Theme in John Steinbeck's 'Of Mice and Men'

In the novel Of Mice of Men, George Milton was forced to care for a man with the brain of a child. The man’s name was Lennie Small. George acted like a father rather than a friend to Lennie. George was never able to embrace Lennie’s good qualities. Instead, George focused on his bad ones and looked at Lennie as someone who was useless to him. Lennie was much more than that, but George could not see past it. George showed no compassion toward Lennie and hardly cared about how he felt. Thus, George was not a good friend to Lennie because he did some things behind his back, yelled at him constantly, and bossed him around.

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 is a pivotal character as he is the literal demonstration of how a person can be both bad and good. Lennie is immediately shown as childlike when he hides the dead mouse from George on the walk to the ranch. ‘I ain’t got nothing George. Honest’ said Lennie which also shows his love for soft little things which is common amongst children, this is exemplified by the many animal connotations throughout. An example of this is when ‘Lennie dabbled his big paw in the water’. This is imagery of a bear which references the size and strength of Lennie but his lack of intelligence. He is very simple-minded and cannot even remember his own Aunt Clara. Being such a simpleminded person, Lennie does not comprehend the intricacies of laws in society like the majority of people do. Lennie depends on George to lead and guide him and to show him what’s right and wrong. We learn that Lennie tries to be good and repeatedly asks George to hear the dream of the rabbits and their planned simple life on a farm but when Lennie is met with a situation like with Curley’s Wife in the barn, he is unable to fight his evil actions because he himself does not understand nor realise that they are evil. Furthermore, he is incapable of distinguishing the difference

Though his thoughts are innocent, Lennie's OCD leads him to actions that are not innocent. For instance, Lennie kills a mouse, but because George is the only "family" he has, Lennie lies to George about the mouse incident. "Ain't a thing in my pocket... "A mouse? A live mouse?" "Uh-uh. Jus' a dead mouse, George. I didn' kill it. Honest! I found it. I found it dead" (Steinbeck, 7). Lennie doesn't want to confess to George that he killed the mouse because Lennie thinks of George as his "family" and doesn't want to lose him. But, he also doesn't want to lose the comforting feeling of petting animals. In addition, Lennie innocence is shown when Lennie gets caught killing the dog, when he goes to the barn to stroke it. "Lennie stroked the pup back and forth...Lennie said, "Maybe if I took this pup out and throwed him away George wouldn't never know. An' then I could tend the rabbits without no trouble..." (Steinbeck, 86 and 87). Lennie's tries to lie to George about not killing the dog, but his actions of going to the barn alone, and George finding out, shows his action not innocent.

The poem “To a Mouse” by Robert Burns clearly reflects the naturalistic themes in John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men because a naturalist would state that elements such as survival of the fittest, the struggle against forces beyond our control and individual lives being governed by impersonal natural laws.

so the possibility that Lennie’s “life-line” could disappear frightens Lennie. Lennie’s reliance on George isolates them both because their relationship is just about George helping Lennie. Lastly, when Lennie and George talk about how much Lennie loves mice is another display of Lennie’s solitude. “[Lennie] said apologetically, ‘I’d pet ‘em, and pretty soon they bit my fingers and I pinched their

He makes several remarks implying life would be easier without constantly looking after Lennie, incapable of doing many things on his own. In this instance, he shows the frustration of a sibling forced to care for his disabled brother. His lack of sympathy in some instances reveals the mean and cruel part of his personality. Furthermore, when talking with the boss trying to find work for Lennie on the ranch, George tends to speak for him. This shows how the cruel part of him thinks Lennie is incompetent and thus, treats him as such. George answers all the questions for Lennie and the boss becomes suspicious of George’s intentions. The boss says, “Then why don’t you let him answer? What you trying to put over?” (Steinbeck 22). George states Lennie was “kicked in the head by a horse when he was a kid” then explains he did not have a bright mind. Later, Lennie asks, “I wasn’t kicked in the head with no horse, was I, George?” George viciously responds with “Be a damn good thing if you was, Save ever’body a hell of lot of trouble.” (Steinbeck 23). He takes advantage of Lennie’s mental illness, and , as a result, frustrates their boss. Dealing with someone who has mental

George has to take care of and warn Lennie in many instances. George early on in the book has to warn Lennie to stop drinking so much water or he will make himself sick ”Lennie, for God’ sakes don’t drink so much.” . He also has to take a mouse away from Lennie “Awright,” he said brusquely.”Gi’me that mouse!”. This is reminiscent of parent taking something away from a child. These

In the book Of Mice And Men we are brandished the similar relationships of George and Lennie and Candy and his dog. Candy shows that his dog meant the world to him by resisting the quick and painless gun shot to his dogs head. Candy says "Well hell. I had him so long. Had him since he was a pup. Herded sheep with him" (44). Just like Candy’s relationship George had a similar relationship with his friend Lennie. Lennie made a mistake in his life by killing someone and had to be shot just like Candy’s dog quick and painless. George explains how he takes care of Lennie because that’s exactly what he promised Lennie’s Aunt Clara. We see foreshadowing in these tragic events when we are told that Lennie was just getting worse and worse in his sickness

He is truly a burden to George and does not know or understand his own physical strength. Even though George is his constant companion and care taker, Lennie is always living in his own little world, which is cut off from society. He is always forgetful of what he should or shouldn’t do and acts like an innocent child. “Only Lennie was in the barn… hay.” (84).

Throughout the book Lennie goes on a rollercoaster of emotions and is always either very happy, sad,mad,or concerned. When lennie kills anything he normally feels very mad at the person or thing but then gets very sad, and concerned with what George might do. To Lennie George is like a sunrise and sunset because he makes him very happy or makes him feel bright in side, but when Lennie does something wrong George scares him or makes him feel dark like night time. When lennie kills the puppy he says “..you're not as small as a mouse..’’. This shows Lennie doesn't understand everything or understand the consequences for his actions

It is always the people they care about the most that always do. Lennie always finds a way whether it is killing mice and a puppy from petting them to hard, or touching females. Either way Lennie never pays for his actions and his best friend George always does. George tries his best to mange Lennie’s behaviour by braving him that if he is good and does no harm then he can tend the rabbits when their dream comes true. In the end Lennie cannot behave and George have had enough. Lennie once again proves that he has no self control, and once again George pays the

Throughout the story George says how simple his life would be if he did not have to control Lennie (Steinbeck 11). George does not like maneuvering from town to town. He complains about not being able to withhold a job seeing that they always find trouble (Steinbeck 91). No matter what goes wrong George remains faithful to his friend (Steinbeck 96). Even though he sometimes dislikes Lennie, he cannot live without him.

Lennie relies on George as his caretaker just as a child would rely on their parent. He does not realize that he suffers from a mental disability therefor he just laughs along without any worries. Lennie loves soft animals and objects (Steinbeck 6). He likes to play with rabbits and with a girl’s hair or dress, which eventually gets him into trouble. His love for soft animals, such as

Though his thoughts are innocent, Lennie's OCD leads him to actions that are not innocent. For instance, Lennie kills a mouse, but because George is the only "family" he has, Lennie lies to George about the mouse incident. "Ain't a thing in my pocket... "A mouse? A live mouse?" "Uh-uh. Jus' a dead mouse, George. I didn' kill it. Honest! I found it. I found it dead" (Steinbeck, 7). Lennie doesn't want to confess to George that he killed the mouse because Lennie thinks of George as his "family" and doesn't want to lose him. But, he also doesn't want to lose the comforting feeling of petting animals. In addition, Lennie innocence is shown when Lennie gets caught killing the dog, when he goes to the barn to stroke it. "Lennie stroked the pup back and forth...Lennie said, "Maybe if I took this pup out and throwed him away George wouldn't never know. An' then I could tend the rabbits without no trouble..." (Steinbeck, 86 and 87). Lennie's tries to lie to George about not killing the dog, but his actions of going to the barn alone, and George finding out, shows his action not innocent.