Power In The Great Depression

His power makes people feel threatened by his strength. In the novel, Lennie is much stronger and bigger than everyone else. He hurts animals and people by his strength although he doesn’t mean to. Like when he killed Curley’s Wife by accident, Lennie said, “Oh! Please don’t do that. George’ll be mad” (Steinbeck 91). He was in a panic didn’t want her to yell or else he would be in trouble with George. So he put his hand over her mouth and nose. That caused her to struggle even more so he got angry and shook her. He killed her by his power when he shook her and broke her neck. This quoteshowed how Lennie uses coercive power to hurt people, because he kills her by using his

Throughout the novel, Lennie is put to the test against obstacles he has to overcome; he always turns to George for the right answer. Lennie trusts George to make the right decision for him. When Curley was fighting Lennie, Lennie was covering his face with his hand until George screams, “Get ‘im, Lennie” and instantly Lennie puts his hand on Curley and breaks the bones in his hand (Steinbeck 63). Lennie can’t think for himself and never truly means to be mean. Lennie doesn’t know how to control his own body, “He was so little… I was jus’ playin’ with him…an’ he made like he’s gonna bite me…an’ I made like I was gonna smack him… an’…an’ I done it. An’ then he was dead” (Steinbeck 87). In other words, it foreshadows that he is too strong for his own mind and that something potentially worse could happen. Sadly, George made the right decision for Lennie by killing him to prevent future suffering and

Lennie is certainly strong; in the very opening of the book he is described as a bear and is constantly referred to in animal terms. He enjoys "pettin'" soft things, puppies, rabbits, and mice but, he is so strong that he kills them with his fingers as he did in chapter one while George and Lennie were walking. In chapter three, Curley starts a fight with him but after George tells Lennie to fight back Lennie easily crushes Curley's hand. Lennie is physically well coordinated and is capable of doing repetitive manual jobs with skill. This makes things a little easier for George to find them jobs. In chapter two George has to convince the boss to let them stay and work, he states that Lennie is "as strong as a bull" and is "a good damn good worker". However, it is this strength that was the reason why they had to leave Weed. Lennie would not let go of a girl's dress he wanted to pet because he panicked when the girl started to panic, which led to the pair leaving town under a possible rape charge. Again, it is not like Lennie could and would have ever been able to control the strength he has. He cannot have the understanding that he hurts people or

He does this to make Lennie realise how lucky he is to have some on that he could rely on. But as Lennie is so vulnerable he gets angry and scares off Crooks. Lennie is a person who likes to touch soft things and is vulnerable to Curley’s wife as well as she knows she can talk to someone who won’t take advantage of him. Lennie being dumb is a harsh reality but as an innocent person causes bad things to happen.

Lennie does not understand his own strength. When Lennie wanted to have a mouse in his pocket so he could pet it he killed it on accident because he's so strong. On page 3 Lennie said"Uh-uh. Jus' a dead mouse, George. I didn't kill it. Honest! I found it. I found it dead." Other characters think of Lennie as a mindless strong man who is innocent and almost never uses his strength. In terms of Lennie's strength the only time we ever see him purposefully in the book was when curly kept on hitting him and picking on him because in the way of defending himself he was the weakest since he never used his strength. What lennie did with one punch put Curly on the floor. Another character, George describe Lennie as “Strong as a bull." On page 11. So George and many other characters just

On the night of when they were sleeping near the pond, George and Lennie had a conversation about their new home. George started the topic by saying “O.K. Someday--we are going to receive the jack together and we are going to have a little house and a couple of acres and a cow and some pigs and---- “And live off the fat of the land,” Lennie shouted. “And have rabbits. Go on, George! Tell about what we are going to have in the garden and about

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

He had strong general convictions, he set his administrations overall priorities early on. He obviously placed his defensive buildup and his economic programs a head of everything else. He was very tactically flexible; he often showed no regret when he had to adjust to political opposition or to changed circumstances. He was also a great negotiator, setting his demands higher than the minimum, and accepting what he could get, making his decisions easily and promptly.

In American history, the Great Depression ranks second as the longest and most severe crisis ever experienced only dislodged from the first position by the Civil War. The Great Depression marked a period of economic downturn that resulted in severe declines in output, acute deflation, financial insecurity and severe unemployment rates. This was a sharp contrast from the early 1920’s when the country was experiencing a period of tremendous economic growth and prosperity. The Great Depression was brought about by a number of factors that included the declining consumer demand, a natural slowdown in the cycle of business, misguided government policies, panics within the financial markets and environmental disasters among others. Everyone felt the effects of the Great Depression on every part of the country, rural or urban. From the rich to the poor, the young to the old, white Americans to African Americans, no one was spared from the devastating effects of the depression. The experience of millions Americans suffering as a result of the Great Depression paint a clear picture on how serious the crisis was. Many Americans believed that it was the government’s role to alleviate them from the suffering and also offer relief aid to curb hunger and starvation. Letters sent to President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Mrs. Roosevelt with photographs taken by photographers of the Farm Security Administration (FSA) show and tell the social experiences of many Americans during that period.

Steinbeck used foreshadowing of this that Lennie doesn’t know how strong he really is. An example of this is from Doc. B when Lennie said “Jus’ wanted to feel that girls dress- jus’ wantes to pet it like it was a mouse”. This shows how when Lennie doesn’t know his real power as he was just petting the dress and the girl started to freakout and Lennie and George had to leave weed so they didn’t get in trouble. You could also see this coming as Lennie killed the puppy.

So this is an indicator that an altercation may happen in the near future, between the boys and Curley. In Chapter three, George states, "I've beaten the hell out of him, and he coulda bust every bone in my body jus' with his man's, but he never lifts a finger against me." This shows that Lennie doesn’t know his own strength, and never would actually mean to harm anybody on purpose, as with the indication with the dead mouse. All of this foreshadowing leads up to the big “fight” between Lennie and

Lennie’s insensibility in regards to his strength tends to lead him to injure people and animals that he encounters. The biggest contributor to Lennie’s chaos throughout the novel is his underestimation of his own ability to hurt others. This occurs in multiple occasions, such as when Slim gets

Foreshadowing the Bigger Picture Foreshadowing is a literary term defined in the dictionary which warns of, or indicates future events. When it is used, it begs the question of how a minute detail impacts the plot. In John Steinbeck’s novella “Of Mice and Men,” foreshadowing is a part of his writing style. Major turning points in the story are subtly suggested by extra things worked into previous chapters like George playing solitaire and the events in weed.

Though Lennie is mighty big, he doesn’t use his size to his advantage. George is considerably smaller than Lennie, but he controls Lennie’s life. Lennie doesn’t make any of the important decisions, as a matter of fact, he doesn’t make any decisions at all. Lennie found a dead mouse and he wanted to keep it. George made the decision to get rid of

Lennie is the gentlest person anyone could meet, he just sometimes cannot remember if he has met them or not. Lennie’s exterior is a rugged, burley kind of guy, but in this book, he is just a big teddy bear who would never dream of hurting anyone. Yet again, looks can be deceiving. Although he is willing to pick up a dead mouse so he could “pet it with [his] thumb while [they] walked along (6), there are people that are incredibly intimidated by him and his strength. For instance, Curley wanted to beat George up mainly because he was bigger than he was. Even though people associate with him, they don’t treat him like one of their own. Lennie is the muscles, that’s all. His physical appearance contradicts his mental appearance. From a distance, Lennie is a huge man who seems as though he could beat someone to the ground if they looked at him wrong, but in reality, he is nice to anyone. Due to George, Lennie can actually confront the world. Most times Lennie is not mentally stable