He cannot avoid the dangers presented by Curley, Curley’s wife, or the world at large. In this he is an innocent victim, causing us to feel sympathy for this doomed man. John Steinback creates sympathy for Lennie because the novel is centred on Lennie's simplicity. Throughout the entire book, Lennie's personality and life seem based on three things: his dream of one day owning a farm, devotion to his protector (George) and soft things. Within the novel, Lennie shows no significant changes, development, or growth.
1. Analyze Dorothy West’s “The Typewriter” in terms of the slavery versus freedom theme so prominent in the text. Although his life was a bit difficult, Lucius Jones had no trouble at all performing odd jobs to make ends meet. In a sense, he is bound, or enslaved, by the inability to eke out a living that netted nothing more than frankfurters and beans for a meal. In this reading, Dorothy West describes this character as “an abject little man.” In my mind, I immediately think of a hopeless, quite miserable individual who is downtrodden about his current state of being.
Lennie is mentally retarded, which can be seen in his actions; he loves to pet soft things, is very faithful to George and their vision of the farm and possesses incredible physical strength. Since these characteristics are being demonstrated throughout the whole novel, the reader must feel strong sympathy for him because it is clear that Lennie is hopeless. During the cause of events the reader gets compassion for him because he is just so doomed. Gaining this kind of feeling towards Lennie, proves that he is an outsider because otherwise there could not be such a sensation felt. Lennie is totally defenseless.
Lennie doesn’t know right from wrong and this leads to a terrible outcome. Lennie possesses incredible physical strength and is oblivious to it. Lennie fails to stay out of trouble and he cannot avoid the dangers that are presented to him such as Curley and Curley’s wife. Lennie succeeds at listening to George’s instructions of what to do if he ever does anything bad. His enthusiasm at the farm is contagious and gets George, Candy and Crooks to believe in it.
Essay The two main characters in the novel, Of Mice and Men, are George Milton and Lennie Smalls. George is a small, intelligent man who cares for and acts as a sort of guardian for Lennie. Lennie is a very large, muscular man whose mind is very slow and is almost childlike. Both characters are traveling ranch hands, going from town to town in search of work. George’s and Lennie’s characters are round, evolving throughout the story.
Where he does show love for the clone, it is misread by the poor boy. This love is self-love though, as El Patrón sees only himself in Matt, unsettling him deeply when he learns of the truth. And with this great love comes great power. He gives Matt the strength of power, which quickly goes to the kid’s head when he realizes he can do whatever he wants when El Patrón is present like demanding “a birthday kiss” from María (Farmer 109). Creating a beast in his image is all El Patrón wants, leaving Matt to be a toy cruelly used and discarded, though Matt attempts to learn from his
Although the pair holds each other back from what each yearns, they take care of and depend on one another. Lennie depends on George for help in daily life because of his mental retardation, while George needs Lennie for his companionship. Without Lennie, George would have a dull life without entertainment, which helps while working on ranches since days can be long and hard. Aside from their friendship, George and Lennie help each other at work. George is the brains, who finds the work for the two and does the talking, while Lennie is the physical strength.
Of Mice and Men George and Lennie are two very different men both mentally and physically. In spite of their differences they still manage to be the best of friends, work and travel together. But they share something in common. The two men share a vision of a farm that they will own together, as friends. Lennie is tall and strong man who has a mental disability, which leads him to depend on George.
The family, that takes no notice of this dark alienated world outside, all face inwards and have such a loving acceptance of each other, which creates a tight knit sense of belonging between them. The opinion of the son has to be the most significant theme in this text. The quote at the bottom of the painting “gee dad your fantastic!” shows the high admiration the boy has for his father who cares little what the opinions of others are and has no need for materialism and is happily disenfranchised from the rest of the surroundings. The contrast between the light colours of the family and the dull, dark colours of the background create a sense of detachment. We are able to see that although they sit within a normal environment, they are disconnected from reality.
Irving states “Rip was ready to attend anybody’s business but his own; but as to doing family duty, and keeping his farm in order, he found it impossible” (406). Rip was laid back and not worried about his farm, because he thought “it was the most pestilent little piece of ground in the whole country; everything about it went wrong” (406). Rip is said to be “one of those happy mortals, of foolish, well-oiled dispositions, who take the world easy” (406). Rip did not want to work, and Irving makes that clear when he says that Rip “would have whistled life away in perfect contentment” and that he “would rather starve on a penny than work for a pound”