Violence In Of Mice And Men Essay

Throughout Of Mice and Men, Lennie’s interest in petting things is shown. However, the outcome of Lennie’s interest is often tragic. His disabilities cause him to be too rough when petting things accicentally. He can not control his strength, and that poses a huge threat. Lennie even kills mice and the puppy because of it. Curley’s wife notices this when she witnesses Lennie with the dead puppy in the stables. When they were talking, Lennie expresses to Curley’s wife that he “likes to pet nice things” (Steinbeck 90), and tells her how his hobby in petting things results for the puppy. Unfortunately, Curley’s wife still allows the big guy to pet her hair. As a result, Curley’s wife is the only one to blame for her death. Some might say that Curley’s wife should not be held responsible for her own death because she is lonely and just wants someone to talk to. However, loneliness is no exception for her allowing this to happen after receiving the obvious warnings she is given. Therefore, Curley’s wife should have carefully considered letting someone, who was so easily capable of an enormous amount of hurt, touch her

Lennie’s inability to think for himself and know the difference between right and wrong is most apparent in his actions when he talks. Even though Lennie’s physical strength makes him appear to be a person of power, his physical strength is the only form of power that he possesses. Lennie is constantly powerless against his mind’s perception that limits him to behave in a child-like manner against the consequences of his actions. For example, he knows that he needs to act correctly and does not want to do bad things, however he lacks the mental capability of an adult that lets him differentiate what’s right from wrong causing him to rely on George for protection and guidance.

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

Finally, John Steinbeck shows off the bullying and meanness as intentional and contrasts it to Lennie’s unintentional meanness, such as when he hurts the puppy (pg 85), the mouse (pg 5), and kills Curley’s wife (pg 91). When Curley wants to fight it is intentional and violent. George explains Lennie’s violence when he says that Lennie "never done it in meanness" (pg 104). Lennie kills because he does not know his own strength – he cuddles or loves to hard. Also, he panics and reacts without thought, such as when he pulled the woman’s dress. (pg 41) Also, showing a contrast in motive is that Lennie is so upset by what he has done, especially to Curley’s wife. He is the only one who shows real remorse.

One reason that Lennie definitely shouldn’t have crushed Curley’s hand is because Curley already felt upset and annoyed with him. When George and Lennie first arrived at the ranch they went to the bunkhouse.

Even George, who acted as Lennie’s protector in the novel, lost his temper and lashed out at Lennie in certain situations. "Blubberin’ like a baby! Jesus Christ! A big guy like you!" Lennie’s lip quivered and tears started in his eyes” (9). In this situation, George failed to realize that Lennie’s mental state was not quite stable, and that the best way to deal with him is to be kind and gentle. However, other characters treated Lennie far worse than George did. Curley was persistently trying to pick a fight with Lennie, not realizing that Lennie did not understand the concept of fighting, and even when provoked would fail to fight back. When Lennie kills Curley’s wife, Curley fails to realize that Lennie committed this horrific crime unintentionally, and instead is blinded with rage. “I’ll kill the big son-of-a-bitch myself. I’ll shoot ‘im in the guts” (96). Curley is too bent on revenge to discern that Lennie’s murderous act may have been unintentional, and is therefore not taking Lennie’s mental instability into

Lennie kills the puppy by petting it to hard and he gets really upset. Curley’s wife offers Lennie to pet her soft hair, Lennie grabs her to hard which resulted in Lennie breaking her neck. George and Lennie’s dream of having a farm one day is ruined because of something Lennie did wrong.

I found Lennie playin’ with his pup in the last stall in the barn. It was dead when I got there. He probably crushed it just like he did with Curley’s hand. They must think I’m stupid or somethin’-obviously it was Lennie who crushed ‘is hand. Lennie’s too strong for his own good. For some reason, George doesn’t want me to talk to Lennie. Well, I don’t think I’m any harm

Lennie is an innocent, unknowing of what's going on around him type of person. All he really knows is that he likes things that feel soft and that is what ends up getting him kill. He is so focused on not having George mad at him and not letting him tend to the rabbits that he accidentally kills Curley's wife. “"Don't you go yellin'," he said, and he shook her; and her body flopped like a fish. And then she was still, for Lennie had broken her neck.”(xx) Lennie just killed Curley's wife and he has done a lot of bad things but never murdered someone. This is the last straw for George and when he hunts him down in the woods, he kills Lennie because he is at a loss of hope for Lennie. Lennie has a tendency to kill small animals by accident and

Lennie is “jes’ like a kid. There ain’t no more harm in him than a kid neither, except he’s so strong” (Steinbeck 43). His problem is, he does not know of his own strength and does not know how to control it in certain cases, especially when he is frightened. For example, when Curley attacked Lennie, Lennie grabbed onto Curley’s hand and held on. He was so frightened he could not let go, busting every bone in Curley’s hand. Lennie “didn’t wanna hurt him” but he is just too strong (Steinbeck 64). Later in the story, Lennie’s incredible strength causes two deaths, first he kills a puppy and then Curley’s wife. Lennie didn’t mean to kill the puppy, he explained that he “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’ he was dead” (Steinbeck 87). Lennie was worried after he killed the puppy because he thought George wasn’t going to let him tend to the rabbits when they bought the farm. Shortly after Lennie killed the puppy, he killed Curley’s wife. He likes to touch soft things and when she lets him touch her hair, “she jerked her head sideways and Lennie’s fingers closed on her hair and hung on” (Steinbeck 91). She started to scream, which made Lennie panic. He tried to get her to be quiet “and he shook her; and her body flopped like a fish. And then she was still, for Lennie had broken her neck” (Steinbeck 91). After he

It shows that Lennie doesn’t really know what he is doing as an innocent bystander, however can follow basic instructions, as if he possesses a mind of a child instead of an adult. Steinback shows this on(pg.63), when Lennie was in the bunkhouse with Curley and smiled because of the thought of the dream farm, but Curley assumes that Lennie is laughing at him so he, “stepped over Lennis like a terrier” and as Lennis tries to retreat Curley, “slashes him with his left and smashed down his nose with his right.” Because Lennie is like a child with his mental disability he reacts in a panicked way and grabs Curley’s hand and crushes it because of his strength. This is also associated with the dream because it shows that everything that one puts their mind to can’t always be accomplished. And because of the thought of the dream farm he formulates the consistent belief of having a better

Lennie is unquestioning in his loyalty to George. We see this in George’s anecdote about the Sacramento River. “‘Jump in.’ An’ he jumps”(P66) Lennie has a childlike obedience. Steinbeck shows us this in the fight between Lennie and Curley. Earlier on, George tells Lennie to not fight with Curley, Lennie remembers this and due to his childlike obedience, his “hands remained at his sides; he was too frightened to defend himself.”(P91). Once George tells Lennie to “Get him”(P91), Lennie immediately crushes Curley’s hand completely. Most mature people would know whether they should break the rules or not, because they wouldn’t get as badly hurt, but with Lennie, it is a different story. It is this childlike obedience that Steinbeck uses to show us how George needs to act as a parent towards Lennie.