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George and lennie essay
George and Lennie's relationship analysis
Short essay comparing and contrasting the characters lennie and george as revealed in chapter one
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Throughout chapter one George and Lennie resemble a close bond in which George makes Lennie his responsibility and disciplines him. The phrase opposites attract is very true for George and Lennie, George is petite in size and wise while Lennie is high in stature and has a mental disability. He protects Lennie in the way an older brother would, watching over him and making sure he doesn’t make mistakes, but also motivating him to do better by reminding him of their common goal to possess their very own house with rabbits for Lennie to tend to along with chickens, cows and a vegetable patch. Lennie on the other hand looks up to George and seeks his approval and doesn’t want to be a disappointment or setback to him. Lennie would always explain himself to George when he was confronted by him, for example when George got agitated with Lennie for having a dead mouse in his pocket, Lennie continuously told George he didn’t mean it any harm and that he solely meant to stroke it. George then explains how he always killed the mice his aunt Cara …show more content…
Lenny saught comfort in being reminded of how he and George were different from other migrant workers. George would tell him “Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family.They don’t belong no place.They come to a ranch an’ work up a stake and then go inta town and blow their stake, and the first thing you know they’re poundin, their tail on some other ranch. They ain’t got nothing to look ahead to.” Being that George and Lennie had each other in itself is very rare and different from the other migrant workers who are so used to seeing people travel alone instead of in pairs.The other workers didn’t have family and had nothing to look forward to, where as Lennie and George had each other and their dream of owning their own farm to look forward
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.
is in the air. Animals begin to scatter. Two men have arrived on the scene,
Lennie has always been told what to do by George. 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
As the story continues on and the pair arrive at their job, the character chart begins to branch as we are introduced to Slim, another worker on the farm. After learning of the two’s past together, he openly expresses, “Ain’t many guys travel around together... I don’t know why. Maybe ever’body in the whole damn world is scared of each other” (Steinbeck 35). There is a unique value to George and Lennie’s relationship which the world lacks. Rather than combining their might, people would rather watch their own back with one set of eyes than having a second set to keep watch. There is mistrust between people and the idea of backstabbing and swindling is very present due to the economic decline and the loss of wealth for all social classes. Due to Lennie’s mental decline, however and the fact that if it were not for George, Lennie would not be alive, there is a strong bond apparent. To be separated from one another would mean becoming the rest of the world, sad and lonely. Neither of the two would like to bring sorrow to one another or let each other go through
The physical symbiosis of George and Lennie is beneficial to Lennie but detrimental to George. Although George used to hurt Lennie, Lennie now needs George to bail him out of trouble. Lennie also profits because he needs a person to tell him what to do. “He can’t think of nothing to do himself, but he sure can take orders” (39). Lennie is “a hell of a good worker”(22) and able to “put up a four-hundred pound bale” (22) but is likely to get himself in trouble without George’s protective influence. George likes Lennie but would be better off without him because “you (Lennie) can’t keep a job and you lose me ever’ job I get” (11). Lennie hinders George while George helps Lennie.
To begin, Lennie has this big dream of George and him living on their own land, being their own bosses, and tending to his own rabbits. Lennie’s major obstacle in achieving his dream is that he is slower than most people for his age. Lennie acts like a child making George the responsible adult. Lennie also listens to whatever George says because Lennie looks up to George almost like he is his brother. Lennie also has a tendency to forget what he is told:
“Of Mice and Men”, by John Steinbeck is a novel about the hardships of life and the importance of having other people around. The story is of two men trying to survive with one another in a world full of loneliness; their relationship is quite rare and strange. Lennie, a large bear, has a mental disability which causes him to be in a childlike state. George, a much smaller and more competent man takes care of both of them. Although they work for others on ranches, their dream is to get by on their own and live off the land. However, Lennie’s state causes conflict as they travel from job to job. Steinbeck uses clever ways in his novel to develop his theme and characters as the story progresses; both of these elements also help create a large
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...
George has known Lennie his whole life; they grew up together yet George is still always complaining about Lennie and how much trouble he is. George talks about how, “if he was alone he could live so easy” (Steinbeck 11), because he would not have to take care of Lennie all the time, which makes it hard to find good work and earn a living. But George keeps Lennie with him, even when he blatantly says he wishes Lennie was not with him, they still stick together and take care of each of one
Just as looking after each other is important, another component of a healthy relationship is being able to make each other better people. With no surprise, George and Lennie are able to do this for each other constantly. The first way that George and Lennie make each other better people is because they have common goals between each other. George and Lennie explain to readers how their goal is to own a farm with each other. Their farm will take up an acre of land, and it will have a shack on that land that they can live in. They will own chickens, pigs, cows, and rabbits that Lennie will be able to tend. (Steinbeck 105-106)
In many cases, the things one does can uncover more about his or her personality than what he or she says. The same goes for how he or she treats others. Of Mice and Men is a novel written by John Steinbeck, which contains many examples that prove this idea. In this novel, a man named George travels around with a man named Lennie, who exhibits symptoms of a severe intellectual disability. His mental age is probably around five to seven years old, and he is very difficult to deal with at times. The way that George, Curley, and Curley’s wife treat Lennie shows many things about their personality and what kind of person they truly are.
George is a quick-witted man who is Lennie’s guardian, friend, and protector, to the extreme with George being almost over concerned. Lennie always gets in trouble because he likes to tend and pet soft things, and his mental disability prevents him from stopping himself, even when he injures the “soft things.” He simply does not know his own strength. At the beginning of the book, Lennie got into trouble back in Weed where they were working. Lennie caused a major disruption in the town when he was near a girl and petted her too hard, compelling them to leave and find a new job. George complained, “I can live so much easier without you”, but he never left Lennie because of his responsibility and loyalty to their friendship. George sides with Lennie during the incident, despite him never really seeing what happened. What kind of friend is willing to drop his job and life to run away with someone who will always cause him trouble? George’s commitment to Lennie takes too much away from his own life to have a traditional girlfriend
George says that none of his other friends are quite like Lennie. They did not have a true relationship with him. George also says that Lennie is an annoyance most of the time, but he got used to it and eventually could not get rid of him. This shows that George is lonely, due to the loss of Lennie. It is proven that Lennie causes George to realize his need for others in his life.
The famed nurses study from Harvard found “Not having a close friend is as detrimental to your health as smoking.” Lennie and George’s friendship is necessary to keep the better for each other. Throughout the story, Lennie and George need each other and look out for one another no matter what. Lennie and George’s friendship and journey throughout the story symbolizes the struggles to achieve the American dream. Steinbeck, in the story Of Mice and Men, combines characterization and symbolism to prove friends do whats best for eachother.
Even from the very start of John Steinbeck’s novel, Of Mice and Men, the uniqueness of George, as a character, is already noticeable. He is described as “small and quick, dark of face, with restless eyes and sharp strong features” and has an obvious dominance over the relationship between Lennie and himself. This lets the reader know from a very early stage in the book that George is different, and probably the essential character. George’s character seems to be used by Steinbeck to reflect the major themes of the novel: loneliness, prejudice, the importance of companionship, the danger of devoted companionships, and the harshness of Californian ranch life.