The main character, George Milton, murders his best friend, Lennie Smalls, in John Steinbeck’s book Of Mice and Men. In this book George and Lennie are running from Weed where Lennie did illegal things, like touching a dress, they are going to another ranch to gather a stake. When they get there, they are interviewed by the boss and meet some of the other ranch-hands and go out to work. The next day they have a horseshoe tournament and during it Lennie accidentally kills Curley’s Wife and runs away, Candy and George see what he did and have to tell the other guys, who then go on a manhunt for Lennie and George tries to protect him and kills Lennie in the end. George and Lennie show a great example of how it is good to have friends during your …show more content…
For example, When Lennie is being beat up by Curley so George says, “Get him, Lennie. Don't let him do it.” (Steinbeck 63) George and Lennie are best friends and so George doesn't like how Lennie is getting beat up by Curley even though Lennie could easily win. So George encourages Lennie to stand up and protect himself and everyone else from Curley. Later George and Candy are talking about how Curley is going to want to lynch Lennie and George says, “I ain't gonna let 'em hurt Lennie.” George is making a vocal promise that he will keep Lennie from being killed by the other guys. In this instance George is trying to protect Lennie from being killed and he is hoping there is another way. Earlier than this in the text George and Lennie just arrived at a stream that is not moving and Lennie drops down and starts guzzling water like there is no tomorrow so George says worriedly, "Lennie don't drink too much… you never ought to drink water when it ain't running, Lennie." George is telling Lennie to stop drinking so fast and so much of the still water. In this part of the story George is trying to protect Lennie from getting sick or harmed because of the water, and George openly tells him not to drink water when it isn't running. In the text there is an awkward moment in the bunkhouse while Carlson is taking Candy’s old dog out far from the bunkhouse to euthanize him and while the awkward moment is happing George tries to take everyone’s attention from what is going on outside by saying, "Does anyone want to play a little Euchre?" George says this because after Carlson walked out with Candy's dog he basically left an “awkward feeling” in the air that makes everyone uncomfortable as Candy is on his bunk depressed and the others are unsure of what to do. So George attempts to distract everyone by asking if they want to play a card game. George and Lennie are at
“I'm going for my shotgun. I’ll kill the son-of-a-bitch myself.” (Steinbeck 96). In the book, Of Mice and Men, Curley shows that he is a very truculent person. He wants to diminish Lennie, Lennie doesn't realize there is a complication because he can not develop things in his mind as easily as the other men. At the end of the story, Lennie makes a very bad mistake and in response he gets killed because he becomes a danger to other men. Mercy killing in Lennie's situation was the better decision because his friend George shot him. George was putting him out of his , if George wouldn't have killed Lennie then Curley would have. Through the whole book Curley talks about his hatred for Lennie, and at the end he shows it by threatening Lennie's
Steinbeck presents Lennie to be responsible and irresponsible when he is not with George. Steinbeck shows how he is responsible when he sticks up for George, “He ain’t never been hurt, ‘cause he’s careful.” This quote also suggests Lennie realising himself how is irresponsible for his actions and how he needs George to guide him. This is because Lennie gets quite anxious and angry at the thought of not having George, “He stood up and walked dangerously towards Crooks.” Steinbeck presents Lennie to be irresponsible for his actions when he lets their secret of their dream, slip, “George says we gonna have alfalfa for the rabbits.” This shows
Lennie Small has a very symbolic importance in the novel Of Mice and Men. In the novel George Milton and Lennie Small both migrant workers pursue their dream of someday owning their own ranch by travelling around working as ranch hands to earn a living. The dream they share is to be able to "live off the fat of the land,". Lennie Small is a very complex character, although he may not appear to be at first glance. Lennie is the most interesting character in the novel because he differs from the other is many ways. Lennie Small ironically is a man of large stature and is very strong. He is child-like in his emotions and has a diminished mental capacity. Lennie's feelings are much like that of a normal person when you take into
Everyone has had a caretaker or guardian to protect and care for them at some period in time. Developing into an adult is often times when a person becomes able to live independently. However, this is not the case for Lennie Small from the story, “Of Mice and Men” as a result of his disability. Being dependant on other people, Lennie needs a caretaker because of the lack of family to protect him. Someone without family relation, George, rises to the position as his caretaker in the harsh, unforgiving circumstances they have at the moment. Dreaming of a better future, George has to carry Lennie from job to job in order to eventually collect enough money to finally claim their land as their own. George has good, honest intentions for Lennie and only strives to give him the best conditions even if it meant he had to pull the trigger against him.
During the Great Depression, the Western United States was a bleak and dreary place. Much of the working population at the time were migrant workers, who worked as farmhands for wealthier farm owners. These migrant workers often suffered from terrible working conditions, and horrendously low wages. As George and Lennie drift from job to job in search of liveable conditions and steady pay, they experience the cruel reality that moving up in society is near impossible. Even when George manages to find stable occupations for he and Lennie, Lennie seems to inevitably cause a disturbance, forcing them to abscond immediately. With the strength of an ox, but the mind of a child, Lennie is an oblivious destroyer, who gets little sympathy from
Lennie small is a large strong, and un intelligent man. He rarely thinks for himself and can’t hold his own. He does not understand Who you can laugh at or when you can laugh which makes him not have any social awareness. Lennie also never learns throughout the course of this story. He never learns to stay away from some people. For All these reasons we are sympathetic for him.
“And George raised the gun and steadied it, and he brought the muzzle of it close to the back of Lennie's head. The hand shook violently, but his face set and his hand steadied. He pulled the trigger.” George has just killed his best friend (Steinbeck 106). In John Steinbeck’s 1937 novella Of Mice and Men, George Milton and Lennie Small are a pair of pals that travel across California in search of work in the 1930s. With Lennie’s simple-minded thinking, he runs George and himself into trouble which costs them their job. The pair finally settles at a ranch somewhere in rural California after getting chased out of their last job. After a while, the inevitable happens and Lennie does something that does not look good for him, which causes men from the ranch to go chasing after him with the intent of killing him. Lennie flees to a nearby river where George meets him. To spare Lennie from the mental suffering of people always getting frustrated with him and criticizing his mistakes, George takes his life in an act of mercy.
In John Steinbeck’s work, Of Mice and Men, Lennie is compared to an animal multiple times which degrades from his sense of humanity and leads to a greater gap between George and himself causing Lennie to become almost nothing to the reader, and to the other characters in the story as well. While George has sharp figures and is precisely described, Lennie is shown as more animalistic, and not really given a lot of traits and characteristics. Also, the other people in the ranch/farm approach Lennie with fear and caution.
In John Steinbeck’s book Of Mice and Men we are introduced to two main characters, Lennie and George. In the book, George acts like the leader of the two men. In that sense, Lennie is viewed more so as the incapable one in the group. Lennie also can’t seem to remember anything that’s important to George and their life together which makes Lennie a character that readers feel sympathy towards. Lennie also looks up to George which makes him the more vulnerable character because he feels that he need permission from George if he wants to do something. Since Lennie is described as such and innocent character, John Steinbeck made the reader feel sympathetic to Lennie.
Lennie is an individual with great size and strength, much like the fictional character shrek. Lennie has a mind of a child, he does not have the capability to think for himself. Making him quite vulnerable to manipulation, which then could make him quite dangerous. Lennie’s strength goes to the extreme causing him to cause “accidents”. In the book “of mice and men” lennie kills curley’s wife by mistake. After fleeing george had come to the decision to kill lennie to prevent anymore “accidents”. Whether George’s decision was justified or not can be debated and defended either ways. I feel that it was indeed a justifiable decision. His actions were against the law, but weighing the pros and cons I feel it was a justified decision. If had he
“‘You never had none, you crazy bastard I got both of ‘em here. Think I’d let you carry your own work card?’” (Steinbeck 6) is a great explanation of how George is looking after Lennie, so that he has a chance to live his life. George cares about Lennie, and as seen in the quote he goes the extra mile to make sure Lennie is taken care of. “‘ If you jus’ happen to get in trouble like you always done before, I want you to come right here an’ hide in the brush.’” (Steinback 16) This quote shows that George cares about Lennie, and knows that Lennie's doesn't mean any harm when he gets in trouble. So George makes sure that he will be the first to see Lennie so that he can help him if needed. It tells the reader that George is aware that Lennie is prone to getting in trouble and he wants Lennie to be ok. In
“I ought to of shot that dog myself, George. I shouldn’t ought to of let no stranger shoot my dog.” (Steinbeck pg 61) Steinbeck included this quote to foreshadow that George was going to shoot Lennie. It also helps justifies his reasoning for shooting him because George was not going to let a stranger kill Lennie. Lennie was a strong and useful man when it came to work, but he had the mind of a child. He could not survive without George because he did not understand what was to far and, was always getting into trouble without even knowing it. Near the end of the book, Lennie, in bewilderment, accidently killed Mr. Curley’s wife. After that incident, George knew that if he did not kill Lennie then he would suffer. So, even though some say George did not make the right decision by killing Lennie, it was the better option because prison life would
Through the novella, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, the authors use of motifs of Lennie getting in trouble reveals the theme of friendship is an important part to living a fulfilling life. Through the whole book George is helping Lennie get out of sticky situations, but the motif of Lennie getting in trouble ends their friendship in a very tragic way. Toward the end of the book, George had to kill Lennie, his best friend, because there isn’t anyway out of the sticky situation that doesn’t involve Lennie dying. After killing Lennie George was in shock of what he had just done. Steinbeck narrates, “But Carlson was standing over George.
Everybody has good and bad characteristics right? Lennie from the novel “of mice and Men” by John Steinbeck has many positive traits and negative traits. Lennie is always getting George frustrated, but Lennie cares about George as George cares for him. One positive trait that Lennie has is that he is very caring. “Suddenly Lennie’s eyes centered and grew quiet, and mad.
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.