Weakness In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

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In a competitive society, the strong will exploit the weak. The society that George and Lennie are a part of in “Of Mice and Men” is one of those that is very competitive. Because of this, the men on the ranch are all fearful that they will be viewed as weak and, as a result, be fired. Each character in this story has a weakness, some of which are obvious: Lennie’s intelligence, Candy’s age, Curley’s small stature. However, other characters have weaknesses that are more obscure. Either way, every one of these men wish for friendship and conformity but live in the never ending fear of each other. In chapter 3 Steinbeck uses intentional character pairings to represent how the weak are sought out and destroyed by the strong. This is shown when Carlson persuades Candy to get rid of his dog. On page 44 Carlson complains, “The stink hangs around even after he’s gone. He’s all stiff with rheumatism. He ain’t no good to you, Candy. …show more content…
Even though what he did was an accident, the other men want to kill him. At this point the reader knows that Lennie made a mistake because of his lack of intelligence which is his major weakness. This weakness makes him even more dangerous due to his physical strength. Similarly to how Candy’s dog was killed due to being weak, George was forced to kill Lennie. “George raised the gun and steadied it, and he brought the muzzle of it close to the back of Lennie’s head… He pulled the trigger” (Steinbeck 106). George tried to protect Lennie all throughout the story but Lennie continued to make mistakes and was subsequently killed This is just another scene of many that shows how the weak are crushed in competitive societies. Everyone on the ranch spent their lives trying to appear strong, especially when they felt weak. They did this because they knew that if they didn’t, they wouldn't
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