Comparing Lennie In John Steinbeck's 'Of Mice And Men'

Words: 1223
Pages: 5
Open Document
Lainey Hill
Mrs. Donoho
Pre-AP English
1 December 2016
Follow the Leader
Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, is the story of two men who are going through life together trying to achieve a common goal. George is the leader and the smarter of the two men. Lennie is very large and has some sort of developmental delay. As the story comes to an end, George is faced with a very difficult decision. The goal of this paper is to analyze the motives of George’s character as he deceives Lennie and discuss how the deception contributes to the meaning of the story as a whole. Early in the book it is established that Lennie has made a lot of mistakes because of his large size and his special needs. George is trying to take care of Lennie, but Lennie basically …show more content…
George says:
“O.K. Now when we go in to see the boss, what you gonna do?” “ I…I, Lennie thought. His face grew tight with thought. “I ain’t gonna say nothin. Jus’ gonna stan’ there.” “Good boy. That’s swell. You say that over two, three times so …show more content…
For example, Curley tries to pick a fight with Lennie. Curley was beating Lennie up and Lennie refused to fight back. Finally George had witnessed enough and gave Lennie permission to fight back. “Curley’s fist was swinging when Lennie reached for it. The next minute Curley was flopping like a fish on a line, and his closed fist was lost in Lennie’s big hand. George ran down the room. “ Leggo of him, Lennie. Let go.” (Steinbeck, 63). By the time Lennie finally let go of Curley’s hand it was crushed. George also tells of a time at the place they worked before when George refused to let go of a girl’s dress because he knew he was in trouble and he just froze. This same kind of behavior led to Lennie’s ultimate fall. Lennie was in the barn with his puppy that George had allowed him to have. Lennie had been told many times to not handle the puppy very much or the puppy would get hurt. Almost all of the guys including George had gone to town and Lennie stayed to play with the puppy in the barn. Lennie squashed the puppy and killed it. He was really scared and knew he was going to be in trouble with George when along came Curley’s wife. Lennie knew George had said not to talk to her. “Lennie glared at her. ‘George says I ain’t to have nothing to do with you-talk to you or nothing.’”(Steinbeck, 86). Lennie tries his hardest but she keeps
Show More

Related Documents: Comparing Lennie In John Steinbeck's 'Of Mice And Men'

Comparing Lennie In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

John Steinbacks magnum opus, Of Mice and Men, is expertly written and shines most prominently with how effectively he can describe and portray its characters. No character speaks more to me in how connected I feel with them than Lennie, an, on the surface, very unintelligent and brutal character, who is miles deeper than that. George describes these allegations with the quote, “Course he ain't mean. But he gets in trouble all the time because he's so Goddamn dumb”(Steinback 41). This quote from George…

Words 229 - Pages 1

Comparing Lennie In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

I think that I am most like Lennie from Of Mice And Men. For example, we are both caring (pg. 93-95). Even though Lennie cannot take care of himself, he does everything within his ability to take care of his friend George. We also both do not like being alone. This book shows that everything is better with a friend (pg. 113). I’d hate to admit it, but I’m far from perfect and so was Lennie. Every now and then we both fail to understand just how much our actions can affect other people’s lives and…

Words 349 - Pages 2

Comparing George And Lennie In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

The book Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck is a popular book written in 1937. The two main characters in the book are George and Lennie. George is a short and clever man but Lennie is a huge, strong, and dumb man. Lennie follows George and looks to him for instructions like a child would to a parent. The two men travel the country searching for work during the Great Depression. When the story begins, George and Lennie are heading to a ranch that they will work on for the duration of the story. Throughout…

Words 475 - Pages 2

Comparing George And Lennie In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

George and Lennie’s relationship in Of Mice and Men is depicted through out the first chapter as complex for many reasons. George and Lennie are first introduced as two men who walk in a single file line and both wear denim trousers, denim coats with buttons, and black hats. Once the men begin to interact, the reader can tell they are not so similar. George and Lennie are two ranchers, but otherwise, they have completely different personalities. Lennie is an innocent man who happens to forget most…

Words 435 - Pages 2

Comparing George And Lennie In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

Of Mice and Men is a classic novella, written by John Steinbeck and published in 1937. The novella is about two friends, George and Lennie, who work on ranches for a living, moving around the country. George is small and clever, while Lennie is large and mentally handicapped. Even with these colossal differences, George and Lennie are best friends and travel together while working, which is not common in ranch workers at the time. During the novella, the two friends work at a ranch near Salinas,…

Words 1199 - Pages 5

Comparing George And Lennie In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

characters from the novel of mice and men by John Steinbeck, are George and Lennie. Lennie and George were different in so many ways, George; tall, skinny, and has street smarts.on the other hand, Lennie is short, fat, and is mentally challenged. They don't share many things in common, but one thing they do is that they both want to share and live on a farm together. Lennie some days dreams to have a bunch of rabbits, he can tend himself. Now it's important to remind you that Lennie loves to feel fluffy…

Words 420 - Pages 2

Comparing George And Lennie's Relationship In Of Mice And Men

even sacrifice their lives for each other because they love each other that much. To the contrary, their relationship actually contains many flaws that many people fail to notice. Yet, while comparing their relationship to George and Lennie’s relationship, characters of John Steinbeck’s novel, Of Mice and Men, it is clear to notice how George and Lennie’s friendship…

Words 169 - Pages 1

Human Nature In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

In John Steinbeck’s 1937 classic novel, Of Mice and Men, the author uses the hard times during the Great Depression reveal the faults in human nature. The novel features two migrant workers– George Milton and Lennie Small– who share an idiosyncratic friendship as they travel together. The plotline follows the unlikely duo as they struggle to achieve their far-off dream of owning a rabbit farm. Steinbeck uses of comparison to animals, indirect characterization, and the literary devices of symbolism…

Words 850 - Pages 4

Abuse Of Power In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

Bethke Of Mice and Men During the 1920’s and even today people continue to showoff, abuse and override others with there power. During John Steinbeck’s novel three characters stood out by taking advantage of their control. Curley's wife abused her power by picking on Crooks and the other men in the barn because she has more power over them and intimidates them. She frightens the men due to her supperiority on the farm. Likewise, Crooks the crippled African American takes advantage of Lennie. He gains…

Words 1006 - Pages 5

Explore the Ways in Which John Steinbeck Presents He Character of Lennie in ‘of Mice and Men’ Essay

Explore the ways in which John Steinbeck presents he character of Lennie in ‘Of Mice and Men’ In this essay I am going to be writing about one of the main characters in John Steinbeck’s novella ‘Of Mice and Men’. The story portrays the travels and arising problems of two migrant workers who share an uncommon friendship for the time and environment in which the novella is set. Lennie Small is the character I will be exploring and I will start off by giving a detailed explanation of his physical…

Words 2190 - Pages 9