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Why Is Lennie A Sympathetic Character In Of Mice And Men

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Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck is about two men, George and Lennie who travel from ranch to ranch hoping to make enough money to buy their own land. Buying the land is what George and Lennie talk about constantly, this is in fact their American Dream. They have recently left a town called Weed because of an incident that happened there and are now heading to Soledad to work on another ranch. John Steinbeck was successful in making Lennie a sympathetic character because he portrays Lennie as a big strong muscular man that has basically no brain, so he doesn’t really know his own strength so when he hurts someone or does something bad you can’t really blame him. George who travels with Lennie doesn’t really know why he intellectually limited, so when other people ask why he is, George just says he was kicked in the head by a horse as a child but he makes up for it in strength. John Steinbeck writes it like this because even though it is putting Lennie down because he is intellectually limited he then contradicts it by saying that he makes up for it in strength. Lennie’s strength is so helpful because he can buck barley extremely well. During the “interview” with the boss, George says, “No he ain’t, but he’s sure a hell of a good worker. Strong as a bull” (Page 22). This explains how Lennie has an immense amount of strength. When George said, “No he ain’t” he was referring to that Lennie was not much of a talker, because he couldn’t think quickly. That is why George

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