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Of Mice And Men Change Over Time Analysis

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The novella Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck shows how someone can change their view of a person over time. Set in 1937, two men, named George and Lennie, travel around for work together. The novel focuses on one specific job on a ranch in Salinas Valley. George, the more mentally capable of the two, handles the social aspects of being a worker. Lennie, although he is strong, is very dependent on George and does not know how to control his actions. As the story progresses, George changes from compassionate to frustrated to accepting. This illustrates that in a situation where one person is burdened by another, that person may be compassionate, but will eventually become frustrated and ultimately accept that they need to move on. At the beginning of the story, George is compassionate even though Lenny …show more content…

After Lennie murders Curley’s wife, the men on the ranch are enraged and go to hunt him down. George gets to Lennie’s hiding spot first, where he comforts Lennie, but instead of helping Lennie escape, he pulls out his gun. The writer states “‘No, Lennie. I ain’t mad’… He pulled the trigger”(106). George isn’t “mad”, or frustrated, at Lennie as he was before. He accepts that Lennie will always burden him. George “pulled the trigger”, killing Lennie. Most would think this means that George is still mad at Lennie, but in reality, it means that George accepts that he needs to move on. He knows that he cannot leave Lennie to fend for himself because he will either die a painful death out in the world or he will be hunted down by the men on the ranch. To George, “pulling the trigger” was the most considerate thing to do because Lennie would die comforted. Even though George still cared about Lennie, he finally realizes that his life would be better without him. This shows that after being compassionate and frustrated, George accepts that he will never escape the burden Lennie puts on

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