Lennie Small Symbolism

In John Steinbeck’s novel Of Mice and Men, Lennie provides a sense of joy and a sense of darkness to the story. Lennie has the mind of a child which allows him to maintain pure. However, he winds up in trouble a lot. Lennie does not mean any harm, but sometimes his actions are taken to an extreme level. Steinbeck writes certain traits for this character that allows Lennie, to be Lennie. Lennie’s mentality, innocence, and strength are the main characteristics Steinbeck creates for this character in Of Mice and Men.

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 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

Throughout the book we see an interesting bond between two very different men. George is similar to an older brother and has become responsible for Lennie. Because of his mental disorder Lennie is dependent on George and does whatever he says. They both had plans to spend their futures together. It was very difficult for George to kill Lennie, but he did it out of him love for him, which made it even harder. In that moment it is clear how much George really cares for Lennie. Though their friendship comes an appealing finish it is evident that both characters are extremely close to each other and would go to extreme lengths for one

Lennie is a very misunderstood individual. He has some sort of mental issue that makes his life different than normal. Lennie has a thing for soft fluffy things, he likes to hold them and pet them. Most of the time these soft things end up dead which Lennie tries his hardest to keep from George when this happens. George once found a dead mouse in Lennie’s pocket that he had been keeping there for 3 whole days after it died (Lisca). Lennie is a giant of a man. He does not understand how much power he has. This causes a lot of the mistakes he makes. George is there most of the time to correct or stop Lennie from doing these things. There are sometimes when George is not there to stop him and Lennie gets them both into trouble. The two have had to move several times because of Lennie (McMurray). In fact every time they have had to leave a place was because of Lennie’s actions. There was one thing Lennie got them in and they could not run from it. Lennie was in the barn and Curley’s wife came in. He wanted to touch her hair and he ended up rubbing it too hard. She yelled for help and he wanted her to shut up so he

First off, Lennie tended to act younger. He had the mentality of a small child, and George didn’t feel like it was good for him. “Lennie smiled with this bruised mouth. ‘I didn't want no trouble,’ he said. He walked toward the door, but just before he came to it, he turned back. ‘George?’ ‘What you want?’ ‘I can still tend the rabbits, George?’ ‘Sure. You ain't done nothing wrong.’ ‘I di'n't mean no harm, George.’” (Stienbeck 53) Even though he “Didn’t mean any harm,’ he still did harm and George knew it would have gotten worse. George knew Lennie better than anyone and only wanted the best for them both.

Lennie is mentally disabled and so always ‘does bad things’, because of this, he constantly depends on George to protect him and get him out of trouble. For example, in Weed, Lennie constantly ‘wants to touch

Lennie's only friend is George so Lennie does his best to not make him mad and get locked out by George.

At this point in the novel, we have heard George mention twice that his life would be improved without Lennie. However, George still seems to feel a need to look out for Lennie. That said, he protects Lennie from conflict by explaining to everyone they meet that he is just a “big kid”.

I could also notice when I was reading through the first chapter that George has a sense of authority over Lennie, “you gonna get that wood”. This is like a parent telling a child to do his chores. On some occasions though George shows a bit of hatred towards Lennie, he thinks of what he could have if Lennie wasn’t around and contrasts that with George.

In the novella Of Mice And Men by John Steinbeck, the relationship between Lennie Small and George Milton is complex. Lennie and George are two companions who look for work and brave the hardships of the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression together. Although Lennie and George are both grown men, their relationship resembles more of a child and a single parent, or a boy and his dog. Lennie is portrayed as animalistic and childish through his behavior and Steinbeck’s comparisons. This reveals the crucial power dynamic in George and Lennie’s relationship.

Although Lennie has the mental capacity of a child, he is innocent to doing anything wrong to George. George just seen him as a potential threat.

John Ernst Steinbeck was born in Salinas, California on February 27, 1902. He worked as a farm labourer on ranches from 1919 to 1926. This experience has influenced the setting of the novella Of Mice and Men. Steinbeck met someone like Lennie Small which obviously provided Lennie’s character. I am going to compare the events in which Candy’s dog and Lennie die in the novella. I will also talk about how John Steinbeck made the events effective for the reader. There are several themes in the novella Of Mice and Men. These are loyalty, friendship, loneliness and isolation, dreams of something

    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’s mental disability is one of his most defining traits of how he tends to forget everything. The origin of his mental disability is unclear but his mind seems to be like a two year old and forget everything. George seems to stick around Lennie because he cares for him but most importantly for his disability. In the first chapter when Lennie and George are settling down by the