Imagine a huge guy with massive sloping shoulders capable of crushing people being told what to do by a small thin man. This is Lennie Small, I know what you're thinking that a guy like this having a name like Small’s. After watching the movie Of Mice and Men and reading the novel there was many differences and similarities in the character Lennie. In the movie Lennie is portrayed as more of a more mentally disabled being than a childish adult. In the novel Lennie is depicted as a huge man with massive shoulders and hands like paws which carries over in the movie bringing the description to life. In the novel Lennie is looked upon as a strong man who can put up as much work as 10 men but never shows it, in the movie he is shown working more often and showing the strength in him. In the novel and movie Lennie is showed afraid of many things and needs to be told what to do with most everything. First of all Lennie smalls is portrayed differently in the movie then in the book mainly towards being more mentally disabled than childish. In the novel Lennie is talked about as a kid who can't follow directions well and has a horrible memory. In the movie he is talked to and about as if he is slow and doesn’t understand normal concepts no matter what. In the movie George is more of a …show more content…
He can do anything you tell him, said George. He can rassle grain bags, drive a cultivator. He can do anything. Give him a try”(pg22 line9-12). In the book Lennie is always being talked about being amazing and a strong worker but is never on the job in the novel. In the movie Lennie is shown multiple times on the ranch or in a field showing his amazing strength and out doing many of the other workers. In the film Lennie is shown working more which adds more meaning to how much they need their own ranch. In the novel Lennie is not shown working which make it seem like he only lives on the ranch along with the rest of the men in the bunk house showing no urgency to
Lennie Small is one of the main characters in the book. He is mentally disabled and has the mind of a child. Lennie is a misunderstood character who has good intentions but doesn’t understand the impact of his actions. The only character Lennie has a close relationship to George, who sees him as a burden blocking the way to his American dream.
As well as the movie having some character differences, some of the scenes were either cut out or added. One of the major differences in the movie is that Candy never comes into the room when Lennie and Crooks are talking to each other. This is an important part in the novel because when Candy comes in, Crooks finds about their future plan wants to get in on the deal. Except this scene is cut short in the movie and Candy never shows up at Crooks’ house. Another important part that is changed in the movie is the ending. The movie never shows Lennie have the illusions of his Aunt Carla and the rabbits lecturing him while he is waiting by the pond. Also, is seems as though in the movie George doesn’t hesitate to shoot Lennie, and it is all over very quickly. Furthermore, the important scene when Slim tells George, “You hadda, George” (107), never happens in the movie, but instead it ends with an image coming from within George’s imagination, a memory of the many happy times that he and Lennie had shared. There are also some scenes that are added into the movie, but only because the novel is so short, they needed to add things to make the
In the Salinas River Valley, after the Great Depression, there were a large number of unemployed workers seeking jobs. In the fiction novel "Of Mice and Men," by John Steinbeck, Lennie Small is among one of those men. Lennie and his friend George both have just received jobs on a ranch as farm workers. What brings the two together is their dream to someday own their own land. Lennie has a lot of character and personality traits that define him. One trait that he has is he is very forgetful. Another trait he has is he is very curious. A final trait he has is that he is very reliant. Although he might not be the intelligent person in the book, he has a very well developed personality. Lennie demonstrates his personality and character
The final major difference between the movie and the book is Lennie’s personal sanity. In the book, the reader is given multiple instances clearly showing that Lennie is not totally there so to speak. The best example possible is when Lennie hallucinates about Aunt Clara and the giant rabbit. This scene is removed in the film and instead Lennie seems to just be a very confused person with a low thinking capacity. The film seems to try and have Lennie appear
Lennie Small is a character that readers are drawn to right from the beginning of the book. His innocence stands out from the grimey coverings of loneliness and hopelessness that the other characters wear. The reason Lennie is so innocent is because he has a mental handicap, one that prevents him from understanding complex human emotions such as guilt, or concepts such as death. In addition Lennie has trouble remembering things, “" I tried and tried [to remember]...but it didn't do not good." Consequently, Lennie has trouble fitting in with society. Ultimately his mental disability is what leads to Lennie's demise at the end of the book. Another trait that is an essential part of Lennie's innocent character is his devotion to his closest friend George. In fact, the only times Lennie is shown to be angry is when George is insulted or threatened. When Crooks, the crippled, black, stable hand, implies bad things about George, this devotion is clearly shown. “Suddenly Lennie's eyes centered and grew quiet, and mad. He walked dangerously toward Crooks. 'Who hurt George?' he demanded" When it comes to George, Lennie would deviate from the normal passive motives of his persona. More support can be found when George is the only one who can convince Lennie to “get him[Curly]” when Curly attacks him, as well as being the only one to stop him. Perhaps the most prominent support for Lennie's childlike innocence is in his utter belief of George and his dream. No matter how
He undergoes no significant changes, development, or growth throughout the story.”(Spark notes) Lennie Small is best described as hardworking, stout as a bull, mentally handicapped, and innocent yet guilty at the same time. He can also be described as childlike. Lennie Small is hard working because he can buck barley and load two bales at a time. He can make his fellow workers swap up and take turns stacking the bales. This also means that Lennie Small is stout as a bull. Lennie can also be very reckless with his strength. Two examples of this are “I pinched their heads a little and then they was dead”(Perrin) “Lennie had broken her neck”(Perrin) Those bales are not light at all. Another example of how strong Lennie Small is occurred when he crushed Curley’s hand with his own hand. Lennie Small is very childlike in the book because he is always into something that most children normally are into, but the main reason that Lennie Small is very childlike is because Lennie Small is mentally handicapped. A quote that describes Lennie’s inability to learn or remember things is “I forgot George”(Perrin) He just wants to do one or two things which are pet soft things and tend the rabbits when he and George get their ranch. He looked forward to having all those animals such as the rabbits and chickens and all the other animals they will have on the
From what I gathered from the text above, I find that the descriptions of George and Lennie are foreshadowing how they act before they do so. I could picture George just the way the author describes. From the description it seems like he’s never at rest and always moving around to find his way through life; this is shown when the author makes George say “I got you! You can’t keep a job and you lose be ever’ job I get. Jus’ keep me shovin’ all over the country all the time.” (Steinbeck 11). On the other hand. Lennie seems like he’s a bit clumsy by the way the way Steinbeck says “... and he
The story, Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, tells the tale of two migrant workers in the early 1900s’. One worker, George Milton is the smarter, leader of the two. The other Lennie Small, is almost childlike in his mental state. He often becomes obsessed with soft things and doesn’t think things through. Steinbeck makes Lennie a sympathetic character by making you feel bad for him because he is not as smart as the others, and continuously gets himself into trouble.
In Of Mice and Men the respect is more one-sided as Lennie psychologically is not up to George’s level of thinking therefore resulting in George having to take care of Lennie. ‘Lennie, who had been watching, imitated George exactly. He pushed himself back, drew up his knees, embraced them, looked over to George to see whether he had it just right’. The fact that Lennie does this mimicry when it is just George and himself shows that he truly admires George. At the same time George is aware of Lennie’s physical capabilities and he states that Lennie is ‘strong as a bull’ Lennie physically has the capability to do hard labour, which benefits George when travelling from job to job thus gives him so level of respect for Lennie.
In my opinion, Lennie Small is the most interesting character in Steinbeck's novel Of Mice and Men. Steinbeck does a very good job describing and characterizing Lennie's personality. Lennie's character is, indeed, quite unique. A large man with enormous strength, yet kind and childlike, he seems to find joy in simple life pleasures like petting a furry animal and making the water ripple. Lennie's greatest difficulty seems to be remembering; and it is the lack of the ability to remember that ultimately leads to his tragedy at the end of the book. In the novel, Steinbeck seems to reinforce Lennie's characteristics of strength, kindness, childlike manner, and somewhat animal-like personality.
I could also notice when I was reading through the first chapter that George has a sense of authority over Lennie, “you gonna get that wood”. This is like a parent telling a child to do his chores. On some occasions though George shows a bit of hatred towards Lennie, he thinks of what he could have if Lennie wasn’t around and contrasts that with George.
The characters in the movie play the role very well. Gary Sinise (George) plays George very well in the movie. He portrays George to be a stubborn short man that always seems to be angry at first. At the beginning that’s what we thought. But as in the book George changes to become kinder. That also occurs in the movie. Lennie acts similar to what occurs in the book. The movie makes the characters sound and acts similarly on purpose. Lennie in the book is not smart at all. In the movie, though he acts a little dumb because of his voice. But they both act the same if you add the same voice of the actor. This connects to sound and how sound can affect how people think of a character because of their voice.
To begin with the first difference between the movie and the novel is poor character development, and how the character are shown differently in both the novel and the movie. When Gene goes to Leper’s home town, he finds him shell shocked. When Gene gets the telegram letter and goes to
George and Lennie are different as they have each other for support, friendship and much more. Lennie is able to give George hope, hope that things will get better by continually talking about the dream of ‘livin’ of the fatta the land’. This in turn brightens George’s spirits and motivates him to keep on working hard and believing that ‘we got a future’. Even though Lennie helps George in many physiological ways, he also helps him physically. Lennie’s pure size and strength is so great that he is often compared to a ‘bear’ by Steinbeck; an animal which has immense power. This strength helps them gain work as ‘man, (Lennie) can work’. Without Lennie, George would have much difficulty finding manual labour jobs due to his small size.
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