Jalousness In Of Mice And Men

I believe that from Chapter 1, one may conclude that George uses kindness as well as callousness while attending to Lennie. Lennie can certainly bring out the anger and cruelty in George’s attitude, but overall George is just looking out for him. George knows that if he would stray from Lennie, people may take advantage of him and he would not last very long by himself. But sometimes, George’s way of expressing himself can be perceived as cruelty and harshness. One example of when George was looking out for Lennie was when Lennie started to drink the questionable water in the pond. Lennie starts gulping down handfuls of the water from the pond, and George is hesitant to let him proceed, thinking the pond may be unsafe to drink. He does not want Lennie to

become ill, protecting him from the questionable water. One example of when George shows callousness is when Lennie goes and retrieves the dead mouse from the bushes on the other side of the pond. As Lennie gave the dead mouse to George, George exclaims, “You crazy fool. Don’t you think I could see your feet was wet where you went acrost the river to get it? …. Blubberin’ like a baby! Jesus Christ! A big guy like you” (9). This phrase suggests that George does not show any sympathy for Lennie when he tries to keep the mouse. He does not take a moment to think about Lennie’s reason for keeping the mouse in possession. However, after George takes the mouse he tries to make amends by telling Lennie to get a “fresh” mouse he can keep, rather than a dead and rotting one. In addition, Lennie and George get into a heated argument when Lennie mentions that the beans George had provided would be better with ketchup.

This exclamation makes George outraged. George announces, “God a’mighty, if I was alone I could live so easy. I could go get a job an’ work, an’ no trouble...You can’t keep a job and you lose me ever’ job I get. Jus’ keep me shovin’ all over the country all all the time. An; that ain’t the worst. You get in trouble. You do bad things and I got to get you out” (11). This exclamation suggests that Lennie is a burden to George, keeping him from achieving his hopes and dreams. But later on in the chapter, the chapter suggests that George is looking out for Lennie when George refuses Lennie’s offer after George’s remark to leave George alone and venture off by himself. After many moments of arguing, George explains, “I want you to stay with me, Lennie. Jesus Christ, somebody’d shoot you for a coyote is you was by yourself. No, stay with me” (13). Although Lennie has caused George a large amount of trouble, Lennie knows that he would not last very long by himself. George tries to prevent any trouble or harm that may be conflicted upon Lennie if he had ventured off by

himself.