John Steinbeck’s novella, Of Mice and Men, incorporated several themes such as the idea of being powerless or objectified. In the story, several characters projected these ideas, such as one named Lennie Small. Throughout the story, Lennie committed multiple events that showed how powerless or objectified he really was, causing his ending fate to be in the hands of his caretaker. The character Lennie wouldn’t have died if he didn’t do the killing of beings and the crushing of a man’s hand, but Lennie has the mind of a toddler causing him to not understand what he had done, which in the end led to his killing to prevent Lennie from getting himself into any more trouble. First of all, Lennie killed several animals and even a person without realizing. …show more content…
Although he didn’t mean to kill these beings, Lennie doesn’t seem to know his own strength.
The animals that he accidentally killed included lots of mice and even a poor little helpless puppy. Since Lennie like the idea of touching soft things, he used to keep the mice in his pocket to pet as he would walk around. Except that he killed the mice for biting him, as said in, “I’d pet ‘em, and pretty soon they bit my fingers and I pinched their heads a little and then they was dead --- because they was so little.” (Steinbeck, 10) To prevent Lennie from killing any more mice, George, Lennie’s caretaker, promised to get Lennie a puppy to keep him occupied from killing any more mice. Although when Lennie finally received this puppy, he killed it. Lennie didn’t mean to kill the puppy, he was just playing with it and killed it without out realizing how tough he was being on the puppy. As for the person that Lennie killed, Curley’s Wife, she didn’t know what she was getting herself into when she allowed Lennie to touch her hair. Curley’s Wife’s hair was soft, which is why she allowed Lennie to feel …show more content…
her hair. After a couple minutes of Lennie petting her hair, Curley’s Wife told Lennie to stop feeling her hair because she was afraid that he would mess it up. She then started yelling at him to let go, but he wouldn’t so she started to scream even louder. To make her stop screaming, Lennie covered her mouth and shook her. While shaking her, Lennie broke Curley’s Wife’s neck once again using the strength he didn’t know he had. In the end, after doing all those bad things that he promised George he wouldn’t, Lennie’s biggest fear was that he wouldn’t be allowed to tend the rabbits at their imaginary ranch. This caused Lennie to be in constant fear of disappointing George. Second of all, Lennie crushed a man named Curley’s hand just by holding it.
This incident occurred because the man named Curley starting beating on Lennie for “laughing” at Curley. Yet, in reality, Lennie wasn’t laughing at Curley; Lennie was just simply smiling at the idea of tending rabbits at an imaginary ranch. Lennie then grabbed onto Curley’s hand to stop Curley from beating him up any further, but without realizing, Lennie crushed Curley’s hand. Like they said in, “Looks to me like ever’ bone in his han’ is a bust.” (Steinbeck 64) Even though Lennie didn’t mean to do so, he definitely felt bad about it and regrets it very much so, but he was just doing as he was told by
George. Last of all, the past events have led up to Lennie’s sad fate. His caretaker, George, had to make the almost impossible decision to end Lennie’s life. Although this was George’s last resort, to George it was his only way for Lennie to finally have his dream of tending the rabbits. Lennie’s dream was no longer a possibility because of all the bad things that he has done. For George to be able to give Lennie his dream, George had Lennie imagine the ranch before he shot Lennie, like he said in, “No, Lennie. Look down there across the river, like you can almost see the place.” (Steinbeck 106) And that is exactly what happened, Lennie looked across the river and imagined the ranch while George raised the gun and shot Lennie, right in the back of the head. In the end, Lennie didn’t feel a thing and he was able to finally have his dream come true about the ranch. In conclusion, the killing of the animals, the killing of Curley’s Wife, and Curley’s crushed hand, led up to George’s final decision to give Lennie his dream. Personally, I think that George did the right thing for Lennie. I believe that Lennie deserved to have his dream come true, and by allowing Lennie to picture the ranch before his death, it really seemed to help him be more at peace before he passed. Even if it wasn’t Lennie’s decision to die, it was for the best. The world is too judgmental for a mentally handicapped person such as Lennie. Although, if it wasn’t for people like Lennie, the world would be out of balance. In order for the world to be balanced, there needs to be people that are powerless or objectified. Just like there needs to be people that are powerful.
Death With Dignity For several years you have been taking care of your grandma, who has been suffering in the hospital. You pray that she gets better. But day after day, you see the hurt in her eyes even though she tries to fight through it. You know that she won’t get better until you put her out of her misery and end her life.
In the Salinas River Valley, after the Great Depression, there were a large number of unemployed workers seeking jobs. In the fiction novel "Of Mice and Men," by John Steinbeck, Lennie Small is among one of those men. Lennie and his friend George both have just received jobs on a ranch as farm workers. What brings the two together is their dream to someday own their own land. Lennie has a lot of character and personality traits that define him. One trait that he has is he is very forgetful. Another trait he has is he is very curious. A final trait he has is that he is very reliant. Although he might not be the intelligent person in the book, he has a very well developed personality. Lennie demonstrates his personality and character traits throughout the novel.
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 is not so much stereotyped, but rather trapped because of his size. Because Lennie is so big, Curley thinks he has to prove something by beating up Lennie. Lennie gets on Curley’s bad side when he didn’t do anything wrong. Lennie is then forced to fight. " ‘I don’t want no trouble,’ he said plaintively.
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.
Lennie dreams of living on a wide open ranch with George where he tends to the fluffy little rabbits he loves so much. Nevertheless, Lennie sadly never reaches his ultimate goal as his flaw finally becomes his fatal flaw. Lennie kills Curley 's wife by shaking her so hard that her neck breaks. He does not kill her on purpose but Lennie does not know his own strength. He is only shaking her like that because he wants her to stop yelling.
Due to child like qualities, Lennie is a person which would be easy prey and a vulnerable person. Lennie is a vulnerable person who is quite dumb. His has an obsession for touching soft thing and this will often lead him in to trouble. But poor Lennie is an innocent person who means no harm to anybody. When he and Curley get into a fight Lennie is too shocked to do any thing. He tries to be innocent but, when told to by George grabs Curley’s fist and crushes it. George is Lennie’s best friend and Lennie does every thing he tells him to do as demonstrated in the fight with “But you tol...
“Well, you ain't pettin’ no mice while you walk with me” (Steinbeck 6). Lennie kills mice just by petting them. Lennie doesn't understand how strong he is and how easily he can kill things. It would benefit others if Lennie was not around. They could always find another strong man to work. Sadly, Lennie is just hopeless.
Allegedly, those in the game of life, all have a chance to win. For a man like Lennie Smalls, in John Steinbeck’s novella in “Of Mice and Men”, has less of a chance as everyone else. Lennie is a mentally handicapped man who wishes to pursue a life as normal as others. In the novella, John Steinbeck provides no chance for his dehumanized character, Lennie Smalls, to obtain the American Dream because he is mentally handicapped.
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.
When you’re in a position of high authority, it comes with a great sum of power. Having a great deal of control can corrupt and can lead to the abuse of it. Abuse of power is using their power for their own benefit even if it may harm others. In the book Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, the effects of the abuse shown by Curley and Curley’s wife to the other characters will ultimately lead to a tragic end.
Of Mice and Men, by Steinbeck, shows many different views on society. This book has a lot different messages you can take and apply to real life. All the people in the story can relate to someone today and also to some stuff that still happens all around the world. When reading this book you can really start to understand and connect with the characters and identify their weaknesses and their strengths. Some things you really start to notice is how powerful some people are and how they use that power in everyday living. Many characters had power, because of that it helped some get by, helped some take advantage and boss people around, but power also hurt them.
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.
Steinbeck uses powerlessness as a major theme of this book. Powerlessness plays a major role during that time because there is always aa boss that tells others to work. The people that are usually powerless are the migrant workers during that time. Some try to save money to buy a land like George and Lennie, but others blow it on drinks over the weekend at bars. No one would want to be fighting with the boss’ son because he can easily tell on the boss and get the workers fired. In this book, the main powerless people are the workers, George and Lennie, and Crooks.