Similarities Between Lennie In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

521 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: What was the point of the "Lennie" character in "Of Mice and Men"

Lennie is forgetful, kind, oblivious, and has a mental disorder. George is impatient, mean, and harsh. They are different physically because Lennie is much more muscular than George. They are different mentally because of the fact that Lennie has a mental disorder, easily forgetting things while George is more mentally present. George doesn’t want Lennie to drink the water because it is stagnant. George tells Lennie that idle water isn’t safe and he could possibly get sick from it. Lennie has a dead mouse in his pocket because he wants to pet it as he walks, but Lennie ends up killing it because of his strength he isn’t aware of. George and Lennie are headed to a ranch where they will be able to make some money since Lennie is so strong. …show more content…

Lennie’s aunt, Aunt Clara, used to give him mice. She stopped giving mice to him because he would always kill them. George is resentful of Lennie because he holds George back from having a normal life. George wishes he could leave Lennie somewhere that he would never bother him again. The dream George and Lennie share is a giant farm with livestock and a fruitful garden. George and Lennie feel they are different from other men because they are lonely and have no families. have each other. Other men don’t have someone to rely on all the time and that’s what sets them apart. George tells Lennie to go in the brush if he gets in trouble. George makes it a point that Lennie understands this because Lennie is being looked for by the police. If he gets caught, that’s one more thing George will have to pull him out of. Two situations in which Lennie manipulates George by making him feel bad is when he says repeatedly that he will go out into the country and live by himself after being yelled at by George. Another situation is when Lennie says he’ll run away and no one will steal his mice from him of course making George feel guilty. This reveals that their relationship is brother-like in a sense that they are always trying to get back at each other whether the other one knows it or

Show More
Related

  • Don T Judge A Book By It's Cover Analysis

    835 Words  | 2 Pages

    One reason Lenny and George are both different is by Lenny being less mature than George. For example, in the beginning of the book when Lenny and George were walking to get to the ranch, Lennie had a dead mice and was trying to be clever by trying to hide it from George. For that he could be able to keep it. He didn’t succeeded and was told like a kid to get rid of it and when he denied, George was the adult and threw the dead mice away. (pg.6) This shows how Lennie is less mature than George because no adult would be walking around with a dead mice and trying to hide it from someone. Proving

    Read More

  • Emotionally and Physically Crippled Characters in John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men

    819 Words  | 2 Pages

    Lennie's stupidity and carelessness constantly causes him to unintentionally harm people and animals. When he gets into sticky situations, George is there to help him get out of them. Ever since Lennie's Aunt Clara died, George has felt that he has a sense of duty

    Read More

  • Lennie Unintelligent Quotes

    458 Words  | 1 Pages

    Lennie is unintelligent all throughout the story. “‘Uh-uh. Jus’ a dead mouse, George. I didn’t kill it. Honest! I found it. I found it dead.’” This quote shows that Lennie doesn’t understand that keeping a dead mouse as a pet is not sanitary and not the right thing to do. Another time, George was exclaiming to Slim that he once told Lennie to jump into the Sacramento River and there Lennie went, right into the river. This trait of Lennie’s effects the story because it got him and George kicked out of Weed when he wanted to feel a girl’s dress. It also got him into trouble when they got to their new job. His unintelligence gets him into more trouble as the story goes on making him anything but a sympathetic character.

    Read More

  • Why Is George A Good Friend To Lennie Friendship

    609 Words  | 2 Pages

    After reading the novella I think that George is a really good friend to Lennie. The first reason that I think that he is a really good friend to lennie, because that he runs off with Lennie when Lennie gets in trouble. George have a choice of running off with Lennie and been trace by those people or he could just don’t care about Lennie and keep his job. But he choose to run off with Lennie and been trace by those people. The second reason that I think George is a good friend to Lennie is because that in the novella it shows that George care about Lennie. On the first section it shows that George tells to Lennie to get off the the green water and throw away the dead mouse that Lennie had. He did that because the mouse might get him

    Read More

  • How Lennie is Like a Mouse in Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men

    417 Words  | 1 Pages

    Lennie, like a mouse, is helpless. Lennie relies on George to think for him like mice rely on scraps of food from the dinner table to eat.

    Read More

  • Lennie's Dignity In Of Mice And Men

    1359 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Why Is Lennie Wrong

    690 Words  | 2 Pages

    Lennie has always been told what to do by George. George really helps him through problems that keep happening during the book. Lennie is incapable to live because he does not know his strength and George has to play the role as a living assistant for Lennie. Lennie does not mean to harm but because of his condition he essentially harms people. In the book it explains the

    Read More

  • Stereotypes in Of Mice and Men

    522 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Importance Of Journeys In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

    1035 Words  | 3 Pages

    George and Lennie are both main characters in Of Mice and Men. They both have journeys that they go on throughout the book. George was a quick-witted man who cared for Lennie. George took on the job of caring for Lennie when his aunt died. He frequently spoke about how his life would be better if he did not have to care for Lennie. Although he spoke of this often he was devoted to Lennie and to delivering them the farm

    Read More

  • Mercy Killing - Of Mice And Me

    1174 Words  | 3 Pages

    Foreshadowing may create a literary theme. Lennie is a massive and powerful man, but is dull-witted, George on the other hand is scrawnier and not as mighty. Both are hearty individuals just trying to survive a tough life. After Lennie’s Aunt Clara passed away, George took the responsibility of looking after Lennie. Through good and bad times, George has learned to love and protect him.

    Read More

  • Essay On The American Dream In Of Mice And Men

    1402 Words  | 3 Pages

    To begin, Lennie has this big dream of George and him living on their own land, being their own bosses, and tending to his own rabbits. Lennie’s major obstacle in achieving his dream is that he is slower than most people for his age. Lennie acts like a child making George the responsible adult. Lennie also listens to whatever George says because Lennie looks up to George almost like he is his brother. Lennie also has a tendency to forget what he is told:

    Read More

  • The Sake Of The Future In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

    795 Words  | 2 Pages

    Although George has the brains in the group, Lennie, who is mentally handicapped, still causes problems very often. Lennie has the body of an adult but the mind of a child. In page 11, George explains the incident that occurred in Weed to Lennie: “‘...well, how the hell did she know you jus’ wanted to feel her dress? She jerks back and you hold on like it was a mouse.’” Lennie enjoys

    Read More

  • Of Mice And Men - The Importance Of George

    1823 Words  | 4 Pages

    George’s relationship with Lennie has made him selfless; his conversations, with and with out Lennie, are generally revolving around Lennie, although in the case of their dream-ranch George seems to find fulfilment for himself as well. Due to these altruistic tendencies that he shows throughout the novel, a danger is bestowed upon George; he tends to care for Lennie far too much, and too little for himself. In occasional moments, he escapes his sympathy and compassion for Lennie, and realises the burden that he causes. This usually results in George taking his frustration out on Lennie, which can often harm his simple mind, leaving Lennie upset and forced to confess to his own uselessness, and George feeling guilty for what he has caused. We can learn very little about George through his actual conversations, which made it necessary for Steinbeck to focus the novel on him in particular, and let the reader gain an closer insight on him through his actions. Generally, he seems to be caring, intelligent and sensible, but is greatly worn by the constant attention Lennie requires. This illustrates a major theme in Of Mice and Men, the dangers that arise when one becomes involved in a dedicated relationship.

    Read More

  • Of Mice & Men

    697 Words  | 2 Pages

    “I want you to stay with me, Lennie. Jesus Christ, somebody’d shoot you for a coyote if you was by yourself. No, you stay with me. Your Aunt Clara wouldn’t like you running off by yourself, even if she was dead.” (page 13). After Lennie and George fight over the dead mouse, Lennie tells him that George would be better off if Lennie went to the mountains to live in a cave. George doesn’t let him. He tells him that he wants him to stay because not only did George somewhat promise Lennie’s dead Aunt Clara that he would take care of him, but he also learned how to live and adjust with the fact that Lennie has kind of a childish mind.

    Read More

  • Appearance Deceives In Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

    996 Words  | 2 Pages

    Lennie apologized to George for killing the mice; he told him that the reason for killing the mice was because “they bit my[Lennie’s] fingers” but he only “pinched their heads a little”(Steinbeck 10). Lennie’s guilt drives him to apologize about the mice but he appears to underestimate his own strength because he claimed that he vaguely pinched their heads, but Lennie being a vast man, that couldn't have been the case. He didn't know the consequences of pinching the mice even after he had done it so many times. This shows the lack of perception he holds, meaning he can't become cognizant of the things happening around him on his own, causing the reader to initiate sympathy for Lennie. Lennie’s immaturity is so big it can be misunderstood for cleverness. George sharply asks Lennie to give him the object from his pocket but he claims “ I ain't got nothin’”but later on admits he has a dead mouse but [George] insists to “ have it”,but George insisted to have the mouse then he “slowly obeyed”(Steinbeck 5-6). It appears as if Lennie was being clever but by handing the mice to George, his childish behavior is revealed. His ingenuous acts portray identically to a child influencing the reader to gain sensitivity to the way Lennie is treated. The way Lennie understands the world and process thoughts makes him mentally stable, for a child. Not only is he innocent but he is also ironically characterized.

    Read More

More about Similarities Between Lennie In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

Open Document