More handpicked essays just for you.
Characterize Lennie from of mice and men
Characterize Lennie from of mice and men
Characterize Lennie from of mice and men
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Lennie is alone in the barn, petting a puppy that he has obviously petted a little too long and hard, and he can't make up his mind about it. First, he covers the dead puppy up with hay. Next, he flings the dead puppy across the barn. We're not sure he's all that concerned about the dead puppy, actually. Instead, he's worried that George might not let him tend to the rabbits of the dream farm. Curley's wife, who sashays in, has some advice: don't feel bad because the pup was just a mutt, and mutts are aplenty in the world. She confides in Lennie, telling him that she could have been a famous movie star, but the world conspired against her and that's why she's ended in a barn with a dum-dum and a dead dog. Lennie does a little confiding of his …show more content…
own: he got into this trouble because he likes to pet soft things. Hm, says Curley's wife.
Her hair is soft. So, Lennie pets Curley's wife's hair. Can you guess where this is going? He pets a little too long and hard, and breaks her neck. Now Lennie has something new to cover with hay. This is bad. So bad, that now George really might not let him tend the rabbits. He remembers George's instruction about where to go in case things get bad. So he goes, taking the dead puppy with him. When Candy comes in to the barn and sees Curley's wife, he runs to find George. What to do? They both know that they should turn Lennie in, but he'll be locked up and treated miserably if they do. On the other hand, Curley will torture and kill Lennie if he finds him. Um, says Candy does this mean they can't have their farm? Pretty much. George says that he thinks he knew all along that they'd never really get a farm, but he tried to believe because Lennie liked to hear about it. Now that there's no dream to believe in, George figures that he'll be just like the other ranch hands, spending all his time and money on booze and bad women. Candy is surprised by all this, since Lennie really didn't seem like a bad guy. No, says George. Lennie didn't kill her out of "meanness." he never did anything from …show more content…
meanness. Time for a plan.
If he tells the guys what happened to Curley's wife, they might suspect he was in on it. Instead, he'll run off to the bunkhouse, and Candy can come running in a minute later with news of Curley's dead wife. When Candy comes in, George will be surprised that the woman is dead. Candy, left alone with Curley's dead wife, takes a minute to yell at her for being the source of all their troubles. As Candy leaves for the bunkhouse to tell the guys what he's found, he's teary. Not for the dead girl. For the lost dream. All the men come in to look at the dead woman, scuffing their boots in the straw. Curley says "the big son-of-a-bitch" has done this and he intends to shoot him right in the guts. Curley and Carlson run out of the barn to round up guns and men and go in search of the guts. Meanwhile, Slim says quietly to George that, given the way Curley's wife's neck is broken, Lennie could well have done it. George is quiet, and Slim reminds him vaguely about "the time in Weed" George had described earlier. With his hat pulled down low over his eyes, George says nothing. Slim sighs and says he guesses they've got to go get Lennie now. (He seems sorry things have to shake out this
way.) George trickily tells the men that Lennie probably went south. Yup, definitely south. Maybe, he says to Slim, they could just bring Lennie back, so he can be locked up rather than murdered by a two-bit-no-good-son-of-a-ranch-owner. George promises Lennie was "nuts" and didn't do the murder out of meanness. Maybe, if only they could keep Curley off the warpath. But locked up is no way for a man to live, either. Carlson breaks up the powwow by announcing that his Luger has been stolen and that Lennie must have taken it. Luckily, Curley has a gun, and Carlson can take Crooks's gun. Whew, the manhunt is still on! Curley tells Carlson to shoot Lennie in the guts as soon as he sees him, tells Whit to go to Soledad and get the deputy sheriff, and tells George to join the search party for Lennie. He's not interested in hearing about how Lennie is nuts and didn't mean to do it. Slim, looking down at the dead body, suggests perhaps Curley should stay with his dead wife and cool off. Nope. He's hell-bent on shooting Lennie himself, even if he's only got one good hand. And George had better join the hunting party, or everyone might start thinking that he had something to do with it. BACK NEXT Cite This Page People who Shmooped this also Shmooped... An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge - Learning Guide Long Day's Journey Into Night - Learning Guide The Invention of Hugo Cabret - Learning Guide WHY'S THIS FUNNY? Find out what that little icon means...and why we're funny. Career Test and Advice Center Plan your future...or at least your next step. Advertisement group rates for schools and districts Advertisement
One of the reasons why George should have killed Lennie is to keep him out of an institution. It is clearly not on the bright side for Lennie to be put in an institution. This is backed by Slim saying “…An’ s’pose they lock him up an’ strap him down and put him in a cage. That ain’t no good, George.”(pg. 97) Lennie would obviously be miserable without George anyway, his only kind friend. Without George, Lennie wouldn’t know a lot of things he does now, or what to do in situations. Lennie has one of the rare mentalities that always needs someone by their side. These are all good reasons that it would be a good thing for George to put Lennie away rather than in an institution.
... him (72). Lennie tries his best to protect George and does not let anyone talk about him also (72). George is not the only person that tries to protect Lennie. When Curly’s wife come into the barn and tries to cause tries to cause trouble, Crooks and Candy stand up for him. They tell her to leave them and also to leave Lennie alone, because they know that Lennie cannot defend himself (80). When George and Candy find out what Lennie has done to Curly’s wife, they do not want to say anything about it. Candy tells George, that Curly will kill Lennie. But George will not let anyone hurt Lennie (95). Lennie trusts in George, and believes everything that he is telling him. When George is ready to kill Lennie, Lennie reminds him that they got each other, even if they are not a family (104).
Lennie is broken and incomplete in many ways. He has a mental disability which differentiates him from the others. He depends on George for everything and cannot do things on his own even though he is a grown man.
The moment that Curley's wife was introduced, an ill feeling overcomes the atmosphere indicating that Lennie will be getting into a mess with her. George states in the very beginning that he is always getting into mishaps, "You do bad things and I got to get you out," (p.11). The situation in Weed involved a girl and Curley's wife just happened to be the only girl on the ranch. Connecting ends with ends, there is a sense of insecurity between these two people. Later on, there was an intimation that she was going to be killed by Lennie because he killed the mouse and the puppy, leading to bigger deaths such as Curley's wife.
In chapter two, George and Lennie show up to the ranch on the second day of their journey. They meet Curley, Curley’s wife, the Swamper, slim and Carlson. They are learning about the boss and the others on the ranch. George lies to the boss about why they showed up late to work and tells him the bus driver gave them a bum steer: really, George wanted to enjoy nature bit longer. They learn that Curley and the boss both wear high-heeled boots to show that they do not work. They also learn that Curley is a boxer
George and Lennie need each other to achieve their dream of their own farm with rabbits to tend. Lennie could not take care of his rabbits or even survive without George.
Candy anticipated that she had come to ask for Curley. He sharply answered that Curley wasn’t there and told her to be loyal to her husband. She responded to him by saying “Think I’m gonna stay in that two-by-four house and listen how Curley’s gonna lead with his left twict, and then bring in the ol’ right cross?” (Steinbeck 78). She seems to has been forcefully married to Curley since she is always roaming around searching for company. This gives us an impression that the couple does not get along well, and neither of them attempts to talk about the other’s
Although Lennie could not live like a normal adult, he still dreams of a better life filled with the things he desired. Lennie constantly badgers George about the story of the farm where they hope to eventually reside. Lennie sees a place where he faces no adversities, and Lennie dreams of tending the rabbits, stroking their fur and feeding them handfuls of alfalfa. “When they have their farm, as George tells him at the end, Lennie will not need to be scared of bad things any more, and he can tend the rabbits and pet them… Their farm is a place where they can live together, have animals and, in general, feel safe. Lennie has little memory, but the story of their dream is one he knows by heart” (Lennie). In a child- like vision, Lennie still sees the farm he and George often dream about and discuss. Lennie will never forget about the farm until they have achieved their goal. Lennie realizes the farm will be a place of leisure where he can simply tend the rabbits. Lennie always believes and chases after their nearly impossible American
Curley’s wife is given a reputation of causing trouble between other characters from different characters in the novel. There is no evidence of her living up to all of the reputation in the novel. Candy says “Well she got the eye” which could have many meanings and then he backs that up with “I seen her give Slim the eye” and finally he says “Well I think Curley’s married…a tart.” This explains his views on Curley’s wife. And when she dies he calls her a ...
Another piece of evidence for wanting a social life and attention is Curley’s wife saying, “...I met with one of the actors. He says I could go with show.” and shows have a lot of attention and more people to talk to after the show. The last decision she made was talking to Lennie the barn ALONE with no idea how disabled he is. This was a big turning point in the story for Curley’s wife and Lennie when she let Lennie touch her hair without stopping, which caused her to panic then Lennie starts to panic when she started screaming and after awhile died when Lennie broke her neck.Candy has some regret about some of the choices he made. When the people in the bunkhouse started complaining about the old smelly dog Candy had, Carlson suggested it to be put down. Candy thought his dog was just fine didn’t want him to be put down but Slim said he had to be put down. Candy didn’t have choice but listen even though he wanted to defend the poor old dog, so he told Carlson to shoot it. Carlson said it would be quick and Candy didn’t want to know or put down the dog himself at the time,but later he regrets not put it down
...deal with them that together, they could “get a big stake” (63) in order to buy a “little place an’ live on the fatta the lan’” (63). Candy says he would “cook and tend the chickens and hoe the garden some” (67). However, after Lennie accidently kills Curley’s wife, Candy in “his greatest fear” (107) asks George if they could still “get that little place” (107). But he knew it was no, and right at that moment his American Dream comes to an end. Therefore if Candy would be all by him following his American Dream without depending on George and Lennie, he would have been successful.
After Candy enters Crooks’ room, Curley’s wife enters the room also and tries to hold a conversation with
George started this novel with a dream of living an ideal life with Lennie. “We’re gonna live off the fatta the land,” he’d say. He wanted to go somewhere off the grid with Lennie so that they’d both be safe and not have to worry about other people or Lennie getting in trouble. He wants to escape the harshness of the world that the two live in so that they can both be safe and happy. “I’d be bringin’ in my own crops ‘stead of doing all the work and not getting what comes outta the ground,” he hopes to leave the life of the migrant worker and own his own ranch and be his own boss. As the novel goes on he realises that any of this is probably not possible. No matter how much he saves up he will never be able to get enough money to buy and sustain his dream farm and Lennie is going to keep getting in trouble.
George and Lennie have a dream of building their own farm, but conflicts start to interfere with that. “Well, it’s ten acres”, says George. “Got a little win’mill. Got a little shack on it, an’ a chicken run. Got a kitchen, orchard, cherries, apples, peaches, ‘cots, nuts, got a few berries. They’s a place for alfalfa and plenty water to flood it. They’s a pig pen------” “An rabbits, George” (Page 57). George and Lennie want this farm to be their perfect world, which relates to their dream. “And George
George and Lennie have to continue to move around the country looking for work until Lennie screws up again. The instability of work only makes it that much harder for them to complete their dream of a farm of their own. Candy’s participation in the dream of the farm upgrades the dream into a possible reality. As the tending of rabbits comes closer to happening fate curses them with the accidental death of Curley’s wife. The end of their wishful thinking is summed up by Candy’s question on page 104, “Then-it’s all off?”