Lennie In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

Words: 671
Pages: 3
Open Document
In John Steinbeck's novel Of Mice and Men set during the Great Depression, Lennie is one of the main characters. Lennie and George, his friend, go to work on a ranch near Soledad, California (Steinbeck 1). Lennie is described in this quote by George, “Oh! I ain’t saying he’s bright. He ain’t.” as not very smart (Steinbeck 22). John Steinbeck’s novel Of Mice and Men, Lennie Small may not be smart, but he is kind-hearted, strong, and hardworking.
First, Lennie is introduced as a big and strong man, but he is very kind hearted. When Lennie feels, he has done something to upset George he says “If you don’t want me, you only jus’ got to say so, and I’ll go off into those hills right there⎯right up in those hills and live by myself” (Steinbeck 13). He has an emotional soft spot for George because he never wants to inconvenience him. George is the only person Lennie has left in the world who will truly care for him, so …show more content…
He is praised by Slim for working hard by saying “Maybe he ain’t bright, but I never seen such a worker as not very smart but a hard worker. He damn near killed his partner buckin’ barley. There ain’t nobody can keep up with him” (Steinbeck 39). He is working hard to help George get enough money for a ranch of their own. He knows if he works hard he George will let him take care of the rabbits. When Lennie is in stressful situations he panics, and gets in trouble; like when he touches a girl’s dress because it is soft, and she starts screaming. Lennie’s first reaction is to hold on tighter, but that makes it worse and gets him in big trouble (Steinback 41). He doesn’t know any better when he gets panicked, he just does what his first instinct is. When George tells him to stop he does, and when he realizes what he has done it makes him sad and upset because he hurt someone. His like for soft things sometimes puts him in stressful situations, but he really works hard in the
Show More

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

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

central California, John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men tells of two migrant workers, George and Lennie. The story opens with the duo beginning a new job on a ranch. They want to earn enough money to achieve their dream of owning their own land; however, Lennie’s disability repeatedly gets the two into serious trouble. George and Lennie's personalities complement each other perfectly and form a pair that could only be separated by one force--death. George is a loyal man who leads Lennie and exercises great…

Words 524 - Pages 3

The Tragedy Of Lennie In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

decision is up to you. In John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, George felt this way in the end. Lennie was not the easiest person to handle and control and many say that is not an excuse. However, many do not realize that Lennie was hurting others along with himself and the choice George made was the best in Lennie’s interest and those around him. Therefore, George’s decision to kill Lennie is justified because George had realized that their dream would never happen because Lennie was only getting worse…

Words 630 - Pages 3

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

In John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, the two main characters George and Lennie maintain a lasting friendship even when faced with extreme adversity. Lennie suffers from a mental disability. Eventually, Lennie makes choices that negatively affect everyone around him. Steinbeck illustrates in his novel, that Lennie has some responsibility concerning his choices. Therefore, mentally challenged people should be accountable for their actions to some degree to prevent further wrong choices and to protect…

Words 377 - Pages 2

Lennie In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

started. This really describes the character Lennie, a main character who advances the plot from Of Mice and Men. Lennie stands out to be because he grew as a character, then went right back to where he started, as a character. In many ways, Lenni is the opposite of George. Where George is smart and knows how to keep a job, Lennie just has deficient knowledge. He has strength he doesn’t know he has and also acts so innocent, kind of like a dog! Lennie has the personality of a child. He is innocent…

Words 427 - Pages 2

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

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…

Words 1223 - Pages 5

Lennie In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

First, Lennie Small has a childlike character; he never acts like the adult he is. An example of this is when Lennie was playing around in the water. Steinbeck writes, “Lennie dabbled his big paw in the water and wiggled his fingers so the water arose in little splashes;rings widened across the pool to the other side and came back again. Lennie watched them go. ‘Look, George. Look what I done’” (Steinbeck 3). This reveals that Lennie is childlike because of his actions. A full-grown man doesn’t…

Words 820 - Pages 4

Lennie In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

In the novella, “Of Mice and Men”, you are introduced to the two main characters. Your first impression is about how these two interact and how they relate to each other, and how one looks out for the other. These two are named George and Lennie, and both of them have each other for whatever they need. This could also be referred to as a close friendship. Despite the fact that Lennie is mentally ill, he still has a sense of how George treats him. In “Mice and Men”, George understands, cares, and…

Words 705 - Pages 3

Lennie In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

In Of Mice And Men almost every character in the story is either physically or mentally handicapped . Most of them aren't obvious but they are definitely there. Lennie, the enormous, baby like man has the most obvious handicap. Even though it isn’t physical, it is still expressed in his everyday life. In the beginning of the story they described him as “ A huge man, shapeless of face, with large pale eyes, with wide, sloping shoulders; and he walked heavily, dragging his feet a little, the…

Words 218 - Pages 1

Lennie In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

The book Of Mice and Men is about two migrant workers named George and Lennie. It is hard for them to find work because Lennie had a disability and nobody knows he had a disability. They just know that Lennie forgets really easy, doesn’t know his own strength, and really likes mice but accidentally kills them. Lennie doesn’t really make friends with the others like George does because they others think he is stupid, so he is left out most of the time. I feel bad for Lennie because he does get left…

Words 592 - Pages 3

Lennie In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

The wonderful book Of Mice and Men by the sweet writing style of John Steinbeck was an amazing adventure. What brought the story alive were the colorful characters and how they were used to create and show the theme. Of all the characters in this book, the ones that stood out were: Lennie for his view of the world around him and how he was shown and labeled "different" but yet manage to break that label. Crooks was another wonderful bright character, his part was small yet huge in the theme and book…

Words 818 - Pages 4