John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men

729 Words2 Pages

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)

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