Of Mice And Men George Milton Character Analysis Essay

     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

At the end of Of Mice and Men, George has to make the grim decision to shoot Lennie in the back of the head before the other men kill him because Lennie accidently killed the bosses son, Curley’s, wife. “George said softly, ‘I think I knowed from the very first. I think I knowed we’d never do her. He usta like to hear about it so much I got to thinking maybe we would. “(Steinbeck 94). This shows that George has always hoped that he and Lennie would have a farm and live their life together, but when he sees that cannot happen, he becomes very depressed. This makes him learn the self-knowledge that without Lennie, he is the man that he has always said he was not. With this thought, he knows he has surrendered his dreams, and they cannot be sustained without Lennie. This reveals he has found the impossibility of living the American dream despite hard work and that dreams are no place in a harsh, unloving world. As well, in the end, Slim is the only man that can see that George has gone through the terrible loss of his best friend. This event shows George the real need for friendship in the world, which he needed to distinguish himself from other

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

Steinbeck introduces George from the beginning of the novel, where he explores his physical appearance and his behaviour towards the other ranch workers. It says that he was ‘small and quick’, which conveys the idea of him being intelligent and his mind picks up knowledge quickly. It also says that he is ‘small’, which shows that he isn’t all perfect on the outside as he is on the

“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

2. George is a small and thin man with sharp features (Steinbeck 2). He has a quick temper and a wit to match. His temper is shown early in the book on page 4 when he gets mad at Lennie for always forgetting what he’s told him. George plays the role as the caregiver in his relationship with Lennie. A conflict

One internal conflict that George is dealing with is that he has to keep on looking out for Lennie, even though he knows he would be better off without Lennie. For example, George says, God almighty, if I was alone I could live so easy. I could go get a job an’ work, an’ no trouble,” (Steinbeck, page 11). George faces the internal conflict of deciding if it is really worth George to look after Lennie. All Lennie does for George is cause him trouble. George could start a brand new life, way more successful than now, without Lennie. But he decides to stay with Lennie because to Lennie George means everything to him. If Lennie didn't have George, who knows where he would be. This shows George as a complex character because the audience sees the real two sides of George. Outside George may seem as a tough independent person. But really on the inside George is a very caring person that is a father figure for Lennie. The audience sees George’s

In the beginning of the book George wanted to be alone; he knew that he could be but Lennie would be all alone and would most likely die. Steinbeck stated “God a’mighty if I was alone I could go live so easy” this shows that he really cares about Lennie and even though he is a pain, he still wants Lennie to be okay. As the book progresses, George starts to change his mind about being alone; he starts playing games with the other men. Instead of playing solitaire, he started playing horseshoes. In the last sentence of chapter 6 right after he shoots Lennie, George seemed to realize that he didn’t want to be alone after all, Lennie was his only real friend and now he gets to be lonely but it’s not at all how he imagined it.

Lennie’s presence in George’s life causes George to learn about his friendship. An example of this is when George talks to a friend about his relationship with Lennie. He says that “Lennie just come along with me out workin’. Got kinda used to each other after a little while” (Steinbeck, 89). George implies that Lennie is different from others, however their relationship grows despite this. It is shown that as George spends with

First, George and Lennie were talking about what they had and George told him “‘If I was alone I could live so easy.’... ‘I could go get a job an’ work, an’ work an’ no trouble’”(Steinbeck 11). George was angry he was never able to get the stable job he had always wanted. He knew he was held down by Lennie, but friends stick by each other and George did not want to sabotage what he had. Also, George never gets to live where he wants and with the anger built up inside him and yells you never let me stay in one place, you are always making me move (Steinbeck 11). George has never wanted to explode, but he did and he held nothing back. This was the first time in the story George showed his anger at everything he lost due to Lennie. He was just angry and upset. Finally, when Lennie was hallucinating Aunt Clara told him “‘You never give a thought to George,’... ‘When he got a piece of pie you always got half or more’n half’” (Steinbeck 101). Lennie knew he had messed up but it was too late because George already knew what he had to do. George could no longer deal with Lennie and he knew how to solve his problem, even if it was a sad way. George had dreams and plans that he could not work to achieve until he separated from Lennie. Although he wanted to be alone, the killing of another human was not justified, but he did it which ended his wondering about a better

Even from the very start of John Steinbeck's novel, Of Mice and Men, the uniqueness of George, as a character, is already noticeable. He is described as "small and quick, dark of face, with restless eyes and sharp strong features" and has an obvious dominance over the relationship between Lennie and himself. This lets the reader know from a very early stage in the book that George is different, and probably the essential character. George's character seems to be used by Steinbeck to reflect the major themes of the novel: loneliness, prejudice, the importance of companionship, the danger of devoted companionships, and the harshness of Californian ranch life.

John Steinbeck writes Lennie Smalls -a character in his book- as a person with a mental disability, specifically someone with amnesia- short term memory, excessive behavior, and strength. Due to his disability, it’s hard for Lennie to care for himself, so when his legal guardian- his aunt Clara- died, George took on the parental rights and promised to care for Lennie. Even though George is easily tempered, he is still understanding and aware of Lennie’s condition. Every day George made sure Lennie was fed and makes many of Lennie’s choices. I believe George is sympathetic because he had many opportunities to leave Lennie uncared for, but he stood by his side even with the constant repetitive

In the film Of Mice and Men, directed by Gary Sinise, characterization of George is accurately depicted through his actions acted out. In the scene where Lennie and George are surrounding the fire as they happily speak of their united vision for the future he abruptly stops, frowns and stands up. He then tells Lennie, if ever in trouble, to hide in the bushes and wait for him. To ensure his order is followed he tells Lennie that if not done, Lennie wouldn’t be able to tend the rabbits--something George knows Lennie greatly values. In the ending scene when George finds Lennie and kills him, he repeats the dream they both long of having as he tells Lennie to face the trees and shoots. Even when put through this horrible scenario, George doesn't

To begin, George feels obligated to watch over Lennie. In chapter one, George in a moment of rage tells Lennie that trouble would come to Lennie if George wasn’t with him. George says, “‘I want you to stay with me, Lennie. Jesus Christ, Somebody’d shoot you for a coyote if you was by yourself’” (Steinbeck, 13). George shows his feeling of being accountable for George through

George needs his overgrown friend to remind him that caring for another person gives him a fuller identity. Without Lennie, George might be as outwardly insensitive as Carlson who shoots Candy’s old dog. Although George admits that he is often frustrated and impatient with Lennie, their symbiotic relationship allows each man a measure of self esteem and comfort. Each is important to the other as Lennie says ‘because I got you to look after me… and you got me to look after you…’(Steinbeck 14) . Ironically, George’s mercy killing of Lennie may be the supreme act of ‘looking after him’.