Comparing Lennie In John Steinbeck's 'Of Mice And Men'

Words: 1223
Pages: 5
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Lainey Hill
Mrs. Donoho
Pre-AP English
1 December 2016
Follow the Leader
Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, is the story of two men who are going through life together trying to achieve a common goal. George is the leader and the smarter of the two men. Lennie is very large and has some sort of developmental delay. As the story comes to an end, George is faced with a very difficult decision. The goal of this paper is to analyze the motives of George’s character as he deceives Lennie and discuss how the deception contributes to the meaning of the story as a whole. Early in the book it is established that Lennie has made a lot of mistakes because of his large size and his special needs. George is trying to take care of Lennie, but Lennie basically …show more content…
George says:
“O.K. Now when we go in to see the boss, what you gonna do?” “ I…I, Lennie thought. His face grew tight with thought. “I ain’t gonna say nothin. Jus’ gonna stan’ there.” “Good boy. That’s swell. You say that over two, three times so …show more content…
For example, Curley tries to pick a fight with Lennie. Curley was beating Lennie up and Lennie refused to fight back. Finally George had witnessed enough and gave Lennie permission to fight back. “Curley’s fist was swinging when Lennie reached for it. The next minute Curley was flopping like a fish on a line, and his closed fist was lost in Lennie’s big hand. George ran down the room. “ Leggo of him, Lennie. Let go.” (Steinbeck, 63). By the time Lennie finally let go of Curley’s hand it was crushed. George also tells of a time at the place they worked before when George refused to let go of a girl’s dress because he knew he was in trouble and he just froze. This same kind of behavior led to Lennie’s ultimate fall. Lennie was in the barn with his puppy that George had allowed him to have. Lennie had been told many times to not handle the puppy very much or the puppy would get hurt. Almost all of the guys including George had gone to town and Lennie stayed to play with the puppy in the barn. Lennie squashed the puppy and killed it. He was really scared and knew he was going to be in trouble with George when along came Curley’s wife. Lennie knew George had said not to talk to her. “Lennie glared at her. ‘George says I ain’t to have nothing to do with you-talk to you or nothing.’”(Steinbeck, 86). Lennie tries his hardest but she keeps
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