preview

How Does George Come Off As A Callous Person

Decent Essays
Open Document

Throughout Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck makes his characters complex and makes their actions hard to understand. For example, throughout some points of the book George is grouchy, at other points of the book George is courteous. In Of Mice and Men, George comes off as a callous person. One example that proves this is when George and Lennie talk about their past job. George explained that they got fired because Lennie was holding on to a woman’s dress. The reasoning that Lennie gave for that was that it seemed soft like mice. George started to get riled up as they were talking and ended up saying, “ ‘I wisht I could put you in a cage with about a million mice an’ let you have fun’ ” (11). This quote demonstrates that George gets annoyed with Lennie often. Usually his annoyance comes from a nice conversation, other times George will get annoyed because Lennie forgets everything. After George gets annoyed he lashes out at …show more content…

Another good piece of evidence that proves that George is a bad-tempered person occurs when George and Lennie arrive at their new job. George gives Lennie one rule, the rule is not to talk to the boss in their interview. Since Lennie forgets everything in general, he forgets about this and talks to the boss. Being the person he is, George gets furious and says, “Yeah, you forgot. You always forget, an’ I got to talk you out of it.” He sat down heavily on the bunk. “Now he’s got his eye on us. Now we got to be careful and not make no slips. You keep your big flapper shut after this.” He fell morosely silent.” (Steinbeck, 23). As a result the reader learns that to George it doesn't matter the situation that the person George is “bullying” is in, George is always going to be mean to them. Although George does have his faults he also has a good side. He is a kind and courteous person. This can first be seen when Lennie asks for ketchup while he and George are basically in the middle of nowhere going to the ranch

Get Access