How Lennie Is Presented in of Mice and Men

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Almost immediately, Steinbeck introduces the protagonists of his novella. Steinbeck describes Lennie as ‘a huge man, shapeless of face. With wide, sloping shoulders’ we are also informed that ‘he walked heavily, dragging his feet a little’. Upon reading this, we cannot yet make suppositions about his characteristics. We gain an understanding of his character as we read more about him, ‘he smiled happily’, and this is a childish description of such a ‘huge man’, we wouldn’t expect someone so ‘huge’ to act childish. Steinbeck presents Lennie’s character as a benevolent one, this seems to derive sympathy from the readers because it makes them feel apologetic towards him and appreciate him. Due to the foreshadowing events which were accentuated throughout the novella, it is clear that Lennie's dream can never be accomplished and we actually feel sympathy for him as he does not intend to hurt others, Steinbeck makes it apparent that Lennie is in the grip of a powerful ability (immense strength) that he has no control over, which leads to the death of many. (Notice how the death of the species he kills tend to get larger) and the readers can understand the deep innocence of this character as he did not mean to kill Curley's wife in section five. We know this because he began to 'cry with fright' and he knows that he has done ‘a bad-thing’ because he is aware that he has done a bad thing; this enlightens the readers that when Lennie senses danger, he feels threatened and becomes very dangerous. In section six, Lennie dies happily, knowning that George was never mad at him, despite his urge and love for soft things, he is still appreciated by the readers and we also discover how Lennie is a significant character because without him there is no dream. Furthermore, [Crooks astutely notes that Lennie cannot remember what he is saying, but points out that most people in
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