Lennie small is a large strong, and un intelligent man. He rarely thinks for himself and can’t hold his own. He does not understand Who you can laugh at or when you can laugh which makes him not have any social awareness. Lennie also never learns throughout the course of this story. He never learns to stay away from some people. For All these reasons we are sympathetic for him. Lennie does not have very good social awareness.He doesn’t understand when the right time is to laugh and be happy. “What the hell are you laughing at? Pg 62 George said. Lennie was laughing at the wrong time and didn’t understand curly is a jerk and didn’t take anything from anyone. He was laughing at curly and it made curly very angry because he was looking for his wife. This made lennie get into a big fight and break curly's hand and lennie was just laughing at the wrong time. …show more content…
He can rarely think for himself and make his own decision. “I want you to stay with me, Lennie. Jesus Christ, somebody’d shoot you for a coyote if you were by yourself” (Steinbeck, p. 14). George does not trust lennie to live by himself. He thinks Lennie would not be able to hold his own and get a job. George is sympathetic towards lennie so he lets lennie stay with him. Lennie Would make a mistake like touching a girl for too long and hurting her which would cause everyone to run after him and he could not do that without George. This makes us sympathetic toward george because he makes bad decisions and gets himself into a lot of
Lennie’s character in the book can represent the child or the fool in the story. All throughout the story he shows signs of resembling a child. He throws tantrums, whines, and complains about things just like a child would. For example, when Lennie tries to sneak the puppy into the bunkhouse and George takes it from
Relationships are based on give and take. Three things that Lennie contributes to his friendship with George and vice versa are easily shown through the text. Lennie contributes by being the main breadwinner, his strength, and how he understands George. Lennie is the main breadwinner because he is strong and a fast learner. Lennie’s strength helps and hinders the friendship. His strength can help with work but it can also hurt when he doesn’t realize how strong he truly is in fights. Lennie also understands George. George says multiple times that he wouldn’t be the same without his “brother”. George contributes with his brains, helping Lennie keep on track, and being a smooth talker. Lennie has got into a lot of trouble, but George is always there to save him. George is the one that is able to keep Lennie on track and get the jobs they need. His brains also help when he has to speak for Lennie, because if Lennie
There are more than 4.6 million people in the United States that suffer from intellectual disabilities. n the book Of Mice and Men written by John Steinbeck one of the main characters suffers from retardation.Lennie would have been better off in today's world than he was back in the 1930s.
George took Lennie in after Lennie’s aunt died. George knew his aunt pretty well. Lennie had nowhere to go afterwards, so George let Lennie come along with him. George wasn’t always nice to Lennie in the beginning. George would tease him and trick him. Lennie didn’t know any better than to listen to George, even if it was a taunt. After an incident happened to Lennie, George stopped tormenting him. He felt bad for Lennie and how he treated him. From this moment on, George actually took into consideration of Lennie’s mindset. In the book, Steinbeck writes,
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
If you were mentally challenged and could not perform daily tasks like everybody else, would you want to be shamed and belittled to words such as ‘crazy’ or ‘retarded’? This was the situation for Lennie Small in the novel Of Mice and Men, written by John Steinbeck. In the novel, Lennie works on a farm with his friend, George. George and other characters in the book trivialize and dismiss Lennie as crazy, instead of what he really was; mentally disabled with cases such as Autism, Asperger's, or even mild down syndrome. Lennie possess many characteristics that are very similar to those who have mental illnesses. Also, during the time that the novel Of Mice and Men was published, these illnesses
At first, people see Lennie as a very strong and dumb character. But, Lennie is only child-minded and he doesn’t understand how strong he really is. For example, when George introduces Lennie, he says, “We kinda look after eachother. [...] He ain’t bright. Hell of a good worker, though. Hell of a nice fella, but he ain't bright,” (34). This quote shows that, many people, meeting Lennie at first, think that he is strong but not that smart. Ironically, despite him being a big guy, he can’t grasp on how strong he is. It shows that people think this way about Lennie when they meet him, but, unless they know him, he’s not that dumb. Just childish. Another example, is when Lennie breaks Curley’s hand, “But Lennie watched in terror the flopping little man whom he held. [...] George slapped him
This is why Lennie isn’t violent. Whenever Lennie does something bad, he suddenly thinks back to George, not being violent, or the fact that he just hurt someone. This shows that he can’t help the things he does, he always needs someone looking after him. One example of this is on page 91, when Curley’s wife starts screaming: “Please don’t do that. George’ll be mad.”
Lennie (it seems to me at least) is obviously not very bright, but he is a caring person. The author states that Lennie is pg.3 “a huge man”, but states the opposite of that for George. Meaning that, at any point, Lennie could snap at George and very easily hurt him. But, Lennie has
You and your best friend are always looking for a job to make money but you can never keep one because your best friend is always messing up and you are the one that has to clean it every time. In the book Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, George always took care Lennie because he promised his Aunt Clara that he would. Lennie was a very big guy, nice, gentle, and strong. Lennie has a disability where he forgets things and likes to touch soft objects. Before George and Lennie got to the ranch Lennie had a small mouse that he petting in his pocket that he had killed because he was squeezing it and broke its neck, at the ranch he killed his puppy, and then he killed Curley’s wife.
Lennie being very big and having a mental disability makes him lonely because he has to depend on George that’s his only friend. His only family who was there was his aunt Clara and she died so George came into his life to help. Him having mental disability is what isolates him from everyone. So that’s why George doesn’t let him speak when they go see the boss. George says, “But you ain’t gonna say a word. You jus’ stand there and don’t say nothing” (6). He tells him that because Lennie is mentally ill so he doesn’t want him to say the wrong thing. Also Lennie is lonely because he can’t keep a pet or be too friendly with anyone because he doesn’t know his strength. When the pup Lennie had died he was freaked out and He was talking to the dead pup. “Why do you got to get killed? You ain’t so little as mice. I didn’t bounce you hard” (85). He killed the pup and he knows Lennie isn’t gonna let him tend the rabbits. “... cause he was too dumb even to know he had a joke played on him”(40). Lennie has the mental capacity of a five year old. Lennie wasn’t crazy he just wasn’t really smart and when people would look at him they wouldn’t want to be his friend. That’s what caused he to be
From the beginning of the book we can see that Lennie is an interesting character due to his mental disability. He is a huge, powerful character but he is also very innocent. He seems to have grown up physically but not mentally. In the book George says Lennie is ‘just like a kid’. This is very true because he takes orders from George, he asks George a lot of questions
(19). Because of his mental problems, Lennie does not understand a lot of the why’s of the story. Why do the men not talk to Curly’s wife? Why does everybody leave her to her lonesome? As Lennie says in the story “George says I ain’t to have nothing to do with you- talk to you or nothing.
He does this to make Lennie realise how lucky he is to have some on that he could rely on. But as Lennie is so vulnerable he gets angry and scares off Crooks. Lennie is a person who likes to touch soft things and is vulnerable to Curley’s wife as well as she knows she can talk to someone who won’t take advantage of him. Lennie being dumb is a harsh reality but as an innocent person causes bad things to happen.
Lennie Small has a very symbolic importance in the novel Of Mice and Men. In the novel George Milton and Lennie Small both migrant workers pursue their dream of someday owning their own ranch by travelling around working as ranch hands to earn a living. The dream they share is to be able to "live off the fat of the land,". Lennie Small is a very complex character, although he may not appear to be at first glance. Lennie is the most interesting character in the novel because he differs from the other is many ways. Lennie Small ironically is a man of large stature and is very strong. He is child-like in his emotions and has a diminished mental capacity. Lennie's feelings are much like that of a normal person when you take into