“Unforgiveness is like drinking poison and hoping the other person dies”(Margaret Stunt). This quote is saying that if you don't forgive them it's not hurting them as much as it's hurting you. In the book it shows that mankind is unforgiving to everything. They are mean to animals, plants, and each other. In the following paragraphs I will show you evidence to prove my point. The theme of Mice of Men by John Steinbeck is that mankind is unforgiving. In the first paragraph of the book we are presented with a very detailed description of the surrounding scenery “The water is warm too, for it has slipped twinkling over the yellow sands in the sunlight before reaching the narrow pool.”(Steinbeck 1). However, once men are introduced to the picture …show more content…
This shows the theme because instead of letting him explain what was going on and what happened they chased him out of the county. They should have allowed George to explain that Lennie doesn't know what he was doing because he was “kicked in the head by a horse”. But humans will resort to violence immediately. Curley thinks that Lennie is making fun of him when he laughs so Curley throws punches as lennie tries to explain that he wasn't laughing at him. Eventually after a couple blows Lennie crushes Curley's hand in his own. Curley refuses to listen to Lennie and again immediately goes straight to violence and attacking Lennie. Had he listened he could have avoided a crushed hand, being embarrassed and shamed because he always bragged about being a great boxer. When Lennie was in the barn playing with is puppy he accidentally killed it. Curlys wife came in and discovered him as he was hiding the puppy. She then used that against Lennie to get him to talk to him. He has him feel her hair but he wouldn't let go. She screams for help and Lennie accidentally kills her. Curly finds out that lennie kills her and says “i'm gonna shoot his guts out”(Steinbeck 96) he then proceeds to hunt down lennie to kill him instead of bring him to
George and Lennie were lifelong friends and had varying personalities even from the start. Lennie thought about how his Aunt Clara said he should have been more like George. At the time when the story took place, the two men were travelling together, and had been for some time, working and then moving on to search for the next job they could find. They were like many other men in search for work, except it was rare for men to travel together. George felt a need to take care of Lennie because he was somewhat slow. George was an average man of the time. He was a good size, nice, but firm, and he had aspirations to be more than just a nomadic laborer. Lennie, on the other hand, had always been a little different. He was big, goofy, clumsy, but sweet. They were also both good workers. George was concerned with working and getting his money before they got into trouble and had to leave camp. Lennie was the one who normally started the trouble. He was a hard worker and lived to appease George, but he got distracted easily which angered George. George told about how they would own a house and a farm together and work for themselves. Lennie loved to hear the story and think about the possibilities, even though nobody knew if any of it was a possibility. George and Lennie's differences in part led to George's inclination to kill Lennie. Despite their dissimilarity, the two men needed each other probably more than they realized.
town they were heading to, he must come back to the pond and hide in
That ain’t no good, George.’”(Steinbeck 97). Because Lennie killed Curley’s wife, he committed a felony. George wanted Lennie to be thrown in jail at first. He wanted Lennie to be arrested because he thought it was the best thing for Lennie but then Slim told him it would not be good for Lennie. It would be bad for Lennie because Lennie would not understand his rights because he’s mentally challenged and locking him up in a cage would just hurt Lennie. George then realized he needed to kill Lennie so nobody would mistreat him. George is protecting others from Lennie.”’Lennie-if you jus’ happen to get in trouble like you always done before…’”(Steinbeck 15). George has been with Lennie for many years and he knows how Lennie will never learn and he will keep committing bad stuff. George knew something was going to happen at the ranch because Lennie has always done something wrong. George tried to prevent something from going wrong but he couldn’t. As a result he had to put down Lennie so he would not hurt anyone ever again. George felt the hard choice of killing Lennie was the right decision for George because Curley wanted to get his revenge, Lennie would be mistreated in prison and he was
Curley 's wife observes that Lennie is "jus ' like a big baby" (Steinbeck 99) and invites him to stroke her soft hair. Lennie begins to feel her hair and likes it very much indeed, which leads him to pet it too hard. When she started to complain, he panicked and started to try to silence her. He was afraid that George would not let him be part of the dream anymore if Curley 's wife got mad at what he did. So he 's shaking her to try to protect his part in the dream but he kills her and the dream too.
Which then brings me to the next scenario in the book when a little more damage happening. “Let go Lennie” (Steinbeck 63) is what George shouted when Lennie was essentially breaking Curleys hand into little pieces. The quote resembles George having to keep Lennie from crushing Curley's hand even more. Lennie is strong but lennie can't seem to realize or make it click in his head because of Lennie's
Lennie had a soft spot for petting animals and soft things. He is totally oblivious to the fact that he hurts almost every thing he touches. He had pet mice and ended up killing them and when he played with the 'pup' he ended up killing it too. His uncontrolled strength also caused him to kill Curley's wife. "Lennie's fingers fell to stroking her hair... he stroked harder... "Let go!" she cried... She struggled violently... and then she was still; for Lennie had broken her neck." (Page 91). With the death of Curley's wife, Lennie's innocence was taken. He had unwillingly killed. He had to pay the price, by losing his life.
“Then Curley’s rage exploded.Come on ya big bastard . Get up on your feet. No big son-of-a-bitch is gonna laugh at me I’ll show ya who’s yella”.(62)Lennie was smiling and thinking about the ranch that George talked to him about and how they would make a living out of the farm. Also, he was thinking about how there would be bunnies that he could pet and feed.He was daydreaming in the worst moment. Curley thought that Lennie was smiling and laughing at him for having a “Glove fulla Vaseline”. This part of the dialogue also tells us that Curley gets frustrated or mad easily. THey say his rage exploded, he made a tiny situation into a major attention drawer. “Curley’s like a lot of little guys. He hates big guys.He’s alla time picking scraps with big guys.”(26) The author describes Curley as a hatred person.He gets the wrong intention.Curley according to the passage liked to pick on others and knowing that Lennie was a sensitive fella he took advantage of that. He had fun doing this but Lennie did not get any positive output of this only negative outcomes. Curley wanted to start a fight just because he thought Lennie was laughing at him when he
George realizes what he must do, as Lennie's friend he comforts Lennie by telling him, he is not mad at him and about their dream of having there own house and rabbits, and how they will one day “ live on the fatta the lan” Then …………….finally george does what he must do¨ and george raised the gun and steadied it, and he brought the muzzle of it to the back of lennie's head. The hand shook violently, but his face set and his hand steadied. He pulled the trigger. The crash of the shot rolled up the hills and rolled down again. Lennie jarred, and then settled slowly forward in the sand, and lay without quivering.¨ george may not have wanted to kill lennie but he knew that he had to or else curly or carlson would have and he wanted to let lennie die by his hand instead of one of theirs.
Unfortunately, the puppy died from the impact. After the death of the dog, Curley's wife went into the barn, Lennie complained to her about the death. She didn't care, and started talking about her life. Lennie kept re-iterating about his lost. And so Curley's wife let Lennie pet her hair. He pulled her hair and she frantically scream. He started to panic and held on, keeping her quiet. She yelled frantically, and so Lennie broke her neck. At that point, Lennie had lost his innocence. In Chapter 5 page 92 the text stated, "He pawed up the hay until partly covered her." Even though he murdered the small animals, this is a human and is not exceptional. Especially when he tried to cover it up, this is an action of a criminal. The lost of innocence did not only effect Lennie, however, it effected George and Candy also. The three of them dreamed of owning a farm together, since Lennie is a criminal, their dream shattered. Lennie is going to get shot for what he has
After Lennie gets into the debacle with Curley’s wife, he runs to the oasis described at the beginning of the book. George fears the men will tear Lennie apart and murder him. He also knew he would be institutionalized, or “caged” if he survived the attack. He had the moral clarity that let him see that killing Lennie was the best thing for him. When George kills Lennie, it’s a kind of mercy killing.
Steinbeck uses the text Of Mice And Men to emphasise the importance of persistence in situations of struggle, however the main message sent forth by Steinbeck is mainly showing how persistence affects opinions and actions that span over time which is shown many times in the text. Such as when George and Lennie are conversing at the green lake on their way to the ranch and George begins to explain their dream which results in “... Lennie’s face broke into a delighted smile” (5). This shows how Persistence and adaptation can affect situations, because if George was made unable to adapt or remain persistent the conversation would have kept a more intense or serious tone instead of changing into a upbeat or happy conversation which results in Lennie
When George is telling the story of how they were ousted from of Weed he says, “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”(Steinbeck 42). This proves that George knows that when Lennie gets scared he stops being able to function, but despite knowing this George still lets Lennie go wherever he wants without any supervision. Later in the novel, George leaves Lennie alone in the barn to go play horseshoes with the other men. Lennie accidentally kills Curley’s wife because no one is present to stop him and he has proven that he can’t stop himself(Steinbeck 91). George left Lennie alone in the barn so that he wouldn’t have to supervise Lennie, making Curley’s wife’s death unnecessary and, at the same time,
In John Steinbeck’s novella ‘Of Mice and Men’, George and Lennie, who are the main characters of this book. They are camping for the night by the Salinas River and on their way to work on a ranch. Before they go to sleep, Lennie gets George to talk about their plan to have a little ranch of their own someday. The next morning, they go to the ranch. They meet the Boss in the bunk house while the old swamper, Candy showing them around. In addition, they see angry Curley and his wife. They also meet the other bunkers, Carlson, Whit and Slim. Around evening, George talks to Slim regarding what Lennie has done in Weed which makes them have to run away. Candy let Carlson shoot his dog hesitantly. Curley gets into a fight with Lennie, and his hand is smashed by Lennie. In the barn, Curley’s wife tells Lennie about her dream. However, Lennie muffles Curley’s wife’s face and accidentally killed her. Lennie decides to hide in the brush like George tells him to. Curley was furious and wanted to shoot Lennie immediately. George finds Lennie in the brush and
By having George shoot Lennie, Lennie died suddenly. Curley would have shot him in his stomach area to have him die a slow and painful death. Lennie didn't have to suffer the pain of death and George wouldn't have to stand there and have Lennie ask questions about why he didn't do anything to prevent Curley from shooting him.
Lennie is not so much stereotyped, but rather trapped because of his size. Because Lennie is so big, Curley thinks he has to prove something by beating up Lennie. Lennie gets on Curley’s bad side when he didn’t do anything wrong. Lennie is then forced to fight. " ‘I don’t want no trouble,’ he said plaintively.