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Lennie In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

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In Of Mice and Men Lennie Small and his friend George Milton travel and work together as migrant workers on ranches bucking barley for a living. In contrary to his name, Lennie Small is a very large man with incredible strength. However, he is unaware of his own strength. Lennie’s strength is obviously helpful for work, but is harmful in other situations he is faced with and ultimately causes his death. Lennie makes his living bucking barley on different ranches in California. Strength is needed for his type of work so Lennie has an advantage being as “strong as a bull” (Steinbeck 22). To buck barely, workers had to pick up the grain, place it in a large bag, and pack it in a truck. A full bag of barley weighed at least seventy-five pounds, …show more content…

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

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