The Role Of Empathy In John Steinbeck's 'Of Mice And Men'

He tells Lennie that if he does anything wrong, he has to go to a certain spot. George telling Lennie that the things he does are wrong doesn’t seem to affect Lennie much, because he keeps doing them. If George isn’t mad then Lennie doesn’t think about what he did. “I done another bad thing.” “it don’t make no difference” (Steinbeck 103). George tells Lennie that even though he did something else he wasn’t supposed to, it doesn’t matter. To Lennie this probably makes him think that what he did was ok, as long as George wasn’t mad about it. Lennie continuously does things and George tries telling him not to, but if Lennie keeps doing them with no consequences, it will just keep

George told Lennie numerous times how much better his life would be without Lennie. One of these times George had said, “God a’mighty, if I was alone I could live so easy, I could go get a job an’ work, an’ no trouble” (Steinbeck 11). This shows one of the many instances where George says he just wanted to be able to have a normal life, have a job and settle down. George was never able to have this normal life while with Lennie because of the fact Lennie messed up many of their jobs causing them to have to move and find new jobs. As one can see, Lennie was holding back George from the start, but never knew

George says he wants Lennie to stay with him because george is trying to keep lennie from getting hurt or even killed. “Lennie never done it in meanness,” he said. “All the time he done bad things but he never done any of ‘em mean - (95). This quote shows George sticking up for lennie because lennie did something he wasn't supposed to. George is always looking out for lennie as if he were his little brother.

    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,

He can rarely think for himself and make his own decision. “I want you to stay with me, Lennie. Jesus Christ, somebody’d shoot you for a coyote if you were by yourself” (Steinbeck, p. 14). George does not trust lennie to live by himself. He thinks Lennie would not be able to hold his own and get a job. George is sympathetic towards lennie so he lets lennie stay with him. Lennie Would make a mistake like touching a girl for too long and hurting her which would cause everyone to run after him and he could not do that without George. This makes us sympathetic toward george because he makes bad decisions and gets himself into a lot of

At this point in the novel, we have heard George mention twice that his life would be improved without Lennie. However, George still seems to feel a need to look out for Lennie. That said, he protects Lennie from conflict by explaining to everyone they meet that he is just a “big kid”.

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.

George told his old lady that he would take care of Lennie and make sure that he would not get into trouble and other stuff (Steinbeck22). It’s clear that Lennie repeatedly gets himself and George in trouble because he has no respect/ no lack of self-control. One example of this is Lennie killing his pet mouse, which he loved to death. George’s best efforts, Lennie simply that he never learns to handle it with no care. George’s comment shows that his concert that even bringing the incident could make Lennie repeat the behavior since he can never learn from this

Even though George sometimes says how much better his life would be without Lennie, he will always protect Lennie. George is devoted to watching out for Lennie. He is always telling Lennie not to talk because that will probably lead to trouble. If Lennie gets in trouble that will block the both of them from living their dream. So George is inspired to keep Lennie out of trouble.

Crooks is an African American who is discriminated for his color/race and he has a crooked back because he was kicked by a horse. He is isolated mostly because of his race/color. Since he is of a different color and the only person on the ranch of that race he lives in the barn in a shed all by himself along with the animals. Crooks isn’t allowed anywhere except in

Lastly, Lennie is relying on George all the time based on how he relates to George in the text. Lennie is always with George because they have a relationship like a mother and a son, Lennie's relations with George prove this. George has been with Lennie for a long time and George feels like Lennie has been holding him back. When George yells at Lennie he says, “When I think of the swell time I could have without you” (Steinbeck 12). This quote proves that Lennie has been with George for a long time, long enough to drive George into a rage of regret and sorrow. The reason they have been

He does this to make Lennie realise how lucky he is to have some on that he could rely on. But as Lennie is so vulnerable he gets angry and scares off Crooks. Lennie is a person who likes to touch soft things and is vulnerable to Curley’s wife as well as she knows she can talk to someone who won’t take advantage of him. Lennie being dumb is a harsh reality but as an innocent person causes bad things to happen.

In the novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, Steinbeck succeeded in making Lennie a sympathetic character. What makes him a sympathetic character is his childlike, kind, and unintelligent. Of Mice and Men is about two men, George and Lennie who are just arriving at their new job after getting kicked out of their last job. They arrive at their job searching for their American Dream. To be able to live on their own piece of land with their own harvest and their own animals. The second man Lennie is a big man who doesn’t understand how strong he is. He’s not the brightest and his kind, childlike features make you want to root for him. When things don’t go his way you feel bad for him. Steinbeck does a great job of making you feel sympathetic for Lennie

The character of Crooks is a victim of intolerance and discrimination throughout the novel. Society takes advantage of Crooks and neglects him because of the stereotypes of his skin colour. Crooks is not allowed to enter the bunk house where the white men sleep, or dine with them. He is left with the animals, isolated from everyone and exploited by most of the men on the

In the book, Lennie is viewed as a very forgetful character. In the book Lennie says, “I forgot again George.” This trait of forgetfulness that Lennie has effects those around him, especially George. At the beginning of the book, George tells Lennie that he would be better off without him because Lennie is the reason why he can’t keep a job. This effects Lennie because despite his best efforts, he finds a way to hurt the ones he cares about. This situation makes readers feel sympathy towards Lennie because he can’t help forgetting everything and it must be very frustrating for not only him, but to George as