Emma Baugh, Lexi McMullin, Lucie Nordmann, Tilden Williams Murrin English III DC R3 7 March 2017 Literary Note Card Setting: This story takes place in the 1930s, during the midst of the worst economic downturn in the history of the western industrialized world: the Great Depression. The setting and time period of the story is important because both contribute to the struggles that George and Lennie face throughout the novel. During a time of commonly rejected notions of progress, the 1930s represents an era of social inequality for both men and women. The social status that women held during this time was very low. The author illustrates this by the treatment that Curley’s wife receives from both her husband and the other farmers. In …show more content…
They meet and befriend those on the ranch including Curley, Slim, Candy, and Curley’s wife. However, conflict soon begins when Curley takes his anger with Slim out on Lennie, an easy target because of his mental illness. Lennie adds to the tension when he accidentally kills Curley’s wife, who flirts with the men and lets Lennie touch her hair. Infuriated by Lennie’s actions, the men of the ranch go on a hunt for Lennie. To protect both himself and his friend from the men, George makes the tragic sacrifice of killing …show more content…
He adores soft and furry animals, and due to his strength, often accidently kills them. This can be seen when he accidently kills the mice in the beginning of the book, from giving it “too much love.” From the onset of the book, Lennie is easily identified as having some sort of mental disability. This is important because it helps to personify the immaculacy of his nature. Lennie is motivated primarily by George, and their dream of owning their own ranch. This dream helps the story progress as it adds valuable insight to both their desires. Strong, yet tame, Lennie serves as a dynamic character who represents the innocence of man, and the beauty of
For example, Curley’s wife attempts to interact with Lennie. She convinces Lennie to stay and converse with her after reasoning “what kinda harm am I doin’?” (88). Curley’s wife enjoys talking with Lennie and even lets him pet her prized hair. Additionally, Crooks finds companionship with Lennie. “I thought I could jus’ come in an’ set” (68) Lennie exclaims to Crooks the night the other men were out. He kept him company and both ultimately bonded after having a good time with each other. Also, Candy introduces himself to Lennie and George when they first arrive at the ranch. They develop a trust between each other, leading to the planning of “fixing up an’ little old house an’ go living there” (60). Trusting George, Candy generously donates funds to their future property, as a token for George appreciating him and making him feel important. Throughout the book, failure to interact between other characters happens often. For example, the men on the ranch consistently reject Curley’s wife, even her own husband, Curley. The men yell at her and question “why she doesn’t stay in her home where she belongs?” (62). Lennie tries conversing with her, but it only results with breaking her neck from strangling. Furthermore, Crooks tries talking to the other men, but results in exclusion and bullying. The other men discriminate Crooks from their activities, thinking “cause he’s black, he stinks” (68). Finally, Candy speaks to Carlson in the beginning in his bunker. Unfortunately, the conversation only ends with convincing Candy to have Carlson shoot his sheep dog, “to put the old devil out of his misery” (47). The shooting upsets Candy because his sheep dog was a son to him, followed him everywhere, and kept him company on the ranch. Through trial and error, Curley's wife, Crooks, and Candy interacts with other characters, resulting in successful and
Lennie's stupidity and carelessness constantly causes him to unintentionally harm people and animals. When he gets into sticky situations, George is there to help him get out of them. Ever since Lennie's Aunt Clara died, George has felt that he has a sense of duty
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.
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
Following the beginning, Lennie is seen as a bit on the softer side contrary to George who was a heavy-tempered individual. We later find out that Lennie has a mental illness implied by language, communication and actions towards George and others. Demonstration of his illness was implied by: "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. I wish’t we’d get the rabbits pretty soon, George. They ain’t so little." (Steinbeck 4). Lennie’s childish personality and mistakes in the novel somewhat foreshadowed future events. George told Slim about the incident in Weed: “Well he seen this girl in a red dress...he just wants to touch everything he likes” (Steinbeck 41). George harshly remarked that his mistakes could get him in serious trouble, which was a vital, empowering statement within the novel that hinted at a dark
Curley’s wife represents her broken dreams of becoming an actress. Lennie and George represent a dream in progress, it is uncertain if their plans will work out as intended or plummet before takeoff, even Crooks and Candy see the appeal in Lennie and George’s fantasy and join them. The dream in progress gives hope to Lennie and George and continued to even after losing previous jobs. Curley’s wife is constantly restricted, she married Curley so that she would no longer be alone but now is in the same state as before, just on a ranch of men. She tries to talk to the other men but she is then seen as "jail bait" and avoided, making her even lonelier. Her dream of being an actress has failed because she chose a quick way out and married Curley. She is now living in her failure and has no longer a dream to aim for. Perhaps the most important part of the story is the the part in which Lennie has accidentally killed the puppy given to him by Slim, and is grieving over him in the barn, “This ain’t no bad thing like I got to go hide in the brush. Oh! no. This ain’t. I’ll tell George I foun’ it dead.” He unburied the puppy and inspected it, and he stroked it from ears to tail. He went on sorrowfully, “But he’ll know. George always knows. He’ll say, ‘You done it. Don’t try to put nothing over on me.’ An’ he’ll say, ‘Now jus’ for that you don’t get to tend no rabbits!” (Steinbeck, 85) He feels powerless to his own strength, he believes that he will never achieve his dream because of his mistake. George and the other men are out once again and the only person who comes to his emotional aid is none other than Curley’s wife. “Don’t you worry about talkin’ to me. Listen to the guys yell out there. They got four dollars bet in that tenement. None of them ain’t gonna leave till it’s over.” “If George sees me talkin’ to you he’ll give me hell,” Lennie said cautiously.” (Steinbeck, 85) He
The book takes place in the great depression where power was everything and if you were weak you were killed off by the strong so that they could survive. The characters understood this and tried to appear stronger and more powerful than each other to get by. Curly fights larger men, to appear strong. Crook threatens Lennie with the thought that George will leave him, and this is meant to scare him because Lennie has a special relationship with George that is irreplaceable. Carlson shoots Candy’s dog to show masculinity in a way and strip Candy of the one thing he really loves. And Curley's wife threatens to hang crooks to prove that even though she is a woman she still has a voice on the farm.
Steinbeck also presents another view of Curley’s wife. In his omniscient description [form: overall writing technique] of her, he writes that she ‘bridles a little’ at Lennie’s attention; she is metaphorically shying away from the fixated attention. Steinbeck also unobtrusively mentions that she is a ‘girl’; both these observations suggest her innocence and vulnerability.
Crooks, Curley’s wife, and most defiantly Lennie are the outcasts on the ranch. The novel presents Lennie as a mentally challenged, but an unusually strong worker who travels with his friend George. George takes care of Lennie as if he was his own child and Lennie cares for George the same way. “I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you” (14). Lennie describes how he cares for George although he honestly just messes everything up for George. Lennie has the mind of a child and does not understand how to act and be an adult. Lennie continues to pet dead mice, feel shiny and smooth objects, and not know how to interact with other people. From time to time, George continues to care and try to make improvements with Lennie, but it just does not happen. Lennie continues to have the mind of a child and can never distinguish the different between right and wrong. Throughout the novel; from being a mentally challenged; tall, muscular man; Lennie is most definitely an outcast in the story Of Mice and Men.
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
Since the beginning of the book, Steinbeck characterizes Lennie as a man who sees the world through the perspective of a child, as if it is a dream. Lennie is a big guy, but he acts like a baby. In the beginning of the story, after George threw the dead mouse Lennie was petting, Lennie was “…‘Blubberin’ like a baby!” (9). This juvenile action demonstrates Lennie’s immaturity and childish
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.
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.
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.