Of Mice And Men Comparative Analysis

Both the 1994 film Forrest Gump and the 1937 novel Of Mice and Men, written by John Steinbeck, feature non-typical characters. While these two stories have their obvious differences, there are similarities between the protagonists of each publication that cannot be ignored. The character of Lennie in Of Mice and Men strongly parallels the character of Forrest Gump in Forrest Gump. It may appear quite obvious why a parallel is drawn between these two characters, but there are also more subtle similarities than solely having a low intelligence quotient. The following quote comes from Of Mice and Men when Lennie is explaining his strange actions in relation to a woman in the town of Weed.

“‘Jus’ wanted to feel that girl's dress—jus' wanted to

For Lennie, this comes in the form of soft items like mice, or types of velvety fabrics. His Aunt used to give him to pet when he was younger. Equivalently, Forrest becomes infatuated with a childhood friend named Jenny. Both characters continue to get into trouble because of their inability to understand that their obsessions produce detrimental effects: Lennie couldn’t comprehend that he was petting the animals too hard and killing them and Forrest was unable to pick up on Jenny’s social cues that his behavior was messing with her life. Lennie, as described in the quote, got George and himself chased out of a town they were working in because he harassed by trying to feel her dress. When the woman squirmed, Lennie panicked and grabbed the woman. At the end of the story, Lennie ends up killing Curley’s wife by accident while trying to feel her hair. Similarly, Forrest ruins things for Jenny multiple times throughout the story. One example is when Forrest pulls Jenny’s boyfriend out of a car and punches him repeatedly because he thought she was in danger. This ultimately brings the relationship to an end. While the fates of these two characters are extremely different, the theme of their obsessive behavior leading to undesirable altercations is very similar. Two other characters that strongly parallel each other in the stories are Lieutenant Dan Taylor in Forrest Gump and George in Of Mice and Men. Lieutenant Dan and George both serve as a pseudo father to Forrest and George respectively. Throughout Forrest Gump, Taylor quite often shows a form of “tough love” towards his men and Forrest specifically. The following dialogue comes from Forrest’s reflection of Lieutenant Dan’s behavior during the Vietnam