Ignorance In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

Justice! What does it mean to be justified? Tricking your best friend? Betraying and ending his dream? Gunning him down from behind? Well, in the book “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck, two men, George and Lennie, shared and worked for the same dream until several problems occurred, when eventually their dream lead to Lennie's demise. It was justified when George shot Lennie because Lennie made multiple poor mistakes, it was the only necessary thing to do. Many people argues it was unjustified to kill Lennie because they could have escaped together, however Lennie is a nuisance and tends to cause trouble

     Using the two main characters of the novel Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck shows that in life, responsibility must be taken in moderation. George takes on the challenge of caring for Lennie. In doing this, George loses a job in weed and is often short-changed when it comes to food and other amenities. Eventually, George realizes where he could be without Lennie and kills Lennie to free himself of the responsibly. Lennie, in a life where he has always been protected by loved ones, looks for responsibility in dependent pets. Each time he is given a chance with an animal, he always cares for it with gentile love. Often times, Lennie’s strength would be too much for the animal and they would fall under his powerful hands. In the end, both men see that they were not capable of conquering the tasks at hand. George

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 introduces Lennie by physical description and it gives us an idea of how powerful he is compared to George. “a huge man, shapeless of face, with large, pale eyes, with wide, sloping shoulders” (Steinbeck, Pg. 2) In this quote, the author is trying to make the reader

Lennie Small is a character that readers are drawn to right from the beginning of the book. His innocence stands out from the grimey coverings of loneliness and hopelessness that the other characters wear. The reason Lennie is so innocent is because he has a mental handicap, one that prevents him from understanding complex human emotions such as guilt, or concepts such as death. In addition Lennie has trouble remembering things, “" I tried and tried [to remember]...but it didn't do not good." Consequently, Lennie has trouble fitting in with society. Ultimately his mental disability is what leads to Lennie's demise at the end of the book. Another trait that is an essential part of Lennie's innocent character is his devotion to his closest friend George. In fact, the only times Lennie is shown to be angry is when George is insulted or threatened. When Crooks, the crippled, black, stable hand, implies bad things about George, this devotion is clearly shown. “Suddenly Lennie's eyes centered and grew quiet, and mad. He walked dangerously toward Crooks. 'Who hurt George?' he demanded" When it comes to George, Lennie would deviate from the normal passive motives of his persona. More support can be found when George is the only one who can convince Lennie to “get him[Curly]” when Curly attacks him, as well as being the only one to stop him. Perhaps the most prominent support for Lennie's childlike innocence is in his utter belief of George and his dream. No matter how

In John Steinbeck’s work, Of Mice and Men, Lennie is compared to an animal multiple times which degrades from his sense of humanity and leads to a greater gap between George and himself causing Lennie to become almost nothing to the reader, and to the other characters in the story as well. While George has sharp figures and is precisely described, Lennie is shown as more animalistic, and not really given a lot of traits and characteristics. Also, the other people in the ranch/farm approach Lennie with fear and caution.

The problem with Lennie was that he was mentally disabled, back in the 1930's people did not understand things like that, and had no clue about disabled people. Lennie was sweet and loved thing that were soft. Lennie would put himself in very dangerous situations and with disability he lacked the capacity to control himself physically. Lennie did not understand how strong he was and they damage he would do until after the fact. He also shares the dream of having the small farm and tending to his small rabbit hutch. Since Lennie is mentally disabled he depends on George for almost everything. Lennie is like a small child that has to a have a parent nearby always or he will get into

The author uses “show-don’t-tell” and characterization to show us that Lennie is a very simpleminded person and is easily amused, much like a child or animal with paws. We can also tell from Lennie’s speech how he looks up to George and desires his approval. The passage describes his personality in a nutshell without being blunt.

In the book, Lennie is viewed as a very forgetful character. In the book Lennie says, “I forgot again George.” This trait of forgetfulness that Lennie has effects those around him, especially George. At the beginning of the book, George tells Lennie that he would be better off without him because Lennie is the reason why he can’t keep a job. This effects Lennie because despite his best efforts, he finds a way to hurt the ones he cares about. This situation makes readers feel sympathy towards Lennie because he can’t help forgetting everything and it must be very frustrating for not only him, but to George as

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

The book foreshadows the end of Lennie and his journey by his past and new problems he faces. George and Lennie never achieved the dream they wish they had. Lennie’s desire to touch soft things foreshadowed his sad and unfortunate death. Lennie has always liked to touch nice things but will end up killing what he pets. George states, "Lennie—if you jus' happen to get in trouble like you always done before, I want you to come right here an' hide in the brush…

He is a representation of the lives of the mentally disabled, which are often controlled by others in order to maintain safety. Throughout the book, many examples of George expressing control over Lennie’s life can be observed, however one of the most clear examples of this control is the scene in which George decides to kill Lennie in order to spare him from his impending doom. This is an example like many others, but it is fundamentally different in that it shows the most extreme of cases, one in which the decision of whether one’s life should or should not end is made by someone else with no regards to the opinions and choices of the person to which this is most concerning, he who has a gun held against his head. This last choice is denied from Lennie, just like every other before

Lennie has a very big body and when he finds a mouse or any soft item he destroys it or kills. Lennie doesn't know right from wrong and seems to be focused more on the dream than hurting someone. The day before they make it to the ranch Lennie says, “I’d pet ‘em, and pretty soon they bit my fingers and I pinched their heads and thy was dead,”(Steinbeck 10). Any soft thing that Lennie kills, was innocent. Lennie was also Innocent, just like all the other animals and person he killed. He doesn't know right from wrong making it harder for him to understand. It wasnt his fault Curley’s wife told him to touch her hair. lennie is innocent like the soft animals he killed. The night before Lennie and George went to the ranch George told Lennie there dream that they hope to accomplish. George says, “‘O.K. Someday- we’re gonna get the jack together and we’re gonna have a little house and a couple of acres an’ a cow and some pigs an -’” (Steinbeck 14). There dream Lennie and George had was the American Dream representing a freedom and opportunity to migrant workers, like George and Lennie , they both would rather work on their own farm, than someone's ranch. They want start a new life without any problems. Although their dream did not come true when Lennie died from his actions. It seemed at the end of the book George had gave up giving him another reason to kill

In life human nature can be known to be thought of as a high quality and/or low quality. Naturally, human nature is there without thought about what it actually is. In the novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, the author sprinkles clues and evidence of how human nature was and still is today. The themes that Steinbeck used throughout the novel were, for example friendship, loneliness, and weak vs. strong.

George Milton is the brains of the duo that the reader is introduced to. He shows the caring characteristics of a parent, yet the distaste and irritation of a doctor that has a mental patient as well as the character of a pet owner always having to take care of the pet, and finally as the judge who brings death or mercy to Lennie. Lennie is always compared to an animal, thus showing it wise to make the analogy of a pet owner. However George does hold a sense of superiority over Lennie, even leading Lennie to have some fear of George mocking his want to “Tend rabbits,” it, said scornfully. “You crazy bastard.