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

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Pages: 3

Set in the Great Depression Era in central California, John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men tells of two migrant workers, George and Lennie. The story opens with the duo beginning a new job on a ranch. They want to earn enough money to achieve their dream of owning their own land; however, Lennie’s disability repeatedly gets the two into serious trouble. George and Lennie's personalities complement each other perfectly and form a pair that could only be separated by one force--death.
George is a loyal man who leads Lennie and exercises great self-control. Despite George’s saying that he could do better in the world without Lennie, he is extremely loyal and devoted to him. For example, when Lennie offers to go live in a cave and give George freedom, George does not let him. George is so devoted to Lennie that he would rather kill him quickly and painlessly than watch him
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His loyalty is proven in his willingness to jump into a river for George without question even though he can't swim and by his gesture of giving George all of the imaginary ketchup for the beans they were eating. Also, when George goes to town with the men of the ranch and Crooks tells Lennie that George won't return, Lennie insists that he will come back. Lennie follows George’s lead and allows George to speak for him because his disability makes him uncomfortable in social situations. Lennie obeys George’s command to avoid Curly until Curly corners him into a fight. During the aforementioned fight, Lennie doesn’t even begin a counterattack until George commands him to do so. Lennie is an impulsive decision maker and is not able to control his actions. Lennie’s lack of self-control is exemplified in his accidental killing of mice and his puppy, and culminates in his killing of Curly’s wife. It was Lennie’s inability to control his actions that originally forced him and George to flee from their last