Humans are creatures of this planet that act in complex ways. A writer’s job is often defined as a way to reveal the complexity of the characteristics of people and to illustrate them. John Steinbeck the author, Of Mice and Men, exemplifies a multitude of characters that have an overall lonely existence. Although most are unhappy, Lennie Small is a warm-hearted, sympathetic man. Lennie has the unfortunate aptitude of carrying out massive destruction in others life’s, even though, it was never intended. Lennie Short, who is one of the main characters in the novella Of Mice and Men, has defining characteristics that exposes the true meaning of the book. The complexity of the Lennie’s nature is so thought provoking that the story, Of Mice and Men, is often considered one the greatest short works of fiction of all time. Predominantly, Lennie is a kindhearted, simple-minded soul who unfortunately is mentally disabled. Lennie also has a very distinctive external feature, his size. Being a massive individual, Lennie is magnificently strong and never intentionally causes harm to other beings. In contrast to his size Lennie has a love for all things soft mice, puppies, Curley’s wife and most of all rabbits. It is for this reason that readers find the book remarkable. In a secluded setting at the beginning of the story, Lennie tells George “But I wouldn't eat none, George. I'd leave it all for you. You could cover your beans with it and I wouldn't touch none of it.” (page) This quote expresses the author, Johns Steinbeck’s point of view of Lennie, by starting the book off showing multiple acts of benevolence towards Lennie’s partner George. Even though Lennie is a beast of a human, and is capable of severe destruction, he is an empathe... ... middle of paper ... ...hing,” (100). He covered her body with hay and then disappeared from the barn with a puppy in his hand. Lennie never intended to kill or even hurt Curley’s wife but because of his strength and mental incompetence of realizing his actions, the death of Curley’s death was inevitable. Overall this was a positive but depressing reading experience for me. My reaction to the aspect of the novel was somewhat disgusted, about the derogatory writing the author portrayed on the mentally disabled, women and African American’s during that time period. I learned mostly about prospective in this novel how the eye opening it is. I hope a 21st century student takes away from this book the concept of prospective, empathy and characterization, while all tying those thoughts back into Carlson’s words, “Now what the hell ya suppose is eatin’ them two guys?” (Last Page)
First of all, George has given off a sense of friendship to a lot of other characters. First of all, George will always be supportive of Lennie in the long run. Lennie has gotten in trouble in weed and now they are on their way to Soledad. It is nighttime and George is a little bothered with Lennie, but he does not want Lennie to feel bad about anything. George says to Lennie “I want you to stay with me, Lennie.” (13). George needs the companionship from Lennie no matter what situation they are in. He does not ever want to upset Lennie. Even though Lennie gets them in trouble every job, George still needs him just to be with him because he loves friendship. George will always stick with Lennie. In addition, George tries to cheer Lennie up if he is confused or just did something wrong.George and Lennie are still on their way to Soledad after what happened in Weed. Lennie wants to be cheered up after having issues in Weed. George says to Lennie, “ Ok someday-we’re gonna get the jack together and we’re gonna have a little house and a couple of acres an’ a cow and some pigs.” George is telling Lennie no matter what happens to us at this moment later in life they are going to have a whole house together. Lennie loves when George tells him a story because Lennie knows that there is hope in their dreams. No matter what George will try to cheer Lennie up. George knows how much Lennie loves animals, and telling him this will keep their friendship very strong. George and Lennie will always have a friendship because they have been with each other for such a long period of time.
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
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck is about the friendship between George Milton and Lennie Small, who travel together due to the fact that Lennie suffered a childlike mental illness and someone needed to take care of him. Lennie only listens to his friend George, no matter what George may say. This novel shows characteristics of their true friendship and George's compassion towards his companion. George shows acts of love and kindness out of sympathy for Lennie, yet he also seems to show an unconscious effort to make up for Lennie’s mental impairment.
“Trouble with mice is you always kill 'em. ” This quote was taken from the famous story, Of Mice and Men, written by John Steinbeck. It is directed to one of the main characters, Lennie Small, and although seemingly inconsequential can describe him and his actions almost perfectly. Through this quote, the author expresses Lennie's inability to know his own strength, the reason he accidentally kills the mice. He consistently makes mistakes like these throughout the story. Mistakes that have consequences, and help to express important ideas to readers. Lennie Small is a static character with the mind of a child, used as an effective tool by the John Steinbeck to send messages to people all around the world.
Man needs companionship and has difficulty maintaining it because no humans think the exact same or have the exact same beliefs. To maintain a companion you must have things in common, you must be able to disagree with a sort of respectful understanding, and finally you must care legitimately about that person. These three requirements to preserve a companionship are at times arduous to keep true. Some people do not have the time, concern, or the ability to sustain a veritable friendship with a companion or companions.
Life is an array of emotions and experiences. At times it blesses us with experiences that instill feelings of happiness and joy, in which we are able to celebrate life and all it could offer us. Other times life hits us in the face, letting us endure hardships, sadness, depression and loss. Most may argue that Of Mice and Men is either intended to celebrate the joys of life or meant to be a depressing book. Yet what most fail to see is that Of Mice and Men portrays both aspects of human life through the mutual friendship of two uncommonly men, George and Lennie, the dream they both share, and the sudden calamity that befall them.
...sive obsession to touch soft things played a part in this as well. This is due to the fact that he only touched the puppy because its fur was soft and only touched Curley’s wife because she offered her hair for him to touch. Combined these flaws lead the deaths of Curley’s wife, the puppy and himself.
What is there left to do when helping someone disabled is completely out of our reach because it is impossible to look after them every second of the day? In the story Of Mice and Men, one issue John Steinbeck mentions throughout the book is the relationship between George and Lennie vs. Lennie’s disability. Lennie is a big strong man, capable of seriously hurting anyone, with the mentality of a child which sets George back on his own dreams for the reason that Lennie cannot care for himself. They have to travel together for this reason and as tough as it is already watching over Lennie, they are running away from an incident that happened in Weed, their previous job. Lennie‘s disability is the main conflict and because he is not fully capable of understanding how to control himself fully, he is not to be fully blamed for his mistakes; which in fact, all lead to the exposition, climax, and resolution of the story. Curley, the boss’s son, becomes threatened by Lennie’s large appearance and Curley’s wife flirtatious personality is a problem when Lennie could easily fall into her traps and all this leads to Lennie’s death.
John Steinbeck, the American author of the multi-award winning novella, Of Mice & Men, wrote the telling story of two men, George and Lennie, whom are trying to find their way in a dark time during the Great Depression. Steinbeck depicts his novella’s character, Lennie, as a dependant unknowing man that has more in common with a bear, rather than an adult, accompanied by alongside with George who looks after him. The characters are united by their strong belief in the American Dream and navigate their way to it by working on a farm. However, as a result of Lennie killing Curley’s wife, George has an ultimatum to either let Lennie be lynched by the farmer’s, or to mercy kill him and save Lennie the pain. In this essay there will be analytical discussion of the events leading up to Lennie’s death and why we should justify George’s actions.
In addition, Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men depicts the universal lesson of characters possessing relentless ambitions while remaining constricted to a life of hardship. George and Lennie share a common objective, living freely on their own land, being their own bosses, and tending woodland animals. During desperate times on the ranch, when men would begin to doubt their possibilities, Lennie would incessantly
John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men fathoms the suffused effects of the Great Depression’; following two itinerant friends: Lennie Small and George Milton. The novella incessantly portrays violence through the deliberate use of circumstance and character’s temperament. The theme of cruelty permeates the plot, considering Steinbeck’s belief: “humans are naturally cruel”; which derives from the reasonable actions performed by the characters in the book. These primary and secondary characters explore cruelty through many stages, such as , the act of regretting someone’s presence, racism and segregation,
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck In 1937, author John Steinbeck wrote the novel "Of Mice and Men" which was based on the Wall Street crash and how it affected the American people. This was the first novel written by an American writer describing their own culture. The novel is based in Soledad (California), which means a town of loneliness. American writers at that time were mostly writing stories and novels based on European culture and history.
Society has continuously shown prejudice towards those who suffer through mental disabilities. Especially in times when there was no knowledge of mental disabilities like the Great Depression,which is the time period of John Steinbeck's novella Of Mice and Men. In the novella,Steinbeck shows a childlike innocence in Lennie because of his disability,but is treated wrongly because of it.Steinbeck depicts Lennie as a sympathetic character by highlighting his childlike innocence with his inability of controlling his strength,his lack of comprehending abstract concepts,which conveys that innocence is disregarded in society and has a fatal end.
In the Salinas River Valley, after the Great Depression, there were a large number of unemployed workers seeking jobs. In the fiction novel "Of Mice and Men," by John Steinbeck, Lennie Small is among one of those men. Lennie and his friend George both have just received jobs on a ranch as farm workers. What brings the two together is their dream to someday own their own land. Lennie has a lot of character and personality traits that define him. One trait that he has is he is very forgetful. Another trait he has is he is very curious. A final trait he has is that he is very reliant. Although he might not be the intelligent person in the book, he has a very well developed personality. Lennie demonstrates his personality and character traits throughout the novel.
In the novella “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck tells the story of two bestfriends who rely on one another to achieve their dreams. George and Lennie are in search of work during the 1930’s, and it’s not easy with Lennie’s mental illness. Throughout the story Lennie causes trouble for most of the characters, such as the time where he ended up killing Curley’s wife. In the novella Steinbeck expresses themes of visions of America, dreams,hopes, and plans,man and the natural world, friendship and justice. These themes are introduced through symbols like the dream farm,the characters such as George , and through the settings like the pool by the river.