Lennie Smalls Character Analysis

Steinbeck first foreshadowed the pivotal events of the book through Lennie’s slight mental disability shown on page 8 where George refers to him as a “crazy bastard”. It can be assumed that Lennie indeed has a disability and therefore impacts on the decisions he makes. An example of the effect Lennie’s disability is on page 13 where George loses his temper and recounts

First, Steinbeck makes Lennie’s mentality not as well as others. Lennie acts like a toddler throughout the story. He constantly forgets important information, looks out to George for help, and whines about certain situations. For example, when George learns that Lennie finds the dead mouse again, even after George throws it away, George hears “Lennie’s whimpering cry” (Steinbeck 10) when he throws it away for the second time. George sees “Lennie’s lip [quiver] and tears [start] in his eyes” (10) just because a dead mouse gets taken away from him. Lennie resembles a child in this scenario because of his sad emotions he expresses over an object that has little value to him. Lennie can also be compared to a kid when he wants to leave

In the story George’s character is revealed in how he treats Lennie. In the beginning of the book George is quick to be harsh and frustrated with taking care of Lennie. He is often verbally abusive to Lennie and considers Lennie a nuisance to have around. George is also hasty to remind Lennie of the ideal life he could have had without Lennie, full of cat houses, whisky, and card games. “‘Why, I could stay in a cat house all night. I could eat any place I want … and order any damn thing I could think of…. An’ whatta I got,’ George went on furiously. ‘I got you!’” (Steinbeck 12). Although George is quickly angered he is still grateful to have his friend, Lennie, to travel with. This gratitude becomes even more evident by the end of the story when George is prepared to kill Lennie. At this time George reflects on all of the wonderful effects Lennie

     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

“Look, George. Look what I done” (Steinbeck, Pg. 3). Here Steinbeck gives us the idea that Lennie looks up to George in everything he does like a child does to his parents. Lennie can’t take of himself since he is mentally handicapped so we get an idea that even though they are just friends, George is like a father figure to Lennie. Also by the word choice in the dialogue we can see that Lennie communicates in a particular way like if he just learn to speak, therefore he could be compared as a child. “I wasn’t doin’ nothing bad with it, George. Jus’ strokin’ it.” Steinbeck uses dialogue to give us an idea of George’s strong personality. “Don’t let him pull you in-but- if the son of a bitch” This quote gives us the idea that George’s personality is very strong and defensive by the explicit language which shows us anger. Also it gives us a idea that even though he is strong and aggressive he cares about what happens to Lennie. This can relate to the link that he treats him like he is his

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”.

A good friendship is needed to survive through tough times. Lennie respects George because George gives him comfort. George cares for Lennie so much that he considers him to be part of his family: “George said, he’s my cousin. I told his old lady id take care of him. He got kicked in the head by a horse when he was a kid” (Steinbeck 22). Aside from comfort and advice, Lennie also needs George because when he gets in trouble, George always manages to find a way to help him get out of it. When Lennie had got in trouble in Weed, George stays by his side and gives him advice that helps remain safe and calm. George has many opportunities to leave Lennie and change his lifestyle, but he needs Lennie just as much in order to help him through his own hardships. Lennie looks

George takes care of Lennie many ways. George has taken care of Lennie for a long time. George took him under his wing even though he didn’t need to. George genuinely cares for Lennie. He feeds him, makes sure he is safe, also he gives him hope. George is constantly watching Lennie. George is a good friend to Lennie; however, George gets annoyed with Lennie very easily. He does this to make sure he doesn’t get into trouble or lost. He never leaves him by himself. This is shown when Lennie offers to leave, but George tells him “I want you to stay with me Lennie”(Steinbeck 104). George really cares for Lennie.

Another way that Steinbeck creates sympathy for the character of Lennie is by portraying him as childlike, with George taking the role of his father figure. For example,

The personality of George and Lennie are demonstrated by the use of different verbs and adverbs. Typically, the descriptive words used towards Lennie demonstrate his absence of maturity. For example, when Steinbeck mentions “dabbled,” “shapeless,” and “timidly,” he is trying to display Lennie’s indecision and hesitation when it comes to dealing with struggles, conflicts, or anything. On the other hand, Steinbeck uses adverbs such as, “sharply” and “gently,” which suggests the fact that George thinks deeply before he speaks or takes action. Overall, the reader is able to surmise, that Lennie still has state of mind where he requires the care of an adult, in this case, George. In addition, Lennie looks up to George as a role model because he believes if he emulates what George does, he will not land in

    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 is a dim witted person who can't really control himself and likes to plan ahead and pet animals. Lennie fantasies and acts out what it would be like if they had a farm with different colored rabbits.

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 conclusion, I believe that overall in the novella Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck ,George was not a good friend to Lennie. George did take care of Lennie but,in my point of view, not because he actually cared for Lennie.George never once mentions how he cares for Lennie or how much he loves his companionship but does mention how easy life would be without him and if if they were related he would kill himself .Yes George looked over him and stuck by him but in most cases Lennie would have been better of being with someone

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.