Analysis Of ' Of Mice And Men '

John Steinbeck portrays Lennie's characterizations through indirect and direct characterizations. Indirect characterization is when the author will describe a person about how they are through context clues but not directly saying it. For example, "No whatta want? "Let's have different color rabbits George." (Steinbeck 16). That is indirect characterization for Lennie being childish because John Steinbeck does not come straight out and say that Lennie is childish, but readers can tell by the context that he is childish. Direct characterization is when the author comes right out to the readers and says the characters traits. For instance, "Behind him walked his opposite, a huge man..." (Steinbeck 2). This being direct characterization

The author, Steinbeck, uses his own personal experience to “serve as an inspiration…” (Johnson 1) when writing this particular story. His past experiences also helped him for the future. Lennie, of all characters, is the least dynamic. He undergoes a significant amount of change and develops throughout the story. He has been isolated with George throughout his life. His sole purpose in life is to make George happy and to own a farm with George and take care of the soft rabbits. Lennie is the most innocent and defenseless. He also is the largest and strongest, which does not help in certain situations. Lennie is the protagonist in the story. He gains the readers sympathy by his intellectual disability and helplessness. Lennie murders things by accident such as the mouse in his pocket, the puppy and Curley’s wife. He enjoys the touch of and somehow uses those murders and experiences to scare him from doing it again. George’s opinion means the most to him.

Steinbeck presents Lennie to be responsible and irresponsible when he is not with George. Steinbeck shows how he is responsible when he sticks up for George, “He ain’t never been hurt, ‘cause he’s careful.” This quote also suggests Lennie realising himself how is irresponsible for his actions and how he needs George to guide him. This is because Lennie gets quite anxious and angry at the thought of not having George, “He stood up and walked dangerously towards Crooks.” Steinbeck presents Lennie to be irresponsible for his actions when he lets their secret of their dream, slip, “George says we gonna have alfalfa for the rabbits.” This shows

Steinbeck’s character, Lennie, is large and strong, but his mind is weak and slow. His companion through the story, George, looks after Lennie and has plans for a good life for

“Look, George. Look what I done” (Steinbeck, Pg. 3). Here Steinbeck gives us the idea that Lennie looks up to George in everything he does like a child does to his parents. Lennie can’t take of himself since he is mentally handicapped so we get an idea that even though they are just friends, George is like a father figure to Lennie. Also by the word choice in the dialogue we can see that Lennie communicates in a particular way like if he just learn to speak, therefore he could be compared as a child. “I wasn’t doin’ nothing bad with it, George. Jus’ strokin’ it.” Steinbeck uses dialogue to give us an idea of George’s strong personality. “Don’t let him pull you in-but- if the son of a bitch” This quote gives us the idea that George’s personality is very strong and defensive by the explicit language which shows us anger. Also it gives us a idea that even though he is strong and aggressive he cares about what happens to Lennie. This can relate to the link that he treats him like he is his

In conclusion, we see that Steinbeck uses various techniques to portray the relationship between George and Lennie. But the main method is the idea of George being like a parent to

2. George is a small and thin man with sharp features (Steinbeck 2). He has a quick temper and a wit to match. His temper is shown early in the book on page 4 when he gets mad at Lennie for always forgetting what he’s told him. George plays the role as the caregiver in his relationship with Lennie. A conflict

One internal conflict that George is dealing with is that he has to keep on looking out for Lennie, even though he knows he would be better off without Lennie. For example, George says, God almighty, if I was alone I could live so easy. I could go get a job an’ work, an’ no trouble,” (Steinbeck, page 11). George faces the internal conflict of deciding if it is really worth George to look after Lennie. All Lennie does for George is cause him trouble. George could start a brand new life, way more successful than now, without Lennie. But he decides to stay with Lennie because to Lennie George means everything to him. If Lennie didn't have George, who knows where he would be. This shows George as a complex character because the audience sees the real two sides of George. Outside George may seem as a tough independent person. But really on the inside George is a very caring person that is a father figure for Lennie. The audience sees George’s

From what I gathered from the text above, I find that the descriptions of George and Lennie are foreshadowing how they act before they do so. I could picture George just the way the author describes. From the description it seems like he’s never at rest and always moving around to find his way through life; this is shown when the author makes George say “I got you! You can’t keep a job and you lose be ever’ job I get. Jus’ keep me shovin’ all over the country all the time.” (Steinbeck 11). On the other hand. Lennie seems like he’s a bit clumsy by the way the way Steinbeck says “... and he

Lennie’s mental disability has withheld his capability to blend in with the rest of society. "I want you to stay with me, Lennie, Jesus Christ, somebody'd shoot you for a coyote if you was by yourself. No, you stay with me" (Steinbeck 13). When it comes to George, he brings Lennie into society by talking for him. Without George, Lennie would not be socially accepted in that society.

Lennie is unquestioning in his loyalty to George. We see this in George’s anecdote about the Sacramento River. “‘Jump in.’ An’ he jumps”(P66) Lennie has a childlike obedience. Steinbeck shows us this in the fight between Lennie and Curley. Earlier on, George tells Lennie to not fight with Curley, Lennie remembers this and due to his childlike obedience, his “hands remained at his sides; he was too frightened to defend himself.”(P91). Once George tells Lennie to “Get him”(P91), Lennie immediately crushes Curley’s hand completely. Most mature people would know whether they should break the rules or not, because they wouldn’t get as badly hurt, but with Lennie, it is a different story. It is this childlike obedience that Steinbeck uses to show us how George needs to act as a parent towards Lennie.

In the story George’s character is revealed in how he treats Lennie. In the beginning of the book George is quick to be harsh and frustrated with taking care of Lennie. He is often verbally abusive to Lennie and considers Lennie a nuisance to have around. George is also hasty to remind Lennie of the ideal life he could have had without Lennie, full of cat houses, whisky, and card games. “‘Why, I could stay in a cat house all night. I could eat any place I want … and order any damn thing I could think of…. An’ whatta I got,’ George went on furiously. ‘I got you!’” (Steinbeck 12). Although George is quickly angered he is still grateful to have his friend, Lennie, to travel with. This gratitude becomes even more evident by the end of the story when George is prepared to kill Lennie. At this time George reflects on all of the wonderful effects Lennie

The greater part of the novel's appeal, George and Lennie's relationship, although far from what one could call a reciprocal friendship, intrigues the reader in the same way many comic duos intrigue. It is easy to identify with the "smart guy" who helplessly tries to cope with and control his irrational, dumb and, yet, spontaneous, child-like partner as they lurch from one self-inflicted crisis to another. Steinbeck uses that classic comic routine so that the reader warmly identifies and recognizes the relationship. Steinbeck's narrator establishes and characterizes George's lording of power and control over Lennie early in the first chapter:

Another way that Steinbeck creates sympathy for the character of Lennie is by portraying him as childlike, with George taking the role of his father figure. For example,

George understands that Lennie is not bright and as a hard time in understanding and decision making so he does it all for him because Lennie is a hard worker and will help with their ultimate goal of buying their own land. The author shows both how George feels about Lennie and how he gets very impatient with him but also shows how caring George is of him when it comes to defending him and with his words he gives us a certain tone and mood of how George is feeling for example in chapter one George says “You just stand there and don’t say nothin… a crazy bastard you are”(Steinbeck 6). Lennie can get very irritated with having to deal with George’s mental disability amd not being able to process situations but he realizes that he need him and he actually cares for him so when he is talking to Slim he says “He’s dumb as hell, but he ain’t crazy. An’ I ain’t so bright neither”(Steinbeck 39, ch.3). This shows how Lennie understands that George was just born with mental disabilities but that he isn’t crazy through a tone of understanding and relating it to himself by mentioning he isn’t the brightest of them all either so he can’t blame