Strength As Lennie's Worst Enemy in John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men

Strength As Lennie's Worst Enemy in John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men

Is Lennie's own strength his worst enemy? To assess this I need to

look into many areas. First we need to look at how strong Lennie

really is. Then I need to look at the advantages and disadvantages of

having this kind of strength. After this I would need to establish if

Lennie has any control over his strength or if he has any aggressive

tendencies towards anyone. And finally I need to investigate the ranch

conditions. I will attempt to persuade you that Lennie's own strength

is not his own worst enemy, and that it is his inability to control

this strength that leads to his inevitable downfall.

Lennie is certainly strong; in the very opening of the book he is

described as a bear and is constantly referred to in animal terms. He

enjoys "pettin'" soft things, puppies, rabbits and mice but he is so

strong that he kills them with his fingers as he did in chapter one

whilst George and Lennie were walking along. In chapter three Curley

starts a fight with him but after George tells Lennie to fight back

Lennie easily crushes Curley's hand.

Lennie is physically well co-ordinated and is capable of doing

repetitive manual jobs (bucking barley or driving a cultivator) with

skill. This makes things a little easier for George to find them jobs.

In chapter two George has to convince the boss to let them stay and

work, he states that Lennie is "…strong as a bull" and is "…a god damn

good worker". However it is this strength that was the reason why they

had to leave Weed. Lennie would not let go of a girl's dress he wanted

to pet because he panicked when the girl started to panic, which led

to the pair leaving town under a rape charge.

Lennie is a massive, extremely strong man, but has the mind of a

child. Slim is one of the first characters to notice this, remarking

that Lennie is "jes' like a kid" in chapter three when he brings in