Who Does Steinbeck Present as Most Responsible for the Tragedy in of Mice and Men?

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In OMAM Steinbeck presents different people to be responsible for Lennie’s death. I believe there were four characters who were the cause of the tragedy; these four characters are: Curley’s wife, George, Lennie and Slim. These characters all had their part in the tragedy whether it be at the time of the death or beforehand. I am going to explain how and why I think each character holds responsibility in this essay. The order in which it goes in is from least to most responsible. The first character who is to blame is Curley’s wife. I think she is responsible for the death of Lennie in more than one way. One way she is responsible is by her appearance. Her ‘cotton house dress and red mules’ along with her ‘full, rouged lips and wide-spaced eyes’ was enough for any man to fall for her, but added with ‘Her hair hung in little rolled clusters, like sausages’ Lennie could not resist. So when she allows Lennie to pet her she is causing trouble for both of them. This incident leads to both of deaths. Her own insecurities lead to her being partially responsible for Lennie’s death. The second character to blame for Lennie’s death is Lennie. He is responsible for his own death as he has no idea of his own strength. His inability to comprehend most things leaves him at a disadvantage. This disadvantage allows him to be manipulated into bad situations which will only cause him trouble. Although he has learning difficulties he can still tell the moral difference between right and wrong. You understand this from when he killed the puppy and he has to hide it from George as he knows George will punish him. Along with his Along with his unknown strength Lennie tends to get angry when things don’t go his way. Like in the situation with Crooks he repeatedly mentions ‘who hurt George’ and ‘Aint nobody goin’ to talk no hurt to George’ when Crooks realises his fury he
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