Self Control In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

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Self Control Not Included: The Self Control in Of Mice and Men In the novella Of Mice and Men John Steinbeck, one of the most important themes is how the lack of self-control can have unfortunate consequences. George and Lennie, two best friends, are striding to salvage enough money to buy themselves a farm in the middle of nowhere with rabbits, dogs, and chickens. George, a man who was burdened with taking care of a man-child, is Lennie 's brother but in a way his primary caretaker. He has to stop Lennie from doing simpleminded actions for Lennie does not know the power of his own strength. Every Time they get a job and try to settle down, Lennie messes up, and they have to move on to the next town. Lennie has no self control whatsoever. He …show more content…

This started when Lennie saw a girl in a fine-looking dress. Since Lennie is mentally handicapped, he cannot control himself from grabbing on to her dress. When George was talking to Slim, he explained what happened. He said, “He just scared her. I 'd be scared too, if he grabbed me. But he never hurt her. He just ' wanted to touch that red dress, like he wants to pet them pups all the time." (42). This girl proclaimed that Lennie raped her but he actually just grabbed on to her red dress and did not release. This is a representation of Lennie 's lack of self control because he could not stop himself from going over to the girl and touching the dress. As the poor girl squeaked and struggled Lennie just kept holding on. He did not understand what was going on or why she was screaming. This made him angry and caused him to hold on stronger. If George had not been there to pull Lennie away from the girl, he would of hurt her or possibly even killed …show more content…

Lennie cannot be held fully responsible for this incident. Curly was the one who started beating the daylights out of him in the first place. When you get in a fight with a big guy like Lennie you win either way. If you win everyone will praise you and if you lose they will feel sorry for you. Curly started picking on Lennie in the first place because he was laughing when Candy said, “Hand full of vaseline,”(62) in a disgusted manner. Because Curly had an ill-tempered personality, he would be enraged quickly. His eyes flew right past Candy and onto Lennie, the one person in the room he could win against. Curly bluntly asked Lennie what was so funny and started an argument. Before you know it, Curly was beating the daylights out of Lennie. When Lennie cried out for George’s help, he yelled, “Get him Lennie. Don’t let him do it,” (62). George was encouraging Lennie to stand up for himself and that is exactly what he did. Lennie latched on to Curley 's fist and would not release. George kept on encouraging Lennie to hold on. When it had gone too far, the men tried to get Lennie to release Curley 's fist, but he would not bother. George slapped him in the face again and again until he finally saw Curly’s white and shrunken face that he let

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