Of Mice And Men Lennie's Turmoil Analysis

Slim insults Lennie in front of George. He replies, “‘He ain’t no cuckoo’, said George. ‘He’s dumb as hell, but he ain’t crazy. I ain’t so bright neither, or I would be buckin’ barley for my fifty and found’” (39). George feels the need to defend and protect Lennie, even when Lennie is not around. George wants to persuade people into thinking that Lennie is a normal farm worker. George finds a way to convince people Lennie is normal, by comparing his own work on the farm to Lennie’s work. In later chapters, Curley picks a fight with Lennie. George encourages Lennie to fight Curley. After the fight, Lennie is worried about if he will be fired and what George thinks. Lennie looks for comfort in George, he replies, “You don’t need to be scairt no more. You done jus’ what I tol’ you to” (65). George pressures Lennie to fight Curley. At the beginning of the fight, Lennie does not want to hurt Curly. Lennie looks up to George for guidance and protection. This trait of Lennie’s allows George to make all of Lennie's decisions. This event is the turning point in George’s feelings towards

In many ways Lennie is just like a little kid and we all know that little kids are not ready to be on their own. Even early in the story George is acting like a parent to Lennie.

In this same conversation, George revealed another part of Lennie and his childhood that shows how George sees Lennie as being helpless. He tells Slim that when they were little he liked to play jokes on Lennie and hurt him, but Lennie would not do anything to hurt him. One time his friends and him were at the river and he jokingly told Lennie to jump in. Lennie did jump in because he didn't know any better. George told Slim that he had to jump in and save him because Lennie couldn't swim.

George and Lennie have a strong bond of friendship that makes them both feel like they are actually somebody. For example, “ ‘I been mean ain’t I?’ ‘If you don’t want me I can go off in the hills an’ find a cave. I can go away any time.’ ‘No—look! I was jus’ foolin, Lennie, cause I want you to stay with me.’” (p.14) This shows that George actually wants Lennie to be thought of as one of his friends, not as a doll that he can just kick around. The quote also shows that George cares for Lennie tremendously and really understands how Lennie feels. Secondly, Lennie feels the same way back at George “But not us! An’ why? Because…. Because I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that’s why.” (p.15). This is a good example

Another one of Lennie's character traits is that he is reliant. Lennie demonstrates this trait various times in the book because he relies too much on George. One of the times when Lennie is reliant is when he relies on George to tell him what to say. George tells Lennie what to say because they think if their employer knows about what Lennie did in the other town he might not want them around. In this case Lennie relies on George to tell him what to say because George and Lennie want the job, so in case Lennie messes up George can cover for him. Lennie is also reliant when he and George are by the Salinas River and they are camping out. “Lennie just stood there while George gathered the food and fire wood” (page 12). This is important because Lennie relies on George to provide food and warmth. A final example of why Lennie is reliant is when George tells Lennie that he can’t ever talk or make any contact with Curley’s wife. “She said

What if the only way you could save your best friend was the worst thing imaginable? George had to make a decision that would change the fate of Lennie’s future. Would he be the one to kill Lennie or would he let Curley do the work of ending Lennie’s life. George by the end did make the right decision. It all started when Curley was looking for his wife and wants to pick a fight with Lennie.

    George took Lennie in after Lennie’s aunt died. George knew his aunt pretty well. Lennie had nowhere to go afterwards, so George let Lennie come along with him. George wasn’t always nice to Lennie in the beginning. George would tease him and trick him. Lennie didn’t know any better than to listen to George, even if it was a taunt. After an incident happened to Lennie, George stopped tormenting him. He felt bad for Lennie and how he treated him. From this moment on, George actually took into consideration of Lennie’s mindset. In the book, Steinbeck writes,

Although Lennie has the mental capacity of a child, he is innocent to doing anything wrong to George. George just seen him as a potential threat.

George takes care of Lennie many ways. George has taken care of Lennie for a long time. George took him under his wing even though he didn’t need to. George genuinely cares for Lennie. He feeds him, makes sure he is safe, also he gives him hope. George is constantly watching Lennie. George is a good friend to Lennie; however, George gets annoyed with Lennie very easily. He does this to make sure he doesn’t get into trouble or lost. He never leaves him by himself. This is shown when Lennie offers to leave, but George tells him “I want you to stay with me Lennie”(Steinbeck 104). George really cares for Lennie.

This is why Lennie isn’t violent. Whenever Lennie does something bad, he suddenly thinks back to George, not being violent, or the fact that he just hurt someone. This shows that he can’t help the things he does, he always needs someone looking after him. One example of this is on page 91, when Curley’s wife starts screaming: “Please don’t do that. George’ll be mad.”

Lennie symbolizes ignorance. More specifically, he is the American dream. Lennie is an inadequate thinker, and more importantly, has little common sense. In this section of the book, Lennie killed a pup by playing with it too harsh, his ignorance and stupidity doesn't help: “Why do you got to get killed? You ain't so little as mice. I didn't bounce you hard” (Steinback 85). This justifies Lennie’s ignorance. Lennie's mind troubles to process little everyday issues, therefore, he has to have George to help him survive in a society of snobs. He’s incapable of doing things on his own, George is his mind and tells him everything of what to say and do. Lennie went back and looked at Curley’s dead wife. The puppy lying close to her. Lennie picked

When Lennie says things like the examples given it shows that he depends on George on right from wrong, based on his language. After Lennie fought Curley, George asked why he wouldn’t stop and Lennie says, “You told me to George” ( Steinbeck 64). Earlier in the story, Lennie asks George, “Where are we going? I tried not to forget” ( Steinbeck 4). Later Lennie thinks out loud, “I didn’t forget, you bet, god damn. Hide in the brush an’ wait for George” (Steinbeck 100). By Lennie saying these things we build on to the fact that Lennie needs George, we learn all this just from his speech. When Lennie finds himself in tough situations he looks to George’s words or speech to guide him or help him. When Lennie asks George where they are going he only asked him because he couldn’t remember and George has always helped him. Lennie is constantly relying on George to help him remember things.

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

Throughout Of Mice and Men, George never leaves Lennie’s; however, George does not seem to like being around Lennie: it is a responsibility he accepts. In one scene at the beginning of the book, George grows intensely frustrated with Lennie and begins a lecture which leads into a one-sided fight. They settle down for the night next to a river, when one insignificant question from Lennie sets George over the edge. He chides Lennie about how he holds him back instead of pushing him forward, and rants, “‘You can’t keep a job and you lose me every job I get. Jus’ keep me shovin’ all over the country all the time. An’ that ain’t the worst. You get in trouble’” (11). As George berates Lennie, he gives the impression that he does not enjoy being with Lennie and instead, treats Lennie like he is an unintelligent child and grudgingly takes him in. If George claims to be a suitable friend of Lennie,

Lennie is mentally disabled and so always ‘does bad things’, because of this, he constantly depends on George to protect him and get him out of trouble. For example, in Weed, Lennie constantly ‘wants to touch