (49). It is mentioned in passing once later in the chapter in paragraph 236 (60).
• In paragraphs 41 (42) and 43 (43) of chapter 3, there is a brief mention of killing dogs.

• At the beginning of chapter 5, in paragraph 4 (82), it is revealed that Lennie accidentally killed the puppy that Slim gave him. This is mentioned several other times in the following pages until paragraph 25 (85).

• In chapter 3, in paragraph 202 (56), killing pigs, chickens, and rabbits for food is mentioned.

Other death mentions include:

• In chapter 3, in paragraph 27 (41), there is a brief mention of lynching.
• In chapter 3, in paragraph 211 (57), Lennie talks about killing cats if they hurt his rabbits.
• In chapter 3, in paragraph 224 (59), Candy says he wishes someone would shoot him if he gets fired.
• In chapter 4, in paragraph 45 (70), there is a brief mention of death.
• In chapter 4, in paragraph 83 (74), there is a brief mention of being taken away in a casket.
• In chapter 4, in paragraph 121 (79), there is a brief mention of lynching.

• In chapter 5, in paragraph 56 (89), Lennie accidentally kills Curley’s wife by snapping her neck. This is talked about for most of the rest of the book. In the talk, Curley mentions shooting Lennie for killing his wife. Lynching is also mentioned.

• In chapter 6, in paragraph 93 (104), George kills Lennie by shooting him in the back of the head.

Ableist Language

Ableist language in the book includes the words crazy, dumb, and nuts. The instances that I noted are as follows:

• In paragraphs 15 (6), 23 (7), 44 (8), 76 (10), 88 (12)  of chapter 1 the word crazy is used.
• In paragraph 159 (32) of chapter 2 the word crazy is used.
• In paragraphs 10 (39) and 11 of chapter 3 the word cuckoo is used.
• In paragraphs 11 (39) and 124 (50) of chapter 3 the word crazy is used.
• In paragraphs 14 (40), 21 (41), and 25 of chapter 3 the word dumb is used.
• In paragraph 26 (68) of chapter 4 the words crazy and nuts are used.
• In paragraphs 55 (71), 63 (72), and 65 of chapter 4 the word nuts is used.
• In paragraph 89 (75) of chapter 4 the word crazy is used.
• In paragraph 103 (77) of chapter 4 the word dum-dum is used.
• In paragraphs 34 (85), 44 (87), 46, 50 (88), 96 (94), and 103 (95) of chapter 5 the word nuts is used.
• In paragraphs 20 (99), 22 (100), and 26 of chapter 6 the word crazy is used.

Derogatory Language Toward Women

The derogatory language toward women in this book is mostly the use of the word bitch, though some other terms are used as well. For the purpose of this list I noted it when it was used as a colloquial term for female dog and as part of the phrase ‘son of a bitch’ in addition to when it was directed toward women.

• In paragraph 112 (28) of chapter 2 the word tart is used.
• In paragraph 155 (32) of chapter 2 the word tramp is used.
• In paragraphs 170 (34) and 184 (85) of chapter 2 the word bitch is used.
• In paragraphs 62 (44) and 247 (61) of chapter 3 the word bitch is used.
• In paragraph 186 (55) of chapter 3 the word whore is used.
• In paragraph 189 (55) of chapter 3 the word tart is used.
• In paragraph 85 (74) of chapter 4 the word whore is used.
• In paragraph 89 (75) of chapter 4 the words whore and bitch are used.
• In paragraph 104 (77) of chapter 4 the word floozy is used.
• In paragraph 137 (80) of chapter 4 the word bitch is used.
• In paragraphs 9 (83), 61 (90), and 88 (94) of chapter 5 the word bitch is used.
• In paragraph 85 (93) of chapter 5 the words tramp and tart are used.
• In paragraph 15 (99) of chapter 6 the word whore is used.
• In paragraph 17 (99) of chapter 6 the word bitch is used.

Sexual content

I, personally, don’t like being surprised by sexual innuendos or content, so the instances that I noted are as follows:

• In paragraph 88 (12) of chapter 1, George mentions going to a brothel.
• In paragraph 102 (28) of chapter 2, Candy tells George that Curley wears a glove full of vaseline to keep his hand soft for his wife.

• In paragraph 132 (50) of chapter 3, Whit insinuates that Curley’s wife looks at other men because she’s interested in them sexually.

• In paragraphs 139-145 (51-52) of chapter 3, the guys mention going to a brothel the next day.

• In paragraph 161 (53) of chapter 3, Curley believes that his wife is cheating on him with Slim.

• In paragraph 186 (55) of chapter 3, George mentions preferring to go to a brothel rather than to mess around with someone’s wife and go to jail for it.

• In paragraph 85 (74) of chapter 4, one of the other characters mentions George and the others being at a brothel. Curley’s wife mentions it later in paragraph 93 (75), because she knows that Curley is there too.

• In paragraph 15 (99) of chapter 6, Lennie’s Aunt Clara tells Lennie how much fun George could have had spending his money at a brothel, instead of saving it up for Lennie.
• In paragraph 48 (101) of chapter 6, George mentions going to a brothel.

Racism

Other than the vague period-typical racism in the novel, the parts that stood out the most were the use of the n-word. The instances that I noticed were as follows:

• In paragraphs 15 and 16 (20) of chapter 2
• In paragraph 21 (21) of chapter 2
• In paragraph 119 (29) of chapter 2
• In paragraph 51 (43) of chapter 3
• In paragraph 38 (69) of chapter 4
• In paragraph 103 (77) of chapter 4
• In paragraph 117 (78) of chapter 4
• In paragraph 121 (79) of chapter 4
• In paragraph 100 (95) of chapter 5

Sexual Assault

There is a brief mention of rape in paragraph 27 (41) of chapter 2. There’s no actual assault, just a lady telling others that that’s what happened after Lennie held onto her dress because he wanted to feel it.

Emetophobia

There is a brief mention of getting sick from drinking too much water in paragraph 6 (5) of chapter 1.

Suicide

There is a brief mention of suicide in paragraph 63 (24) of chapter 2 when George says that if he were really a relative of Lennie he would shoot himself.

Love Always,

Sam

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