In Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck uses the symbolism of mice to strengthen the idea that Lennie does not understand his own strength. Lennie is not aware of how physically strong he is due to his mental disability. Lennie likes petting soft things hence why he likes to have pet mice and dreams of tending rabbits. Lennie doesn’t realize the major difference between his strength and the mouse’s strength when he says, “‘they bit my fingers and I pinched their heads a little and then they was dead―because they was so little’” (10). This quote illustrates the innocence of the mice, but also the inability of the mice to protect themselves against Lennie’s physical strength. Prior to Lennie saying this, Steinbeck shows Lennie’s innocence as well
“I'm going for my shotgun. I’ll kill the son-of-a-bitch myself.” (Steinbeck 96). In the book, Of Mice and Men, Curley shows that he is a very truculent person. He wants to diminish Lennie, Lennie doesn't realize there is a complication because he can not develop things in his mind as easily as the other men. At the end of the story, Lennie makes a very bad mistake and in response he gets killed because he becomes a danger to other men. Mercy killing in Lennie's situation was the better decision because his friend George shot him. George was putting him out of his , if George wouldn't have killed Lennie then Curley would have. Through the whole book Curley talks about his hatred for Lennie, and at the end he shows it by threatening Lennie's
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
In the Salinas River Valley, after the Great Depression, there were a large number of unemployed workers seeking jobs. In the fiction novel "Of Mice and Men," by John Steinbeck, Lennie Small is among one of those men. Lennie and his friend George both have just received jobs on a ranch as farm workers. What brings the two together is their dream to someday own their own land. Lennie has a lot of character and personality traits that define him. One trait that he has is he is very forgetful. Another trait he has is he is very curious. A final trait he has is that he is very reliant. Although he might not be the intelligent person in the book, he has a very well developed personality. Lennie demonstrates his personality and character
In the novella, ‘Of Mice and Men’, written by John Steinbeck, Lennie Small is the most disadvantaged character. Lennie is disadvantaged in a number of ways; the way he is perceived to the audience is ‘useless without the guidance of other’, leaving them feeling many emotions towards Lennie. The major disadvantages he faces are; his relationships, his perception and others judgement, and finally, his dreams and future. Lennie is mentally challenged leaving him disadvantaged in comparison to other characters.
In my opinion, Lennie Small is the most interesting character in Steinbeck's novel Of Mice and Men. Steinbeck does a very good job describing and characterizing Lennie's personality. Lennie's character is, indeed, quite unique. A large man with enormous strength, yet kind and childlike, he seems to find joy in simple life pleasures like petting a furry animal and making the water ripple. Lennie's greatest difficulty seems to be remembering; and it is the lack of the ability to remember that ultimately leads to his tragedy at the end of the book. In the novel, Steinbeck seems to reinforce Lennie's characteristics of strength, kindness, childlike manner, and somewhat animal-like personality.
Many people develop mental illness before the age of thirty. Lennie Small a character in the novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck shows many symptoms of mental illness which lead to his death. Lennie Small's mental state ultimately lead to his death because he was unable to defend himself, he didn't know how to use his strength, and he is unable to learn from his mistakes.
If there were more written to Of Mice and Men, the characters would change due to the impact Lennie's death caused. When Carlson says, “Now what the hell ya suppose is eatin’ them two guys” (Steinbeck 107), he is referring to George and Slim. This implicates that George and Slim are torn over Lennie’s death. George would most likely get PTSD from having to shoot Lennie. Also, George will most likely obtain other mental illnesses from the experience such as depression or an anxiety disorder. He will later live his life the way he told Lennie he would when he would be “giving him hell” after Lennie did a bad thing. Candy may possibly also get depression, not just on account of Lennie’s death, but also because George decides that they can not
Everyone has had a caretaker or guardian to protect and care for them at some period in time. Developing into an adult is often times when a person becomes able to live independently. However, this is not the case for Lennie Small from the story, “Of Mice and Men” as a result of his disability. Being dependant on other people, Lennie needs a caretaker because of the lack of family to protect him. Someone without family relation, George, rises to the position as his caretaker in the harsh, unforgiving circumstances they have at the moment. Dreaming of a better future, George has to carry Lennie from job to job in order to eventually collect enough money to finally claim their land as their own. George has good, honest intentions for Lennie and only strives to give him the best conditions even if it meant he had to pull the trigger against him.
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.
Lennie Small; A simple man with a simple mind in a not-so-simple world. Lennie is mentally handicapped, living in the 1930’s during the Great Depression with his friend and caretaker, George. Because Lennie has the mind of a child but the strength and appearance of a 30-year-old man, which often gets him in trouble. He poorly hides the evidence of his wrongdoing, and cannot fully understand the cost of his own actions which ultimately results in his death. In John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, Lennie’s death is foreshadowed in conversations, Lennie’s tendencies of petting soft things too roughly, and events that happen on the ranch and in his past
Lennie is an individual with great size and strength, much like the fictional character shrek. Lennie has a mind of a child, he does not have the capability to think for himself. Making him quite vulnerable to manipulation, which then could make him quite dangerous. Lennie’s strength goes to the extreme causing him to cause “accidents”. In the book “of mice and men” lennie kills curley’s wife by mistake. After fleeing george had come to the decision to kill lennie to prevent anymore “accidents”. Whether George’s decision was justified or not can be debated and defended either ways. I feel that it was indeed a justifiable decision. His actions were against the law, but weighing the pros and cons I feel it was a justified decision. If had he
In relation to the poem, Steinbeck’s character Lennie represents both mouse and man. He is the man in terms of his physical strength and characteristics but the mouse in terms of his mental capabilities, simple desires and simple understanding of the world.
“I ought to of shot that dog myself, George. I shouldn’t ought to of let no stranger shoot my dog.” (Steinbeck pg 61) Steinbeck included this quote to foreshadow that George was going to shoot Lennie. It also helps justifies his reasoning for shooting him because George was not going to let a stranger kill Lennie. Lennie was a strong and useful man when it came to work, but he had the mind of a child. He could not survive without George because he did not understand what was to far and, was always getting into trouble without even knowing it. Near the end of the book, Lennie, in bewilderment, accidently killed Mr. Curley’s wife. After that incident, George knew that if he did not kill Lennie then he would suffer. So, even though some say George did not make the right decision by killing Lennie, it was the better option because prison life would
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck is about two men, George and Lennie who travel from ranch to ranch hoping to make enough money to buy their own land. Buying the land is what George and Lennie talk about constantly, this is in fact their American Dream. They have recently left a town called Weed because of an incident that happened there and are now heading to Soledad to work on another ranch. John Steinbeck was successful in making Lennie a sympathetic character because he portrays Lennie as a big strong muscular man that has basically no brain, so he doesn’t really know his own strength so when he hurts someone or does something bad you can’t really blame him.
In the beginning of the novella, Lennie is portrayed as innocent and dependent on George. When Lennie had a mouse and George asked for it, Steinbeck describes Lennie’s reaction