“Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They don’t belong no place… They ain’t got nothing to look ahead to” (Steinbeck 13). Life in the 1930’s, during the great depression was described as Hell on Earth. People lived nasty and desperate during “the dirty thirties”. Migrant workers who traveled for work were common during this era. In the book Of Mice and Men characters named Candy and Lennie were migrant workers and Crooks was a slave. All with awful jobs where dignity is removed from these men. Segregation, discrimination, ageism, lack of proper treatment all make a man lonely. The theme of loneliness is revealed in the novella Of Mice and Men through isolation felt by Candy, Crooks, …show more content…
Because of Lennie’s disability it is shown he is much different than the other men on the ranch. He fails to change his wrong actions but he remembers the words he is told. All throughout George and Lennie’s journey Lennie lives to one day finally “tend the rabbits”. Lennie because he is mentally slow he acts as a child would. As well the other men exclude Lennie from hangouts and activities. With this Lennie is alone and outcasted where the feelings of loneliness arise. Lennie is known to be more often in the barn with his pup rather than with humans: “...Why--ever’body else was out there playin’ horseshoes” (96). When Curley states this it helps illustrate how the men leave lennie for their selfish ideas of having a good time. Inspite Lennie's age and ability to play horseshoes he is thought to be too childish to join. As well as being childish Lennie doesn’t understand because he is mentally slow. The reader can infer the reason Lennie does cruel things is because he does not realize the wrong he is doing. Just before Lennie kills curley’s wife he says to her, “George gonna say I done a bad thing. He ain’t gonna let me tend no rabbits” (91). In this scene Lennie is more worried about George not letting him tend the rabbits and it is unclear to him he is causing any harm to Curley's wife. Moments later George backs up Lenie in explaining how “‘Lennie never done it in meanness,” he said.”All the time he done bad things, but he never done one of ‘em mean’” (95). George’s comment explains that Lennie never had bad intentions, they were all good but executed improperly. If Lennie were to understand what harm he was doing, he wouldn’t of done it, he didn’t mean to kill Curley’s wife. Knowing you are doing wrong after but not understanding why during can cause a person to not want to interact with others in fear of error; making a person confused and lonely. Consequently
That ain’t no good, George.’”(Steinbeck 97). Because Lennie killed Curley’s wife, he committed a felony. George wanted Lennie to be thrown in jail at first. He wanted Lennie to be arrested because he thought it was the best thing for Lennie but then Slim told him it would not be good for Lennie. It would be bad for Lennie because Lennie would not understand his rights because he’s mentally challenged and locking him up in a cage would just hurt Lennie. George then realized he needed to kill Lennie so nobody would mistreat him. George is protecting others from Lennie.”’Lennie-if you jus’ happen to get in trouble like you always done before…’”(Steinbeck 15). George has been with Lennie for many years and he knows how Lennie will never learn and he will keep committing bad stuff. George knew something was going to happen at the ranch because Lennie has always done something wrong. George tried to prevent something from going wrong but he couldn’t. As a result he had to put down Lennie so he would not hurt anyone ever again. George felt the hard choice of killing Lennie was the right decision for George because Curley wanted to get his revenge, Lennie would be mistreated in prison and he was
This shows throughout the book with the many different mistakes Lennie makes. Lennie starts off by killing mice, then he kills a puppy and finally a woman! After Lennie kills Curley’s wife George responds by saying “I should of knew… I guess maybe way back of my head I did.”(Steinbeck 94). George knew it was gonna come to this and he probably also had a feeling Lennie was going to continue to kill more people or animals. Plus, when the character in the book; Candy asks who did it, George says “Ain’t you got anr idea?”(Steinbeck 94). That shows that George knew he was gonna have to do something about Lennie. George was going to have to do something about Lennie sometime, and after George killed a woman he knew there would be no other choice that to kill Lennie through non voluntary
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.
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.
Lennie had a soft spot for petting animals and soft things. He is totally oblivious to the fact that he hurts almost every thing he touches. He had pet mice and ended up killing them and when he played with the 'pup' he ended up killing it too. His uncontrolled strength also caused him to kill Curley's wife. "Lennie's fingers fell to stroking her hair... he stroked harder... "Let go!" she cried... She struggled violently... and then she was still; for Lennie had broken her neck." (Page 91). With the death of Curley's wife, Lennie's innocence was taken. He had unwillingly killed. He had to pay the price, by losing his life.
Crooks, Curley’s wife, and most defiantly Lennie are the outcasts on the ranch. The novel presents Lennie as a mentally challenged, but an unusually strong worker who travels with his friend George. George takes care of Lennie as if he was his own child and Lennie cares for George the same way. “I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you” (14). Lennie describes how he cares for George although he honestly just messes everything up for George. Lennie has the mind of a child and does not understand how to act and be an adult. Lennie continues to pet dead mice, feel shiny and smooth objects, and not know how to interact with other people. From time to time, George continues to care and try to make improvements with Lennie, but it just does not happen. Lennie continues to have the mind of a child and can never distinguish the different between right and wrong. Throughout the novel; from being a mentally challenged; tall, muscular man; Lennie is most definitely an outcast in the story Of Mice and Men.
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.
Curley's wife is reprehensible for Lennie's death. For example, if Curley's wife had not bothered Lennie after being told several times that Lennie was not supposed to talk to her and also, if she had not gone ballistic about her hair, she would not have died and neither would have Lennie. For example, when Lennie is alone in the barn with the pups, Curley's wife comes in and Lennie clearly states that he is not allowed to talk to her for the reason that George told him not to and Curley's wife says, “‘Why can't I talk to you? I never get to talk to nobody. I get awful lonely.’ Lennie said, ‘Well I ain't supposed to talk to you or nothing’” (86). This shows how Curley’s wife knew that George was going to get mad, but she talked to Lennie anyway, not caring what would
From the very beginning you see that Lennie is a very innocent person and sometimes doesn’t understand what is going on. There is a great example at the beginning of the story, George and Lennie are in the clearing before they go to the ranch and they’re making camp for the night. ”’tha’s good,' he said. 'you drink some George. You take a good big drink.’ he smiled happily”'(3). George has just yelled at him for drinking too fast, but he is too innocent to realize it. Lennie also showed innocence when he is told to jump into Sacramento River. “‘An’ he was so damn nice to me for pullin’ him out. Clean forgot I told him to jump in. Well, I ain’t done nothing
Lennie's loneliness stems from his constancy of being yelled at by George. Lennie didn't like to be around George when he was yelling at him. Lennie and George were friends, but George yelled at him just to try to keep him out of trouble. Lennie tried to make friends other than George, but it never seemed to work out. He even tried to make friends with Crooks, when no one else would ever talk to him. This shows that Lennie really needs a friend that can understand him (Moore 603).
While George is away, Lennie does something very bad, he kills Curley’s wife along with his dog; both on accident. This event causes Lennie to run away and Curley to go after him in anger to kill him. “‘All right, you guys," he said. "The nigger's got a shotgun. You take it, Carlson. When you see 'um, don't give 'im no chance. Shoot for his guts. That'll double 'im over’”(48). In the quote, it shows that Curley has no compassion or empathy. He does not show empathy towards neither his wife or Lennie and his actions. Instead, he says he is going to kill him in a painful, long way. This whole quote says so much about Curley’s character, it shows he has a poor character and bad morals; unlike George. Curley’s characterization reveals a lot about his character and how he is ruthless and doesn’t care for others not even his deceased wife. George later kills Lennie out of compassion because he is better off killed peacefully than by what is to come, Curley and his painful death. “Lennie begged, "Le's do it now. Le's get that place now." "Sure, right now. I gotta. We gotta." And George raised the gun and steadied it, and he brought the muzzle of it close to the back of Lennie's head. The hand shook violently, but his face set and his hand steadied. He pulled the trigger. The crash of the shot rolled up the hills and rolled down again. Lennie jarred, and then settled slowly forward to the sand, and he
”3 Although Lennie was only looking at how pretty he found her, a woman was the same reason they got run from their last town. Lennie didn’t mean any harm then, and he wouldn’t mean any harm it if it was to occur again; but the people surrounding him don’t know that. Curley already has abhorred Lennie, and an incident with his wife would surely get Lennie
If George had properly educated Lennie in what he was actually doing he might have recognized his strength and not have killed Curley's wife. Interestingly enough George also indirectly had the same ill effect on
You leave her be” (32). Lennie, on the other hand, just says “Gosh, she was purty” (32). Furthermore, Lennie constantly depends on George to keep him out of trouble. This causes problems because George can’t watch Lennie all the time, and when George plays horseshoes with other members of the ranch Lennie gets in trouble by talking to Curley’s wife even though George told him not to. Ultimately, Lennie’s mental weaknesses get him in trouble and lead to his
While many of these incidents were not his fault, they still happened, leading to harmful results. He was not cut out to ever be alone; he had to have the instructions of someone else, usually George, to be able to just act around others. Even after getting instructions, he still messed up constantly. By continuing to live like this, he was only going to cause more trouble to himself and the people around him, only to cause much more loss. The rising climax in the story is when Lennie killed Curley's wife.