John Steinbeck’s novella, Of Mice and Men, incorporated several themes such as the idea of being powerless or objectified. In the story, several characters projected these ideas, such as one named Lennie Small. Throughout the story, Lennie committed multiple events that showed how powerless or objectified he really was, causing his ending fate to be in the hands of his caretaker. The character Lennie wouldn’t have died if he didn’t do the killing of beings and the crushing of a man’s hand, but Lennie has the mind of a toddler causing him to not understand what he had done, which in the end led to his killing to prevent Lennie from getting himself into any more trouble. First of all, Lennie killed several animals and even a person without realizing. …show more content…
The animals that he accidentally killed included lots of mice and even a poor little helpless puppy. Since Lennie like the idea of touching soft things, he used to keep the mice in his pocket to pet as he would walk around. Except that he killed the mice for biting him, as said in, “I’d pet ‘em, and pretty soon they bit my fingers and I pinched their heads a little and then they was dead --- because they was so little.” (Steinbeck, 10) To prevent Lennie from killing any more mice, George, Lennie’s caretaker, promised to get Lennie a puppy to keep him occupied from killing any more mice. Although when Lennie finally received this puppy, he killed it. Lennie didn’t mean to kill the puppy, he was just playing with it and killed it without out realizing how tough he was being on the puppy. As for the person that Lennie killed, Curley’s Wife, she didn’t know what she was getting herself into when she allowed Lennie to touch her hair. Curley’s Wife’s hair was soft, which is why she allowed Lennie to feel …show more content…
This incident occurred because the man named Curley starting beating on Lennie for “laughing” at Curley. Yet, in reality, Lennie wasn’t laughing at Curley; Lennie was just simply smiling at the idea of tending rabbits at an imaginary ranch. Lennie then grabbed onto Curley’s hand to stop Curley from beating him up any further, but without realizing, Lennie crushed Curley’s hand. Like they said in, “Looks to me like ever’ bone in his han’ is a bust.” (Steinbeck 64) Even though Lennie didn’t mean to do so, he definitely felt bad about it and regrets it very much so, but he was just doing as he was told by
Death With Dignity For several years you have been taking care of your grandma, who has been suffering in the hospital. You pray that she gets better. But day after day, you see the hurt in her eyes even though she tries to fight through it. You know that she won’t get better until you put her out of her misery and end her life.
Lennie dreams of living on a wide open ranch with George where he tends to the fluffy little rabbits he loves so much. Nevertheless, Lennie sadly never reaches his ultimate goal as his flaw finally becomes his fatal flaw. Lennie kills Curley 's wife by shaking her so hard that her neck breaks. He does not kill her on purpose but Lennie does not know his own strength. He is only shaking her like that because he wants her to stop yelling.
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.
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.
Due to child like qualities, Lennie is a person which would be easy prey and a vulnerable person. Lennie is a vulnerable person who is quite dumb. His has an obsession for touching soft thing and this will often lead him in to trouble. But poor Lennie is an innocent person who means no harm to anybody. When he and Curley get into a fight Lennie is too shocked to do any thing. He tries to be innocent but, when told to by George grabs Curley’s fist and crushes it. George is Lennie’s best friend and Lennie does every thing he tells him to do as demonstrated in the fight with “But you tol...
“Well, you ain't pettin’ no mice while you walk with me” (Steinbeck 6). Lennie kills mice just by petting them. Lennie doesn't understand how strong he is and how easily he can kill things. It would benefit others if Lennie was not around. They could always find another strong man to work. Sadly, Lennie is just hopeless.
Of Mice and Men, by Steinbeck, shows many different views on society. This book has a lot different messages you can take and apply to real life. All the people in the story can relate to someone today and also to some stuff that still happens all around the world. When reading this book you can really start to understand and connect with the characters and identify their weaknesses and their strengths. Some things you really start to notice is how powerful some people are and how they use that power in everyday living. Many characters had power, because of that it helped some get by, helped some take advantage and boss people around, but power also hurt them.
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.
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
Steinbeck uses powerlessness as a major theme of this book. Powerlessness plays a major role during that time because there is always aa boss that tells others to work. The people that are usually powerless are the migrant workers during that time. Some try to save money to buy a land like George and Lennie, but others blow it on drinks over the weekend at bars. No one would want to be fighting with the boss’ son because he can easily tell on the boss and get the workers fired. In this book, the main powerless people are the workers, George and Lennie, and Crooks.
When you’re in a position of high authority, it comes with a great sum of power. Having a great deal of control can corrupt and can lead to the abuse of it. Abuse of power is using their power for their own benefit even if it may harm others. In the book Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, the effects of the abuse shown by Curley and Curley’s wife to the other characters will ultimately lead to a tragic end.
One of Lennie's many traits is his forgetfulness. He easily forgets what he is supposed to do, but he somehow never forgets what he is told. An example of how Lennie is forgetful is when he has the mice in his pocket and when he went to pet them they bit his finger. “Lennie picked up the dead mouse and looked at with a sad face. When they bit him he pinched them, and by doing that he crushed their heads” (page 5) . This is important because he knew that if he squeezed their heads they would die, but since he is forgetful, he squeezed anyway. Another example of how Lennie is forgetful is when he grabbed Curley's hand and crushed it. “ Curley’s fist was swinging when Lennie reached for it. Lennie squeezed on until George came running in shouting ‘let go’. The next moment Curley was on the ground wailing while he held his crushed hand” (page 64). This event is important because Lennie had held on, not knowing what to do next, until George told him what to do. A final exampl...
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.
Curley's wife, an accident that seals his own fate and destroys not only his dreams but George's and Candy's as well. In the beginning Lennie used to pet mice that his Aunt Clara used to give him, he would always end up killing them because he didn't know his own strength. Lennie never killed any pet or person purposely; he pets too roughly and kills them accidentally. An example of his rough tendencies is in the first chapter (page7) when Lennie wants to keep a dead mouse and George wouldn't let him Lennie says" Uh-uh. Jus' a dead mouse, George.
... Steinbeck mentions numerous times how often Lennie forgets that little animals must be treated gently. For example, in the scene in the barn, Lennie accidentally kills a puppy while playing with it because he simply could not remember to treat it gently. The question arises as to how Lennie can forget everything else but still remember to return to the place that George pointed out.