Of Mice and Men Essay

Submitted By cjlee12
Words: 634
Pages: 3

Lennie and George were two men that traveled together during the Great Depression, looking for work. George was the smart one who had the giant task of watching over Lennie, who had mental issues. George also had to make sure that Lennie didn’t hurt anyone or ruin their job opportunities due to his disorder and unnatural strength. Lennie is a tall and muscular man, but his downfall is that he isn’t too smart, is sensitive, and cannot control himself when it comes to touching soft things, which leads to his death. Lennie and George are a perfect match for each other during the Great Depression that was occurring, even though they were so different from each other. During the economic crisis that was occurring, work was very hard to come across, the pay was horrible and not enough to live on, and no one knew when or where their next was coming or where it was coming from. Due to Lennie’s incredible strength, George and he were able to find work that involved a lot of hard labor. As George put it, “But I say he’s a god damn good worker. He can put up a four hundred pound bale” (Steinbeck 22). This quote shows that George relied on Lennie to help get them decent jobs. Lennie wasn’t too smart, so, even though he didn’t know it, he relied on George’s smarts to save him whenever he got himself in trouble, or to help them get a good job during troubling times. This is shown in chapter one when George says, “You can’t keep a job and you lose me ever’ job I get. Jus keep me shovin’ all over the country all the time. An’ that ain’t the worst. You get in trouble. You do bad things and I got to get you out” (Steinbeck 11). This shows that Lennie relied on George to save him from himself due to Lennie’s lack of common knowledge. George and Lennie had lived with Lennie’s Aunt Clara before she passed, and before Lennie got them thrown out of Weeds, their hometown, for grabbing a woman’s dress and not letting go because it was so soft. Throughout the book, George started to develop into a new person. He started to love Lennie like a brother, trying to protect him in any way he could. George knew that Lennie loved to touch and feel on soft things