The innocence of animals is blinding in the first stages of life. They don’t know bad from good yet, or what to do in troublesome situations. The same goes for Lennie Small in John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men. Lennie cannot control himself, and he does exactly what George, his companion and authority figure, tells him to do. Steinbeck uses animal imagery in Of Mice and Men to express Lennie’s innocence, and desire to meet George’s standards. An animal is sweet and innocent until you provoke it, and the same goes for Lennie. Descriptive animal imagery was used to describe Lennie because it was the perfect metaphor for Lennie himself, and his future actions against the boss’ son, the boss’ son’s wife, and a puppy. Just like a puppy, Lennie does not know right from wrong yet, and even drinks from a “green pool” with “long gulps, snorting into the water like a horse.” Lennie looks to George for support, and assurance. When the boys are at the pool Lennie begins playing around in the water; making rings by plunging his fingers in the murky …show more content…
When the boys camp at the pool, George is lying on his back, stargazing. “Lennie, who had been watching, imitated George exactly... Looked over to George to see if he had it just right.” Lennie often copies George’s actions, and will go along with anything George says. This shows his desire to be like George, and Lennie thinks he can live up to George’s set standards by being like him. “‘You said I was your cousin, George.’ ‘Well that was a lie.’” The boss had come in the bunkhouse and started questioning George and Lennie. When he asked why George kept talking for Lennie, he had said they were cousins. Lennie agreed, but mentioned it soon after the boss left. He clearly views George as an authoritative figure, and tries to obey and please him, so he doesn’t ask questions. This again shows his dependency toward George, and his animal like
why Lennie and George Travel together and is not very understanding. Although you never find
John Steinbeck, an American novelist, is well-known for his familiar themes of depression and loneliness. He uses these themes throughout a majority of his novels. These themes come from his childhood and growing up during the stock market crash. A reader can see his depiction of his childhood era. In Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck shows the prominent themes of loneliness, the need for relationships, and the loss of dreams in the 1930s through the novels’ character.
Imagery is shown through two hallucinations that Lennie has before the end of the book. He has just escaped the ranch because of the accidentally killing of Curley's wife. Lennie also realizes that George will not let him tend rabbits on a farm, which was the desire that he wanted the most. After all George said, "But you ain't gonna get in no trouble, because if you do, I won't let you tend the rabbits" (65). Constantly throughout the book, Lennie pesters George about taking care of rabbits on a farm of their own; tending rabbits was Lennie's dream. As he hides near the river where he and George stayed the night before going to the ranch, Lennie begins seeing his Aunt Clara. But Aunt Clara was speaking in Lennie's voice. She begins to blame
John Steinbeck explores human experience in the novella ‘Of Mice and Men’ in friendship, loneliness and marginalisation. He does this through the characters as explained thought the paragraphs below.
The quote that inspired John Steinbeck was the best laid schemes often go off track can be seen in the novel of Mice and Men. When Curley's wife met a man in her childhood that offered her to be an actress but the chance went away and she later died. Then Curley wanted to be a professional boxer but the dream never happened and he became a farmer then got his hand broken for trying to be tough. George and Lennie were going to buy a farm to live off the fat of the land then Lennie had to get in trouble and George had to give up the dream and kill Lennie for what he had done.
Lennie, one of the two main protagonists, is a very dramatic character who can be found doing many questionable things, some, which are very inhumane and animal-like. From the very first page in the book, Lennie is known to be a very big person who is not the smartest. In every chapter there is at least one incident of him being compared indirectly or directly to an animal, and each time he is compared the topic is brought up that the similes written directly correlate to the economy at the time, especially in the working class. Lennie being compared to animals was written to prove that humans at the time were animalistic, to allude to the economy of the working class at the time, and to prove that negative occurrences can happen to anybody.
Lennie accidentally killing all of his pets establishes that the theme of this novel is death and loss. These pets consist of mice, dogs, kittens, etc. Lennie loves to feel and pet animals, but he does not know his own strength. He kills them without really noticing what he has done, until George tells him that he did something wrong. After being scolded, Lennie is very remorseful about what he did. Once, after being yelled at Lennie says, “I pinched their heads a little and then they was dead- because they were so little (13).” Lennie’s remorse is probably more for upsetting George than it is for actually killing the animal.
In the first chapter, the reader is introduced to George and Lennie. They approach water and Lennie had "flung down and drank from the surface of the pool; drank with long gulps, snorting... Like a horse". He also dips "his whole head, hat and all" into the water without checking if it was clean first. It was a reckless action that he did often, which was indicated by the way George said he would get "sick like [he] was last night". The way Lennie is compared to a horse shows that he is being guided, and that he had no care in the world. Lennie is shown to be a careless and mentally challenged man who acts similar to a child, getting fascinated by the way the water "arose in little splashes" when he "wiggled his fingers" in it. He is similar to an irresponsible child and he is also cared for like one by George, and he carries the innocence of one. He doesn't seem aware of how his actions affect the things around him, which can be seen by what he did at Weed.
With his disability, he needs something to feel connected to. He loves to pet furry and soft things. In chapter one in “Of Mice and Men”, Lennie and George are walking along a dirt road, on there way to a ranch. George discovers Lennie playing with something in his pocket. Lennie states to George before the dead mouse was taken away. ““ I could pet it with my thumb while we walked along”” (Steinbeck 6) . In order to prove that Lennie is not smart enough to fulfill the American Dream, Steinbeck creates Lennie to seem as not normal as possible. Steinbeck places Lennie in a state, where he does not understand right from wrong. He does not know nor understand, that playing with a deceased critter is not only gross but unacceptable as a
Lennie is nervous to talk to most people other than George, so George answers most questions that are asked to Lennie. Since George is always looking after Lennie, Lennie is always looks up to George as a big brother/hero. The book states “He cried “Make ‘um stop, George”. George will always be there to help Lennie when he’s stuck in a hard situation.Although, George and Lennie are very close and will always look out for each other.They still have many difficulties in their friendship. Lennie is always acting like a child and George gets annoyed for always having to take care and watch over Lennie’s every move. During the beginning of the book it states “Lennie for God’ sakes don’t drink so much.” George always is watching after Lennie and making sure he doesnt doing something he shouldn’t and mess something up. Lennie never knows what he is doing and forgets almost everything.George also gets annoyed when he tells Lennie something he’s not supposed to do but he still does it. It states “ I wasnt doin nothing bad with it, George. Jus strokin it”. Lennie didn’t understand what he was doing wrong. Lennie always is hurting/killing animals without
In Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck develops Lennie into a beloved but rather stoic character to pull at the heartstrings of his readers. Lennie loves to pet soft things, is blindly devoted to George and their vision of the farm, and possesses incredible physical strength. John Steinbeck also makes Lennie seem doomed from the beginning. Steinbeck develops Lennie’s character through dialogue throughout the story. When Lennie is first introduced in the story it is done by George scolding him about his memory “‘So you forgot that awready did you?’” (Steinbeck 4). The quote gives an insight into Lennie’s life and how he is very forgetful. His forgetfulness is part of what makes him doomed in life. Lennie is also portrayed as a static and flat character.
Lennie was not very smart and couldn't do much by himself. He had to be told what to do or he wouldn't do anything at all. He fits all the profiles for a retarded person. He doesn't have any self-control. When he starts to panic he gets out of control and even kills Curly's wife because she starts to scream. Lennie loves animals and can't stop talking about them. He always says that when they get their own place that he wants lots of rabbits, his favorite animal. To him George is like his father figure, since Lennie never really had any parents. He is easily amused and panics quickly.
During the beginning, Lennie is characterized as childish. He is very small minded. Steinbeck indirectly states that he has a mental disability. Readers notice this because of his child-like actions, specifically on page 3, “Lennie dipped his whole head under, hat and all, and then he sat up on the bank and his hat dripped down on his blue coat and ran down his back.” This disability forces George to sacrifice his freedom to help survive with his disability. George gets frustrated with Lennie’s playful personality easily, as a father might with his son. On page 11, George lets his anger out on Lennie. “I wisht I could put you in a cage with
Lennie's Passion for Soft Objects in Of Mice and Men Works Cited Missing Definition of the word trace: follow, hint, and mark out. In this essay I will trace in detail soft things that Lennie pets in the novel, showing that the petting grows more serious as the novel goes on. In the novel Lennie pets mice, he dreams about petting rabbits, destroys someone's dress in Weed, hurts Curly's hand, kills a pup, and kills Curley's wife. Bad things come in threes, Lennie's two accidental killings of animals foreshadow the final killing of
Although John Steinbeck’s novelette Of Mice and Men included a vast away of interesting characters, Lennie was one that sparked my interest the most. Small’s personality is similar to that of an innocent child’s; he is also often depicted like an animal, as he is as strong as a bull (as Milton describes him), but acts like a dog. Small is also mentally handicapped, feels security when it comes to touching soft items, and does not understand many abstract ideas. We can look at all of these traits through his devoted dependency towards George. Though he acts this way, he does not actually comprehend this idea of loyalty. As a result, he often gets into trouble without the intention of doing so, and once he does, only defines his troubles in terms of consequences, as he says “George goin’ to give me hell” or “George ain’t gonna’ let me tend them rabbits no more.” Despite his repetitive behavior, he never understands the reason why his actions are incorrect. In the beginning of the story, an instance the reader can observe his animal-like (or childish) behavior is when he slurps...