Lennie In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

Lennie posed a big threat to everyone’s safety because he could not control himself or his strength. Lennie couldn’t understand how to let go or be gentle, he didn’t know his own strength. He had killed mice, crushed Curley’s hand, killed a puppy, then finally killed Curley’s wife. All of these things Lennie

As we get more and more into the novel, the things Lennie hurts and kill get bigger and bigger. Lennie knows he has done wrong when he kills the puppy, but is even more scared when he

Lennie's dream was to live on a farm with George and attend his rabbits. Although, Steinbeck wrote how rabbits secretly equals freedom, so when George killed Lennie, he was trying to help him get his freedom from everything that happened during the Great Depression. On page 81 it says, “Now I won’t get to tend the rabbits.” Lennie says this when he gets into trouble because Lennie wants George to let him take care of the rabbits on the farm they want to own.

Lennie had accidentally killed Curley’s wife and many other small animals and If he were to be let loose it would most likely happen again. Lennie had many violent outburst such as when he killed the puppy and often times he did not understand the significance of what he has done. After killing the puppy the main thing Lennie focus on is tending the rabbits, Lennie said “George ain’t gonna let me tend no rabbits now”(Steinbeck 87). Along with others Lennie was also putting himself in danger. His difficult behavior, aggression, and lack of self control left him in a constant danger.

Their dream also sets George apart from the others because it means he and Lennie have a future and something to anticipate. Unlike Lennie, George does not see their dream in terms of rabbits; instead, he sees it in a practical way. Their farm will be one where they can be independent and safe and where he will not have to worry about keeping track of Lennie 's mistakes. They can be secure and in charge of their own lives. However, Lennie is the one who adds the enthusiasm because George never really believed they could swing this farm of their own. He mostly uses the story to give Lennie something to believe in for their future. Only when Candy offers

When Lennie reminds George of the “little house and a couple of acres an’ a cow and some pigs…” on page 14, Lennie is reminding George of the distant dream and what they will achieve. Without Lennie, George would probably waste all of his money on alcohol and other fun things. Although this dream seems very far away, if Lennie wasn’t reminding George of that dream, then it would be nonexistent. The way Lennie talks about the dream is very encouraging and shows the innocence of him. Even though for most people in that time period achieving that dream would be very hard, he still reminds George and allows George to work towards that goal and save money. Lennie also contributes to that dream by being the main workforce of the pair and gains most of the money. George tries to make sure they keep the job and teaches Lennie how to function as a normal person. This dream is the main driving force of the pair and without it, they would be lost in

As long as Lennie’s alive, he’s gonna want to pet rabbits, touch women’s dresses, and play with puppies. However, he’ll harm them like he always does. If Lennie were a bit smarter and knew that those incidents could lead to bad things happening, if Lennie could control himself, then they would’ve been fine to run, but that’s not the case. The point is that Lennie is a big, strong, and feeble-minded man, and he doesn’t know how to handle serious situations, he knew killing Curley’s wife was bad, but he didn’t think it was as bad as he thought. He assumed they could run away without any problems, but problems always seem to follow behind Lennie as your shadow follows you everywhere you go.

Lennie is incapable of handling not being able to grasp onto their dream and succeed. Lennie is given the reward of death, he dies with hope and euphoria. George wants him to achieve the dream, but the only attainable way is through death. Because of Lennie?s contentment and joyfulness when his death occurs, he died an honorable death.

Lennie, for example, becomes fixated on the dream of having a farm with George. George tells him, "we're gonna get the jack together and we're gonna have a little house and a couple of acres an' a cow and some pigs and....a big vegetable patch and a rabbit hutch and chickens" (Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men 13,14). Lennie, because of his lower than normal mentality, takes George's story to be fact and just dreams of when it will happen. George's dream is essentially the same, but is based on if it will happen not when it will happen. George has to dream more realistically than Lennie. Lennie wants to "live off the fatta the lan'", but George has to determine whether they could survive or would starve. George, who looks after Lennie through the whole story, fulfills, at least in a way, Lennie's dream. At the end of the book, George describes the happy place he and Lennie will have. George seems to be describing their heaven. So, he sends Lennie to heaven -- with a gun shot to the back of the head -- to live off the fat of the land. George knows that shooting Lennie is the best thing he can do. He seems to follow Candy's words: "I ought to of shot that dog myself, George. I shouldn't ought to have let no stranger shoot my dog." George knows that Curly will shoot Lennie when he finds him, so, by taking his life quickly and essentially painlessly, George fulfills Lennie's dream and shows one last instant of companionship toward his friend

When it comes to destructiveness, Lennie and George project it throughout the novella. Lennie ends up killing everything he pets from animals all the way to humans. He kills a pup by petting it vigorously. Lennie "di'n't know" (Steinbeck,90) the pup would "get killed so easy" (Steinbeck,90); and he assumes he "didn't bounce" (Steinbeck,90) the pup that "hard" (Steinbeck,90). This shows how Lennie's lack of mental acuity leads him to not realizing how powerful he could be. Lennie ends up petting the pup way too rough and "he's dead" (Steinbeck,90). Lennie strives to pet larger things since he believes he will not end up killing it. This is not true since he ended up killing Curley's wife when he strokes her hair. Lennie "was in panic" (Steinbeck,91) when Curley's wife told him to "let go" (Steinbeck,91), then "he shook her; and her body flopped like a fish. And then she was still, for Lennie had broken her

George is one of people in the ranch that had big goals to achieve, but he couldn’t accomplish any of them because of Lennie. George taking care of Lennie affects his dreams in a big way because every time George gets closer to his dreams Lennie completely ruins it. In the story it states George saying “ dumb bastard likes to touch everything he likes”(steinbeck 41). This is very important because this shows how childish lennie acts. The most important thing to him was to have dreams to have a farm and his own place with Lennie. This quote “ we got a future “ (Pg . 14) shows that he had a dream worth living for. Another way George had gotten his dreams taken away was when Lennie killed their boss’s wife. I know that George was a very lonely person because in the story he talks about guys like him in the ranch . “ guys like us , that work on a ranch are the loneliest guys in the world” (Pg . 13). This is very important because it shows his feelings towards being lonely.

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.

He gets his freedom, and he gets to ruin himself, and own a few acers. Lastly, to Candy, the dream is for him to be able to work the garden, and to live in a relaxed environment because he thinks that soon, the boss will let him go. A quote from the story to show how much Lenny likes hearing their American Dream is , and to show how important the American Dream means to him is “’Tell me like you done before.’ ‘Tell you what?’ ‘About the Rabbits’ George snapped ‘You ain’t gonna put nothing over me.’ Lennie pleaded ‘Come on George. Tell me. Please George. Like you done before’” (pg 13). This quote from the story shows how much Lennie believed in the dream. His mental disability made him act a lot younger than his actual age, he dreams a lot and can easily be tricked by what people say. He is very fragile and short tempered, like a young child can be. But also like a child, he believes in dreams, he still has the innocence and pureness, which causes him to have faith, and trust in the dream. A quote that shows that George is believes in the American Dream is “Maybe you’re gettin’ better. When we get a coupla acres I

But Lennie, perfecting his craft one incident at a time, messes everything up. Lennie’s biggest fear was not being able to tend the rabbits when they get their own land, and he loved those rabbits. Lennie grieving over killing his puppy starts conversing with Curley’s wife, a decision he should have never made. Lennie got caught in an unbelievable predicament with Curley’s wife, he was holding her mouth shut while pulling her hair, getting angry at her tell her to shut up, because he does not want to get in trouble. Because, if he did he would not be able to tend the rabbits. As she continued to scream, louder and louder as seconds went by, Lennie with his harmless intentions did not know what to do, so he shook her to get her to shut up but unintentionally broke her neck (Steinbeck, 91). Lennie knowing what to do if he ever did something bad, escapes to the hideout that only him and George know about. Eventually, everybody finds out about Curley’s wife when Candy found her dead body in the barn. At this moment, George knew he had two decisions that would change his life forever. He would either side with his new friends and find Lennie, or escape with Lennie and find another place to work. George makes the right decision and sides with his friends, but he knew they wanted Lennie dead, so he decided to do it himself. George met up with Lennie at their hideout and told him to look the other way and envision everything good about the farm, not wanting to harm Lennie he made sure he was as happy as he could be at that very moment. As George started to describe the farm to him, he put the gun to the back of his neck and pulled the

     The friendship between Lennie and George went beyond what was unambiguous, they shared a common dream, and they never stopped trying to acheive their dream. They dream of a peice of land of their own. Independence. A couple of acres, a cow, some pigs, and rabbits that Lennie dreams of tending to. Their dream will later be shattered by fate.