George And Lennie Relationship Analysis

In Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck uses the symbolism of mice to strengthen the idea that Lennie does not understand his own strength. Lennie is not aware of how physically strong he is due to his mental disability. Lennie likes petting soft things hence why he likes to have pet mice and dreams of tending rabbits. Lennie doesn’t realize the major difference between his strength and the mouse’s strength when he says, “‘they bit my fingers and I pinched their heads a little and then they was dead―because they was so little’” (10). This quote illustrates the innocence of the mice, but also the inability of the mice to protect themselves against Lennie’s physical strength. Prior to Lennie saying this, Steinbeck shows Lennie’s innocence as well

In the first chapter of ‘Of Mice and Men’, George discovers that Lennie had been keeping dead mice in his pocket. Lennie insists on an unlikely story, that the mice were already dead when he found them. This shows the audience that although Lennie does not mean to kill the mice, it keeps recurring because he is completely unaware of his own strength. Later on in the story, Lennie kills one of Slim’s puppies. He was warned to be gentle and keep the pup with its mother but didn’t listen.

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.

Throughout the book Lennie has not changed at all really because he forgets things and also cannot remember everything well at all. Because of this Lennie can’t really change in this book at all. Though little changes have occurred. He was once a gentle giant but now realizes how dangerous he really is. Lennie is a loving person that loves soft and hairy animals. He likes rabbits, rats, mice, and dogs. He likes animals that are soft to the touch. George does not like the idea of Lennie holding young animals or mice and rats because he will kill them on accident and does not want Lennie petting a dead mouse or dog. On page 9 in “Of Mice and Men” Steinbeck writes, “I wasn’t doin’ nothing bad with it, George. Jus’ strokin’ it.’ George stood up and threw the mouse as far as he could into the darkening brush, then he stepped to the pool and washed his hands.” Lennie is stroking a dead mouse when George notices and takes the mouse from him and throws it as far as he can. This shows how Lennie likes furry and hairy things. But when he handles them he accidentally kills them because he is too strong and doesn’t know how to control it.

John Steinbeck’s story, Of Mice and Men, is a book about two friends, George and Lennie, who travel around the country working together. George is a small man who is in charge of taking care of Lennie, his big huge friend who is mentally disabled. This in itself helps to provoke sympathy from people reading the book due to his increased responsibilities, however there are more things that occur to make us sympathize with George. When things happen to Lennie, like when Lennie gets into a fight and depends on George for instruction on how to handle things, is another important example of things that happen in the book, making George’s hardships apparent, which make people have an increasing amount of sympathy towards him. Also, at the end of the book, George is pushed to shoot Lennie because of the bad things he accidentally did, which had extremely bad criminal consequences.

One of the main causes for the cycle that George and Lennie lived in was Lennie’s innocence and misunderstanding of his actions. Throughout Of mice and men, Lennie is often times distracted by the little things in life, almost as if he had the mentality of a child. “”I like to pet nice things. Once at a fair I seen some long-haired rabbits. An’ they was, you bet. Sometimes i’ve even pet mice, but not when I could get nothing better”(90). The way Lennie describes and speaks about the rabbits

When the mouse’s home is no longer there, the farmer doesn’t offer it another area with shelter, he continues on his way without a second thought. The same goes for Lennie. People know he is at a disadvantage because of his mental state, but he continues to struggle when other people give him a hard time. No one else looks out for Lennie except for George, and George cannot be there with him all the time. George talks for Lennie, and is always keeping Lennie’s best interest in mind, but the reader can tell that George cherishes a time, that did not exist, when it was just him and the quality of life he is living. Lastly, to the point that the characters that need extra care are constantly under attack, Curley decides to bust up on Lennie pretty bad. When Lennie is given the order to fight back, he reacts in a way that is appropriate and justified, considering the way Curley has been treating Lennie lately. Though, instead of feeling proud for himself, Lennie apologizes repeatedly for one he does, despite the blood streaking down his face for what Curley did to him. Lennie’s reaction points out that Lennie, the dependant character, cannot do anything on his own without repercussions. In summary, both the mouse and Lennie cannot catch a break in each other’s

The story “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck, focuses on two very interesting characters; George Milton and Lennie Smalls. George and Lennie are two migrant farm workers looking for more work after an accident involving Lennie in Weed. After working at the ranch for a bit, Lennie accidentally kills Curley’s Wife. In the end, Lennie’s own friend George has to take his life to save him from the torture of the others. In the story, there are several characters. One character that stood out among the rest was Lennie Small. Although Lennie is quite a flat character, it is his personality that makes him so different from the other characters. Lennie is a very loveable character because of his very innocent and childlike behavior, his loyalty to George, and because of his loving nature.

Lennie shows his naiveness in many different ways, such as him being forgetful and having a thing for soft objects. “Lennie look startled and then in embarrassment hid his face against his knees. ‘I forgot again.’”(6) By Lennie saying, “I forgot again” in the quote helps the reader understand that it is not the first time Lennie has forgot something. Since Lennie is forgetful, society views him differently. “Uh-uh. Jus’ a dead mouse, George. I didn’t kill it. Honest! I found it dead.”(5) “Aw, let me have it George.”(5) Society normally wants nothing to do with mice, but these two quotes show us that Lennie is not like everybody else. These two quotes also lead one to make the assumption that Lennie lacks in wisdom and

First, chapter ones claim, Lennie has a connection with mice and his aunt Clara. In chapter one, Lennie and George are arguing about the mouse, Lennie says “‘ I don’t know why I can’t keep it. It ain’t nobody’s mouse’” (Steinbeck 4). Lennie

As the reader imagines Lennie as a mad dog, due to Steinbeck’s utilization of animal imagery to dehumanize Lennie, the fact that he now has killed would lead the reader to conclude that this mad dog should be put down. Since Steinbeck presented the reader with such a situation earlier in the story, when Candy’s dog is put down, the reader knows that a master is crippled with regret if they do not put their animal out of its misery by their

George Milton and Lennie Smalls face many obstacles in Of Mice and Men with tolerance and rationality. When constructing a background on these characters, Steinbeck includes an occasion in which Lennie is accused of rape. This protagonist (who is assumed of mild intellectual disability) wants to feel a woman’s dress for sensory pleasure, but the woman reacts in fear of being sexually assaulted by Lennie. This causes the two to flee from the town of Weed, and take this incident as learning opportunity. “Lennie - 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,” (Steinbeck 15). In this piece of dialogue where George is talking to Lennie, George is acknowledging the naturality of his experience with plans going off course, and he uses this as a way to secure his and Lennie’s safety by taking precautionary measures. George’s enlightened viewpoint on this situation is vital in Steinbeck’s attempts to reveal the truth about the habits of life duration.

In the novella Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, Lennie and George have both similarities and differences that are revealed throughout the storyline. These comparisons and contrasts are used to explain their unique friendship and dependency on one another. The story begins with the description of their physical and intellectual differences and establishes their roles of who is the dominant one. The story shares the obstacles that have stood in the way of them obtaining their “American Dream” to own land, even if they if they have different motivations. The story concludes with the difficult choice that George makes to end Lennie’s life himself, out of his love for his friend.

George even uses Lennie’s need as leverage to keep him under control. Lennie strives to hold responsibility. Unfortunately, Lennie tends to hurt the animals that he does receive. He is too strong for the animals that she cares for. During their journey from Weed, Lennie tends to a mouse, only to end up killing the fragile creature. Later on, George gets Lennie a puppy that Lennie regretfully kills with his power. Lennie’s good intentions fell short in comparison to his power. Lennie was looking for responsibility in pets but took on too much when the animals would be killed by his overwhelming strength.

Lennie is the most sympathetic character in Of Mice and Men because he’s not very bright when it comes to things and happens to forget a lot. As George and Lennie are walking to go to a new ranch George asked Lennie