Lennie Character Analysis

Lennie symbolizes ignorance. More specifically, he is the American dream. Lennie is an inadequate thinker, and more importantly, has little common sense. In this section of the book, Lennie killed a pup by playing with it too harsh, his ignorance and stupidity doesn't help: “Why do you got to get killed? You ain't so little as mice. I didn't bounce you hard” (Steinback 85). This justifies Lennie’s ignorance. Lennie's mind troubles to process little everyday issues, therefore, he has to have George to help him survive in a society of snobs. He’s incapable of doing things on his own, George is his mind and tells him everything of what to say and do. Lennie went back and looked at Curley’s dead wife. The puppy lying close to her. Lennie picked

His power makes people feel threatened by his strength. In the novel, Lennie is much stronger and bigger than everyone else. He hurts animals and people by his strength although he doesn’t mean to. Like when he killed Curley’s Wife by accident, Lennie said, “Oh! Please don’t do that. George’ll be mad” (Steinbeck 91). He was in a panic didn’t want her to yell or else he would be in trouble with George. So he put his hand over her mouth and nose. That caused her to struggle even more so he got angry and shook her. He killed her by his power when he shook her and broke her neck. This quoteshowed how Lennie uses coercive power to hurt people, because he kills her by using his

Throughout the novel, Lennie is put to the test against obstacles he has to overcome; he always turns to George for the right answer. Lennie trusts George to make the right decision for him. When Curley was fighting Lennie, Lennie was covering his face with his hand until George screams, “Get ‘im, Lennie” and instantly Lennie puts his hand on Curley and breaks the bones in his hand (Steinbeck 63). Lennie can’t think for himself and never truly means to be mean. Lennie doesn’t know how to control his own body, “He was so little… I was jus’ playin’ with him…an’ he made like he’s gonna bite me…an’ I made like I was gonna smack him… an’…an’ I done it. An’ then he was dead” (Steinbeck 87). In other words, it foreshadows that he is too strong for his own mind and that something potentially worse could happen. Sadly, George made the right decision for Lennie by killing him to prevent future suffering and

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.

Lennie has his mind set on one thing. That is getting out of the barn and getting his own piece of land with George. This dream motivates Lennie to always listen and follow what George says. There he can finally tend the rabbits he has always wanted. Lennie loves petting things such as small animals and dresses which usually leads him to trouble.

Lennie is certainly strong; in the very opening of the book he is described as a bear and is constantly referred to in animal terms. He enjoys "pettin'" soft things, puppies, rabbits, and mice but, he is so strong that he kills them with his fingers as he did in chapter one while George and Lennie were walking. In chapter three, Curley starts a fight with him but after George tells Lennie to fight back Lennie easily crushes Curley's hand. Lennie is physically well coordinated and is capable of doing repetitive manual jobs with skill. This makes things a little easier for George to find them jobs. In chapter two George has to convince the boss to let them stay and work, he states that Lennie is "as strong as a bull" and is "a good damn good worker". However, it is this strength that was the reason why they had to leave Weed. Lennie would not let go of a girl's dress he wanted to pet because he panicked when the girl started to panic, which led to the pair leaving town under a possible rape charge. Again, it is not like Lennie could and would have ever been able to control the strength he has. He cannot have the understanding that he hurts people or

Due to child like qualities, Lennie is a person which would be easy prey and a vulnerable person. Lennie is a vulnerable person who is quite dumb. His has an obsession for touching soft thing and this will often lead him in to trouble. But

Such as when he defends himself against Curley, “I didn’t wanta,” Lennie cried “I didn’t wanta hurt him. (64)” Instead of instantly fighting back to Curley he stands there and does not move while he lets Curley hit him continuously. But, when he does fight back it is after George gives him instruction to do so. As I stated earlier Lennie doesn’t realize his strength while he also doesn’t have normal reactions to his movements. Once he fought back he was focused on fighting back, not to hurt Curley more than he had already hurt him. Lennie was following instruction and defending

Do you still remember why does Lennie wants George to talk about the farm the first time? George first introduce that fine-nice farm to us was mainly because Lennie's really want George to quote “Tell about what we're gonna have in the garden and about the rabbits in the cages and about the rain in the winter and the stove” unquote. For George and other workers like the old Candy, as I mentioned, the farm mainly symbolized as a chance of freedom, but for Lennie, since he is not smart enough, it is just as simple as the soft things that he enjoys feeling over the course of the years. However, as the old saying says “Every coin has two sides.” , behind the symbol of nice and lovely rabbits, we also know that Lennie always hurts whatever he pets.

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

Repeatedly, Lennie asks George the same questions about concerning if they will get the farm and when. This obsession is like a child needing to hear the same story over and over again, and Lennie wants George to describe the setting of the farm. Lennie’s so focused on getting the farm that he does everything under George’s guidance, because he believes that he will get the reward of living on the farm with him where he can tend rabbits. At the end of the novel, when Lennie is afraid and wants to be assured by George that everything is okay although he made the mistake with Curley’s wife, he asks again if George can paint the picture of life on the farm again. “ ‘How’s it gonna be? We gonna get a little place.’ ...’For the rabbits,’ Lennie shouted...’And I get to tend the rabbits.’ ...Lennie giggled with happiness. ‘An’ live the fatta the lan’”(105). When people are slow-witted, they are simple-minded and have emotions like children. Lennie is that sort of person. Similar to a child, he needs to be continually reassured that everything he wants and needs is everything that George is going to provide. Similarly, Curley’s wife is immature and needy like a child, continually obsessed with wanting attention. Unfortunately, she tries to get attention from Lennie, who is too slow-witted to understand what is going on. Not realizing why she’s

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

In the book Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, Steinbeck makes Lennie a very sympathetic character because of his lack of intelligence, his kind heart and his large body type. In the book Of Mice and Men, 2 men Lennie and George search to find work so that one day they can accomplish the dream of owning a farm. Lennie and George go to do work on a ranch and they stay in a bunker with a couple other guys. Lennie and George's boss of the ranch is pretty tough on them and so is the boss's son Curley. Lennie and George hope that the dream of having their own plot of land will one day come true. Steinbeck was successful at making Lennie sympathetic because Lennie is A very affectionate person who does not like to hurt anyone and he really cares about other people.

He loves touching soft things, such as a cotton dress or a soft puppy and sees these things as calming. Lennie dreams of having a small piece of land with his friend George; particularly with having a small rabbit hutch where he can tend rabbits. Since Lennie is incapable of making decisions by himself he relies on George to guide and make decisions for him even though Lennie usually does not realize the things he does are wrong. His Aunt Clara raised him and requested George to take care of Lennie before she passed