Lennie Small; A simple man with a simple mind in a not-so-simple world. Lennie is mentally handicapped, living in the 1930’s during the Great Depression with his friend and caretaker, George. Because Lennie has the mind of a child, but the strength and appearance of a 30-year-old man, he often gets into trouble. He poorly tries to hide the evidence of his wrongdoings and cannot fully understand the consequences of his own actions which ultimately results in his death. In John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, Lennie’s death is foreshadowed in conversations, Lennie’s tendency of petting animals too roughly, and the events that happen in Weed and on the ranch. In the beginning of Of Mice and Men, George and Lennie are on a bank of the Salinas River …show more content…
Thier discussions reflect how George later feels when he kills Lennie. “‘God awmighty, that dog stinks… You gotta get him out… Why’n’t you shoot him, Candy? The old man squirmed uncomfortably. “Well―hell! I had him so long. Had him since he was a pup’”(44). Candy objects to shooting his dog. He overlooks his odor and old age because he considers his dog his best friend and if his dog is dead, he does not have anyone left. Because of this, Candy is willing to pay for such a large portion of George and Lennie’s dream farm; because he will have company in his old age and the ability to do some gentle farm work. George has a similar relationship with Lennie. He insists that Lennie stay with him even though Lennie gets him into so much trouble because he feels obligated to care for him.“‘Look, Candy. This ol’ dog jus’ suffers hisself all the time. If you was to take him out and shoot him right in the back of the head―’ he leaned over and pointed, ‘―right there, why he’d never know what hit him.’ … ‘Tell you what. I’ll shoot him for you. Then it won't be you that does it’… ‘Maybe it’d hurt him’ … Carlson said, ‘The way I’d shoot him, he wouldn't feel nothing. I’d put the gun right there’”(45). Carlson reassures Candy that his dog won’t feel any pain when he dies. Candy agrees to let Carlson shoot his dog but he later regrets this and expresses that …show more content…
Most of the problems that Lennie creates are because of his fascination with soft things, especially the rabbits on their dream farm. This causes many problems for Lennie throughout the novella, including his death. In the beginning of the novella, George finds a dead mouse that Lennie has in his pocket and they talk about his habit of killing the soft things. “‘What you got in your hand―hidin’ it?’ ‘I ain’t got nothin’, George. Honest.’ ‘Come on, give it here.’ Lennie held his closed hand away from George’s direction. ‘It’s on’y a mouse, George … Jus’ a dead mouse. I didn’ kill it. Honest! I found it. I found it dead.’ ‘Give it here’ … George took the mouse and threw it across the pool to other side, among the brush… There were sounds of splashing down by the river in the direction… ‘Awright,’ he said brusquely. ‘Gi’me that mouse!’ … George stood up and threw the mouse as he could into the darkening brush … Lennie’s lip quivered and tears started in his eyes...”(5-9). Lennie acts like a child. He kills the mouse petting it, lamely lies about having the mouse and how it died, jumps back into the river to fetch it thinking that George wouldn’t notice, refuses to hand it over to George, and cries when it gets taken away. This isn’t the first time Lennie has killed a mouse or animal. When he lived with his Aunt Clara she would give him mice she found. “‘I remember a lady used to give ’em to me…’ She
Candy thought "I am not going to no one for help. This ranchers was thrilled to kill Lennie and now they don't even care about George who was caught in their place."
In the novel, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, foreshadowing is used a great deal throughout the whole story. From the beginning to the end, it appears everywhere hinting on what will happen in order to make the book more enjoyable. It was used to show that Lennie will be getting into trouble with Curley's wife, the death of Lennie, and exactly how he dies.
Have you ever watched a movie and knew what the ending was before it was over? Characters from the story use foreshadowing to hint on what will happen in the future. There are many examples of foreshadowing that John Steinbeck creates in Of MIce and Men. some key uses of foreshadowing that Steinbeck uses in Of MIce and Men are there wishes of the ranch but their plans going askew, how curley's wife will die, how they will not get the ranch, and lastly how lennie will die.
In California, two friends travel together to attempt to achieve their life long dream of owning their own farm. As they are traveling, they encounter situations that affect their future plans. During the Great Depression, George and Lennie, the main characters, begin searching for work to pay for their dream. As they search for work, George notices that Lennie can’t control his own strength. When they find work, they face many problems on the job especially with the bosses son, Curley. In Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck uses Foreshadowing as a unifying device to reveal future events that may occur later in the story.
Has loneliness ever creeped up your spine? Has the palm of lonesome ever managed slapped you across the cheek, leaving a mark that is unable to be faded; physical pain from such a mentally-fitted emotion? Of Mice and Men is a book about two men - George and Lennie - who travel together, both having a dream of grabbing a plot of land to begin their own farm. Furthermore, foreshadowing is an important aspect of this book; but, what is foreshadowing? To answer this in Layman's terms, foreshadowing is the process of hinting at future events. In Of Mice and Men, there are various traces of the writer’s use of foreshadowing. This includes the title itself, Lennie accidentally harming various creatures, Crook’s skeptic-attitude towards George and Lennie, and the general inhumanity of people at that time.
George begins to hear the footsteps of the other men. To prevent the men from killing Lennie, George decides he has to kill Lennie himself. The scene is almost parallel to when Carlson shot Candy’s dog and Candy regretted that he did not kill his dog himself, but allowed a complete stranger to do it. As George talks to Lennie about the dream farm, “.[George] raised the gun and steadied it, and he brought the muzzle of it close to the back of Lennie’s head. He pulled the trigger.
The Characters and Relationships in Chapter One of Of Mice and Men We are introduced to the two main characters in chapter one, not by their names, but by their descriptions. Steinbeck compares and contrasts the appearances and mentality of the two characters; they are both described as having similar clothes and they both carry blanket rolls, but otherwise they are more dissimilar than alike. They are dissimilar in size, for example Lennie is 'a huge man, shapeless of face, with large pale eyes, with wide sloping shoulders', while George is 'small and quick, dark of face, with restless eyes and sharp, strong features'. Their difference in intelligence is hinted at when Steinbeck describes their reactions towards the pond; Lennie 'walked heavily, dragging his feet a little, the way a bear drags his paws. His arms...hung loosely' and he rushes to the pond and starts gulping down water immersing his whole head in the water.
Lennie is unintelligent all throughout the story. “‘Uh-uh. Jus’ a dead mouse, George. I didn’t kill it. Honest! I found it. I found it dead.’” This quote shows that Lennie doesn’t understand that keeping a dead mouse as a pet is not sanitary and not the right thing to do. Another time, George was exclaiming to Slim that he once told Lennie to jump into the Sacramento River and there Lennie went, right into the river. This trait of Lennie’s effects the story because it got him and George kicked out of Weed when he wanted to feel a girl’s dress. It also got him into trouble when they got to their new job. His unintelligence gets him into more trouble as the story goes on making him anything but a sympathetic character.
Lennie accidentally killing all of his pets establishes that the theme of this novel is death and loss. These pets consist of mice, dogs, kittens, etc. Lennie loves to feel and pet animals, but he does not know his own strength. He kills them without really noticing what he has done, until George tells him that he did something wrong. After being scolded, Lennie is very remorseful about what he did. Once, after being yelled at Lennie says, “I pinched their heads a little and then they was dead- because they were so little (13).” Lennie’s remorse is probably more for upsetting George than it is for actually killing the animal.
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
In the novela Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck produces many characters that make a huge impact to the story. Some of the most extraordinary characters are George, Lennie, Candy, and many more. Lennie Smalls is the most heard character throughout the whole novela. Steinbeck does a splendid job of characterizing Lennie’s personality and showing emotions to set the mood of dark and pessimistic. Lennie’s character is very unique for how he acts, as Lennie is a large man that can be very kind but also very powerful. His greatest difficulty is that he cannot remember anything from what others say to him. Steinbeck really seems to reinforce Lennie’s characteristics of strength, kindness, being childish, etc.!
One of Lennie's many traits is his forgetfulness. He easily forgets what he is supposed to do, but he somehow never forgets what he is told. An example of how Lennie is forgetful is when he has the mice in his pocket and when he went to pet them they bit his finger. “Lennie picked up the dead mouse and looked at with a sad face. When they bit him he pinched them, and by doing that he crushed their heads” (page 5) . This is important because he knew that if he squeezed their heads they would die, but since he is forgetful, he squeezed anyway. Another example of how Lennie is forgetful is when he grabbed Curley's hand and crushed it. “ Curley’s fist was swinging when Lennie reached for it. Lennie squeezed on until George came running in shouting ‘let go’. The next moment Curley was on the ground wailing while he held his crushed hand” (page 64). This event is important because Lennie had held on, not knowing what to do next, until George told him what to do. A final exampl...
Curley's wife, an accident that seals his own fate and destroys not only his dreams but George's and Candy's as well. In the beginning Lennie used to pet mice that his Aunt Clara used to give him, he would always end up killing them because he didn't know his own strength. Lennie never killed any pet or person purposely; he pets too roughly and kills them accidentally. An example of his rough tendencies is in the first chapter (page7) when Lennie wants to keep a dead mouse and George wouldn't let him Lennie says" Uh-uh. Jus' a dead mouse, George.
As one of the protagonists and the tragic hero, Lennie Small plays one of the most important parts in the novel ‘Of Mice and Men’ by John Steinbeck. Lennie Small was a flat character due to the fact that all the way to the end of the novel and his life he never gave up on his dream with George to own a farm and have rabbits. Lennie also never lost his innocence and his childish presence and behaviour throughout the text. Lennie passed away happily, thinking of his dream of the farm and having rabbits. In the novel, Lennie had a strong, undying friendship with his friend George Milton.
Unknown to Lennie, the mice may have had a dream just like him. Though most mice probably would not have dreamt about owning their own land, a dream may have still existed. Maybe the mice would have wanted to live some place safe from people. Dreaming of a place in which a mouse could eat all the time not having to search for food, Lennie may have killed them. This harsh reality is exactly the same as what had happened to Lennie. It is unable to be disproved that what George had done to Lennie in his time of weakness was not the same as what Lennie had done to the mice in their time of helplessness. Possibly, that was how the mice wanted to die though, happy picturing their dreams in their heads. On the other hand, one is not to be sure that these mice did not die in excruciating pain, paralyzed by the touch of this enormous creature.