The innocence of animals is blinding in the first stages of life. They don’t know bad from good yet, or what to do in troublesome situations. The same goes for Lennie Small in John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men. Lennie cannot control himself, and he does exactly what George, his companion and authority figure, tells him to do. Steinbeck uses animal imagery in Of Mice and Men to express Lennie’s innocence, and desire to meet George’s standards. An animal is sweet and innocent until you provoke it, and the same goes for Lennie. Descriptive animal imagery was used to describe Lennie because it was the perfect metaphor for Lennie himself, and his future actions against the boss’ son, the boss’ son’s wife, and a puppy. Just like a puppy, Lennie does not know right from wrong yet, and even drinks from a “green pool” with “long gulps, snorting into the water like a horse.” Lennie looks to George for support, and assurance. When the boys are at the pool Lennie begins playing around in the water; making rings by plunging his fingers in the murky …show more content…
water over and over. “... rings widened across the pool to the other side and came back again. Lennie watched them go. ‘Look, George. Look what I done.’” He is proud of the rings he made in the water, and eager to show George. George has to watch over Lennie carefully, and often has to clean up his messes. “‘Oh, so ya forgot that too, did ya? Well, I ain’t gonna remind ya, fear ya do it again.’” George and Lennie had to run from the last town they lived in, Weed, because Lennie got in trouble touching a girl’s dress. George was the one who had to find them a new ranch to work on so they could still get paid. All of Lennie’s actions copy that of George, just like a puppy in training would copy the moves his owner makes. Copying George shows the desire to be like him, and the innocence behind his actions.
When the boys camp at the pool, George is lying on his back, stargazing. “Lennie, who had been watching, imitated George exactly... Looked over to George to see if he had it just right.” Lennie often copies George’s actions, and will go along with anything George says. This shows his desire to be like George, and Lennie thinks he can live up to George’s set standards by being like him. “‘You said I was your cousin, George.’ ‘Well that was a lie.’” The boss had come in the bunkhouse and started questioning George and Lennie. When he asked why George kept talking for Lennie, he had said they were cousins. Lennie agreed, but mentioned it soon after the boss left. He clearly views George as an authoritative figure, and tries to obey and please him, so he doesn’t ask questions. This again shows his dependency toward George, and his animal like
innocence. The working class people of the time were working in hard, lonely conditions. Often times, they had no friends, no companions, and no one to look out for. George had Lennie, and Lennie had George. When the boys got to the ranch, Lennie captivated the workers with his animal behavior and innocence. “‘Jesus,’ he said. ‘He’s jes’ like a kid, ain’t he.’” Slim had witnessed George acting fatherly toward Lennie, making him put his puppy back in the nest and scolding him for taking it out. “‘’Long as you won’t get out and leave me alone, you might as well set down.’” Crooks gave up on trying to get rid of Lennie, and eventually had him come in. Lennie was persistent as a child to come in, and it eventually cracked Crooks. Even though all the men on the ranch had it rough, Lennie could always make them smile. Animal imagery was a great choice of description on John Steinbeck’s part because it clearly reflected Lennie’s behavior. He was so innocent it made him likable, and he so wanted to meet George’s standards. Just like a dog who wanted to please the trainer, Lennie followed George’s every move.
why Lennie and George Travel together and is not very understanding. Although you never find
John Steinbeck, an American novelist, is well-known for his familiar themes of depression and loneliness. He uses these themes throughout a majority of his novels. These themes come from his childhood and growing up during the stock market crash. A reader can see his depiction of his childhood era. In Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck shows the prominent themes of loneliness, the need for relationships, and the loss of dreams in the 1930s through the novels’ character.
Lennie's Passion for Soft Objects in Of Mice and Men Works Cited Missing Definition of the word trace: follow, hint, and mark out. In this essay I will trace in detail soft things that Lennie pets in the novel, showing that the petting grows more serious as the novel goes on. In the novel Lennie pets mice, he dreams about petting rabbits, destroys someone's dress in Weed, hurts Curly's hand, kills a pup, and kills Curley's wife. Bad things come in threes, Lennie's two accidental killings of animals foreshadow the final killing of
At the beginning, the author describes his movement using a metaphor, as Lennie “[drags] his feet… the way a bear drags his paws” (p.2), to show that he is much alike a bear physically. In addition, Steinbeck uses a simile to emphasize Lennie’s animal-like behaviour, as he “[drinks] wit long gulps, snorting into the water like a horse” (p.3). By comparing his physical and behavioural characteristics, this can foreshadow that the author implies that Lennie is seen as more animal than human because of his metal disabilities. George further makes it evident when he infers that “somebody [would] shoot [him] for a coyote if [he] was by [himself]” (p.12). This shows that people are scared of him and his unpredictable, animal-like behaviour because of the lack of understanding about mental health during the early 1900s. Furthermore, this can be the foundation for the theme where the lack of communication and understanding with the mentally disabled can lead to dire and tragic
Imagery is shown through two hallucinations that Lennie has before the end of the book. He has just escaped the ranch because of the accidentally killing of Curley's wife. Lennie also realizes that George will not let him tend rabbits on a farm, which was the desire that he wanted the most. After all George said, "But you ain't gonna get in no trouble, because if you do, I won't let you tend the rabbits" (65). Constantly throughout the book, Lennie pesters George about taking care of rabbits on a farm of their own; tending rabbits was Lennie's dream. As he hides near the river where he and George stayed the night before going to the ranch, Lennie begins seeing his Aunt Clara. But Aunt Clara was speaking in Lennie's voice. She begins to blame
Lennie was not very smart and couldn't do much by himself. He had to be told what to do or he wouldn't do anything at all. He fits all the profiles for a retarded person. He doesn't have any self-control. When he starts to panic he gets out of control and even kills Curly's wife because she starts to scream. Lennie loves animals and can't stop talking about them. He always says that when they get their own place that he wants lots of rabbits, his favorite animal. To him George is like his father figure, since Lennie never really had any parents. He is easily amused and panics quickly.
Since the beginning of the book, Steinbeck characterizes Lennie as a man who sees the world through the perspective of a child, as if it is a dream. Lennie is a big guy, but he acts like a baby. In the beginning of the story, after George threw the dead mouse Lennie was petting, Lennie was “…‘Blubberin’ like a baby!” (9). This juvenile action demonstrates Lennie’s immaturity and childish
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
John Steinbeck explores human experience in the novella ‘Of Mice and Men’ in friendship, loneliness and marginalisation. He does this through the characters as explained thought the paragraphs below.
The quote that inspired John Steinbeck was the best laid schemes often go off track can be seen in the novel of Mice and Men. When Curley's wife met a man in her childhood that offered her to be an actress but the chance went away and she later died. Then Curley wanted to be a professional boxer but the dream never happened and he became a farmer then got his hand broken for trying to be tough. George and Lennie were going to buy a farm to live off the fat of the land then Lennie had to get in trouble and George had to give up the dream and kill Lennie for what he had done.
Although John Steinbeck’s novelette Of Mice and Men included a vast away of interesting characters, Lennie was one that sparked my interest the most. Small’s personality is similar to that of an innocent child’s; he is also often depicted like an animal, as he is as strong as a bull (as Milton describes him), but acts like a dog. Small is also mentally handicapped, feels security when it comes to touching soft items, and does not understand many abstract ideas. We can look at all of these traits through his devoted dependency towards George. Though he acts this way, he does not actually comprehend this idea of loyalty. As a result, he often gets into trouble without the intention of doing so, and once he does, only defines his troubles in terms of consequences, as he says “George goin’ to give me hell” or “George ain’t gonna’ let me tend them rabbits no more.” Despite his repetitive behavior, he never understands the reason why his actions are incorrect. In the beginning of the story, an instance the reader can observe his animal-like (or childish) behavior is when he slurps...
In my opinion, Lennie Small is the most interesting character in Steinbeck's novel Of Mice and Men. Steinbeck does a very good job describing and characterizing Lennie's personality. Lennie's character is, indeed, quite unique. A large man with enormous strength, yet kind and childlike, he seems to find joy in simple life pleasures like petting a furry animal and making the water ripple. Lennie's greatest difficulty seems to be remembering; and it is the lack of the ability to remember that ultimately leads to his tragedy at the end of the book. In the novel, Steinbeck seems to reinforce Lennie's characteristics of strength, kindness, childlike manner, and somewhat animal-like personality. In this paper, I will focus on these characteristics.
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.
In the first chapter, the reader is introduced to George and Lennie. They approach water and Lennie had "flung down and drank from the surface of the pool; drank with long gulps, snorting... Like a horse". He also dips "his whole head, hat and all" into the water without checking if it was clean first. It was a reckless action that he did often, which was indicated by the way George said he would get "sick like [he] was last night". The way Lennie is compared to a horse shows that he is being guided, and that he had no care in the world. Lennie is shown to be a careless and mentally challenged man who acts similar to a child, getting fascinated by the way the water "arose in little splashes" when he "wiggled his fingers" in it. He is similar to an irresponsible child and he is also cared for like one by George, and he carries the innocence of one. He doesn't seem aware of how his actions affect the things around him, which can be seen by what he did at Weed.
Lennie is nervous to talk to most people other than George, so George answers most questions that are asked to Lennie. Since George is always looking after Lennie, Lennie is always looks up to George as a big brother/hero. The book states “He cried “Make ‘um stop, George”. George will always be there to help Lennie when he’s stuck in a hard situation.Although, George and Lennie are very close and will always look out for each other.They still have many difficulties in their friendship. Lennie is always acting like a child and George gets annoyed for always having to take care and watch over Lennie’s every move. During the beginning of the book it states “Lennie for God’ sakes don’t drink so much.” George always is watching after Lennie and making sure he doesnt doing something he shouldn’t and mess something up. Lennie never knows what he is doing and forgets almost everything.George also gets annoyed when he tells Lennie something he’s not supposed to do but he still does it. It states “ I wasnt doin nothing bad with it, George. Jus strokin it”. Lennie didn’t understand what he was doing wrong. Lennie always is hurting/killing animals without