In ‘Of Mice and Men,’ anger and violence is of common recurrence. Anger, as shown by many characters, is always around because of fear, jealousy and anxiety.
Lennie
is always the source of this anger, whether it be toward him, because
of him, or from him. One of the first characters to portray anger in John Steinbeck’s Novel is George, Lennies companion. Straight away in the Novel, anger is shown towards
Lennie, Georges anger is because Lennie wants something they do not have, and because it is Lennie who is ‘pleading,’ George is Expected to have it. This is only due to Lennies innocence. George tells him, "Well we aint got no ketchup!" his anger is clearly
out of frustration, as he goes on to talk about how he could do "Whatever the hell" he liked if Lennie wasn't around. "I could get my
50 bucks at the end of the month and go sit in a cat house and enjoy myself, but no, I'm stuck with you". George is almost saying that Lennie is a burden to him and that if Lennie were to leave George alone, then George would have a more relaxed life. All of this anger that George is giving to Lennie is because George is frustrated at not being able to further his life in a way in which he wants to.
Also George and Lennie (and all the other ranch workers) have a dream, when this dream is broken and will never happen, all of the workers get angry and violent to others on the ranch showing their frustration and how they will never get a sense of security, comfort or companions. The first example we see of this, is when Carlson bullies Curley in forcing Curley to let his dog be killed and gotten rid of because “He ain’t no good to you, Candy. An’ he ain’t no good to himself.” Carlson feels important and in-charge, just like he wanted to be (...
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...e barn is because she had a chance to achieve everything she wanted; fame, fortune and glamour and because she fails at becoming an actress and spends her life with a man she hates with only glamour of the three she wanted, she gets very angry and when people do not pay attention to her, such as when Lennie, Candy and Crooks are all in Crooks’ room and she goes there for attention but is told to go away she resorts to anger telling them that she could get them “strung up on a tree so easy it ain’t even funny” and this showing that she can no longer be turned away by people and takes out years of agony of her dream never coming true on these three guys.
As seen in the Novel, most acts of anger and violence are down to failed dreams and hope, with the one or two exceptions and that they are both ways of letting how you feel known and a way to make you feel better.
Although Lennie was unattractive and has the tendency of accidental violence, compassion was still something readers had for him. Steinbeck constantly reminded us that he has a mental disability which automatically makes someone feel pity for him. Additionally he was ignored and made fun of by other characters, “Blubberin’ like a baby! Jesus Christ! A big guy like you”(Steinbeck 10). Him getting in trouble was beyond his control because of his mental disability which is something else that makes a reader feel sympathetic for him. Also, the readers are solicitous towards Lennie because of how much he looks up to George. This is portrayed when Crooks asks Lennie what he would do if George never came back, “Well, s’pose, jus’ s’pose he don’t come back. What’ll you do then?”(Steinbeck 70). Because of his inability to comprehend information, he got extremely defensive and said, “George is careful. He won’t get hurt” (Steinbeck 70). This scene is crafted in such a way that it automatically
George really helps him through problems that keep happening during the book. Lennie is incapable to live because he does not know his strength and George has to play the role as a living assistant for Lennie. Lennie does not mean to harm but because of his condition he essentially harms people. In the book it explains the trouble in weed and George explains “Well he saw a girl in a red dress and a red dress and he just wanted to feel it and when he touched it the girl just starts yelling and all he can think to do is hold on” ( Steinbeck 41). The quote states or explains how Lennie can scare or harm people.
Lennie constantly causes trouble. “George told Lennie to keep quiet while George was trying to find them a job”(Steinbeck 35). “Why can't you just let em’ talk?” (Steinbeck 35). It's hard for Lennie to have a regular conversation with someone. He does not understand people well. The boss found it hard to believe that George wasn't trying to fool him by talking about how great Lennie was at working and how strong he was.
Lennie’s illness was seen as common and nothing to take concern over, which pertains to the vague yet soft sympathy from George whom “babysits” Lennie. George was an older brother to Lennie in a sense, helping him to get through life without any mishaps. However for George, Lennie’s illness determined their income and job status. In several incidences, Lennie overreacted in certain situations causing them to lose or leave their job spontaneously. At different points in the book, George became frustrated with Lennie: “You can't keep a job and you lose me ever' job I get. Jus' keep me shovin' all over the country all the time. An' that ain't the worst. You get in trouble. You do bad things and I got to get you out” (Steinbeck 12). This showed the overall frustration yet compassion towards Lennie, however extreme concern. According to Lennie, when he killed the puppy he said: “Why do you got to get killed, you ain’t as little as mice I didn’t bounce you hard” (Steinbeck 85). This really brought out the fact that Lennie’s illness was not to be tempered with, as he really couldn’t ever contemplate the harsh, unintentional things he’s done. When George and Lennie arrive at their new job, tension rises in the book and the author brings out that possible aspect of Lennie unintentionally doing something wrong which in turn would cause them to lose their job--or
Although some might disagree.You might think how does he deserve sympathy if he wasn’t willing to show sympathy towards others? Well Carlson didn’t know how to and refused to because he’s never had anyone to count on. Whenever Candy’s dog appeared Carlson would always disrespect it for being old and smelly. “Why’n’t you shoot him, Candy (44).” Carlson mentioned this because he hates how the dog smells, but he didn’t take the time to understand Candy’s reason of keeping this old stinky dog around. For him it was pointless to keep an old dog so might as well kill it and get it out of its misery. Little does he know that by saying this proves how lonely he is and doesn’t know the meaning of friendship. Candy had this dog since it was a pup and they’ve been together so long therefore he couldn’t just shoot it like it meant nothing to him Carlson not caring says “He ain’t no good to you, Candy. An’ he ain’t no good himself (44).” It’s so hard for him to understand all he needs is someone to knock some sense into him. Especially at the very end of the book George shot Lennie, his best friend, the person who he was always there for. Slim knows that George made such a hard decision and they are both affected by it and all Carlson said while looking at them was “Now what the hell ya suppose is eatin’ them two guys (106).” This is such a frustrating part because how would Carlson feel if he had to shoot his best friend?
MOST, IF NOT ALL, OF THE CHARACTERS IN OF MICE AND MEN CAN BE SEEN AS
In the novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck there are many events in the plot of the story that occur that prove that when man is cruel to man, some peoples lives are negatively affected. One instance in where this is proven true is when the men on the ranch and Curley's wife are cruel and discriminative against Crooks causing him to be the one to mourn. An example of how the men are discriminative towards Crooks is that he is forced to live in a shack away from the bunkhouse and also Crooks says that "They play cards in there, but I can't play because I'm black. They say I stink" and "I ain't wanted in the bunkhouse." An example of when Curley's Wife is critical towards Crooks is when she looks into his room to see what Lennie and Crooks are doing and then she states, shaking her head, that they left the weak ones behind. Also, she threatens to have Crooks hung because a black man should never talk to a white woman the way he just had. As a result of all of these discriminatory acts against him, Crooks feels unwanted and lonely because of his color and placement on the farm. Also those examples are part of the theme of the novel, people need to accept and understand those different from themselves, which also helps to prove the interpretation of the quote. Another example in this novel that proves that when man is cruel to man, the lives of people are negatively affected is when Curley picks on and tries to hurt Lennie. Curley chooses to fight Lennie because he thinks he won't fight back but because George gets angry and tells Lennie to fight back, he does. George being angry is not the only negative effect that Curley's teasing had on man, but also now Lennie is angry and in danger of getting in trouble and Curley himself gets hurt.
In chapter one, George and Lennie are introduced onto the scene and you get to know them a little bit and you get to see how they are related/ their relationship. When I read this first part, I could tell that George was pretty much Lennie’s caretaker and it was his job to find Lennie a job and make sure he ate enough and stayed a live. He kind of resented having to drag Lennie around (pg 11~12: “Well we ain’t got any!” George exploded. “Whatever we ain’t got, you want. If I was alone I could live so easy… But wadda I got? I got you. You can’t keep a job and you loose me every job I get.”), because Lennie’s a bit slow and he messes up a lot. He tries really hard to be good and listen to what George tells him to do, but in the end of every situation, Lennie forgets what George told him beforehand and sometimes it creates a little trouble (pg 45~46: “Well, he seen this girl in this red dress. Dumb like he is, he likes to touch ever’thing he likes. Just wants to feel it. So he reaches out to feel this red dress an’ the girl lets out a squawk, and that gets Lennie all mixed up, and he holds on ‘cause that’s the only thing he can think to do. Well, this girl just squawks and squawks. I was jus’ a little bit off, and I heard all the yellin’, so I comes running, an’ by that time Lennie’s so scared all he can think to do is jus’ hold on. I socked him over the head with a fence picket to make him let go. He was so scairt he couldn’t let go of the dress. And he’s so strong, you know… Well, that girl rabbits in an’ tells the law she’s been raped. The guys in Weed start a party out to lynch Lennie. So we sit in an irrigation ditch under water all the rest of that day.”). But when you look at them, you can tell that George is...
John Steinbeck begins the novel with “description of a riverbed in rural California”. In addition, the two main characters of the story are introduced, George and Lennie. George is described as a small, sharp man; and Lennie is most closely related to the “gentle giant”. In the next scene, George is scolding Lennie for gulping too much water from the pound. As the story continues, the reader can infer that Lennie has a mental disability and George acts as his guardian. Because the bus driver dropped the two a few miles away from their destination, George begins to complain that they will be late for their new job at a ranch. When George notices that Lennie is carrying a dead mouse he immediately takes it away from him. This scene is another example of how George cares for his companion. Lennie continuously insists that he meant no harm and all he wanted to do was pet the mouse. The reader can now see that Lennie is in fact dangerous because he is unaware of his own strength. After this, George reminds Lennie that they are traveling to their new job on a ranch. George warns him to remain silent until the Boss sees his capability because George fears that they will lose the job due to Lennie’s disability. He then tells Lennie that he wants to avoid another “Weed incident”. They decide to spend the night in the clearing George begins to prepare beans for the two of them. When Lennie complains that they don’t have ketchup, George loses his temper and accuses Lennie of being ungrateful. This is the first time in which we see that George thinks of Lennie as a chore rather than a friend. George begins to think of a life without Lennie and how easy his life would be if he wasn’t responsible for him. In order to back up his statement, G...
During the story Of Mice and Men, George once said, “he aint no cookoo. He’s dumb as hell, but he aint crazy” (Steinbeck39). George was sticking up for Lennie. Then later on in the story, George and Lennie’s boss once told George “I have never seen one guy take so much trouble for one another” (Steinbeck22). Proving George takes care of what he is responsible for. During the story, Lennie often tends to get himself into trouble, but George never got mad. He accepted the fact that it happened and gave up whatever he had to enable to keep Lennie safe. Not to mention, George also stood up for Lennie by saying “poor bastard didn’t know what he was doing” (Steinbeck98). At this point in the story, Lennie killed his bosses’ sons’ wife. Lennie then ran to the river like George him to do earlier in the story. The boss and his son went looking for Lennie. But before they could find him, George got to him, but since Lennie was George’s responsibility, George took it to himself to solve the problem by killing Lennie before the boss and his son could do it themselves. George and Lennie are responsible for one another, not to mention all the sacrifice, both George and Lennie make for one
Lennie relies on others to think for him. He won’t act or react unless he’s told to. When he’s getting punched in the face by Curley, Lennie doesn’t even flinch until George tells him to:
Lennie apologized to George for killing the mice; he told him that the reason for killing the mice was because “they bit my[Lennie’s] fingers” but he only “pinched their heads a little”(Steinbeck 10). Lennie’s guilt drives him to apologize about the mice but he appears to underestimate his own strength because he claimed that he vaguely pinched their heads, but Lennie being a vast man, that couldn't have been the case. He didn't know the consequences of pinching the mice even after he had done it so many times. This shows the lack of perception he holds, meaning he can't become cognizant of the things happening around him on his own, causing the reader to initiate sympathy for Lennie. Lennie’s immaturity is so big it can be misunderstood for cleverness. George sharply asks Lennie to give him the object from his pocket but he claims “ I ain't got nothin’”but later on admits he has a dead mouse but [George] insists to “ have it”,but George insisted to have the mouse then he “slowly obeyed”(Steinbeck 5-6). It appears as if Lennie was being clever but by handing the mice to George, his childish behavior is revealed. His ingenuous acts portray identically to a child influencing the reader to gain sensitivity to the way Lennie is treated. The way Lennie understands the world and process thoughts makes him mentally stable, for a child. Not only is he innocent but he is also ironically characterized.
You can 't keep a job and you lose me ever ' job I get. Jus ' keep me shovin ' all over the country all the time. An ' that ain 't the worst. You get in trouble. You do bad things and I got to get you out. ' His voice rose nearly to a shout. 'You crazy son-of-a-bitch. You keep me in hot water all the time. ' ¨ (Steinbeck 11).George if feeling anger at Lennie because he always forgets things and isn 't very bright. He gets mad because he always has to answer Lennie´s silly questions and Lennie doesn 't understand how much George has done for him.George knows Lennie is mentally ill and since his Aunt Clara died he has no one to take care of him so George is being selfless by taking in Lennie and putting his life before his own.Since George take in Lennie, when Lennie gets in trouble George has to leave with Lennie even though it wasn 't George 's fault. He puts Lennie 's problems. In front of his own and solves them in order to help Lennie.George knows Lennie gets in a lot of trouble. George is taking the risk of getting in trouble along with Lennie if anything were to happen to Lennie. George is willing to help Lennie by taking care of him and helping him the best he can.In Of Mice and Men, by Steinbeck, George takes in Lennie
Two main ways to treat anger involve helping patients to prevent anger activation or helping them to regulate anger manifestation. The former is generally a longer and more difficult approach due to the fact that early emotional behavior patterns are hard to change or eliminate. Therefore, the moderation of anger may prove to be a more effective route of therapy (Ambrose & Mayne, 1999). Many different schools of psychotherapy have addressed the problem of anger. Because of the lack of a universally identic...
George’s relationship with Lennie has made him selfless; his conversations, with and with out Lennie, are generally revolving around Lennie, although in the case of their dream-ranch George seems to find fulfilment for himself as well. Due to these altruistic tendencies that he shows throughout the novel, a danger is bestowed upon George; he tends to care for Lennie far too much, and too little for himself. In occasional moments, he escapes his sympathy and compassion for Lennie, and realises the burden that he causes. This usually results in George taking his frustration out on Lennie, which can often harm his simple mind, leaving Lennie upset and forced to confess to his own uselessness, and George feeling guilty for what he has caused. We can learn very little about George through his actual conversations, which made it necessary for Steinbeck to focus the novel on him in particular, and let the reader gain an closer insight on him through his actions. Generally, he seems to be caring, intelligent and sensible, but is greatly worn by the constant attention Lennie requires. This illustrates a major theme in Of Mice and Men, the dangers that arise when one becomes involved in a dedicated relationship.