Lennie Small has a very symbolic importance in the novel Of Mice and Men.
In the novel George Milton and Lennie Small both migrant workers pursue their dream of someday owning their own ranch by travelling around working as ranch hands to earn a living. The dream they share is to be able to “live off the fat of the land,”. Lennie Small is a very complex character, although he may not appear to be at first glance. Lennie is the most interesting character in the novel because he differs from the other is many ways.
Lennie Small ironically is a man of large stature and is very strong.He is child-like in his emotions and has a diminished mental capacity. Lennie’s feelings are much like that of a normal person when you take into consideration that he is mentally retarded. One of Lennie’s biggest concerns is that of a continued friendship with George.
Throughout the novel their friendship is affirmed as Lennie states, “Because?? because I got you to look after me and you got me to look after you,”. Lennie has a distrust of people except for George. Also, Lennie is not always sure about what is right and what is wrong; he relies on George to make the distinction for him.Lennie lacks the understanding that his actions have consequences.
This is seen when he holds on to his pet mouse so tightly that he kills it. Lennie walks his way through life completely oblivious to the dangers of the world holding on to the dream of someday owning a farm with his best friend George. Lennie does not understand his own strength and also lacks the understanding of what is socially acceptable behaviour. George realizes that the bad things that Lennie does are not committed out of meanness.
Lennie knows that he doesn’t fit in, for example when Lennie says, “Well, I can go away, I’ll go right off in the hills and find a cave. ” . Lennie’s fate symbolizes that he has become a menace to society. If you are unable to function within the norms of society than you will ultimately be destroyed.
We don’t know a lot about Lennie’s background but by Judging what we are told of his past, he didn’t have a “normal” happy upbringing. We don’t know what happened to Lennie’s family and parents and why he didn’t live with them, just that he was looked after by his Aunt Clara.Lennie was picked on by George and his friends because of his lack of intelligence but to Lennie this must have seemed normal. We learn from George about out an incident that happened when they were younger.
George and his friends had told Lennie to jump in the the river as a joke, knowing that he would do what they said. Lennie couldn’t swim and almost drowned. George had to jump in and rescue him. Afterwards, Lennie was very thankful to George for rescuing him but he couldn’t remember that George had told him to jump in, in the first place.
Lennie is very trusting and will do anything that George tells him to do. He is the only person Lennie has in the world. When his Aunt Clara died, Lennie started to go round ranches with George. George had promised Lennie’s aunt that he would look after him.
Without George, Lennie would be completely helpless. It is unlikely that anyone one would put up with Lennie the way George did. Like many children, Lennie loves to touch soft things, but his love for soft things causes the first of many incidents. “Dumb bastard like he is, he wants to touch ever’thing he likes…” .
He loves everything that is soft to the touch, but his misunderstanding of things causes great confusion. He thinks it’s okay to touch what he likes, but when a girl sees is a huge giant coming at her and grabbing on to her clothing, she screams. At this, Lennie freezes up because he doesn’t know what to do due to his mental disability. He thinks the reasonable thing to do is to hold on.
This is a great misinterpretation of things as it’s exactly the opposite of what to do. Lennie’s failure to remember what he is told results in the death of Curley’s wife.He can’t remember that George told him to “keep away from her, ’cause she’s a rattrap if I ever seen one” . As soon as Lennie finds out how soft Curley’s wife’s hair is, he instantly falls in love with it.
His love of soft things instantly overwhelms the rest of his thoughts. His mental disability causes him to forget everything George taught him: about not going near her, about how she is trouble. Even though he didn’t want any trouble, her hair reminds him of the rabbits. As soon as Curley’s wife starts to get uncomfortable and asks him to stop, Lennie can’t.
Curley’s wife is suddenly in horror, so she yells out for help.Upon hearing this, Lennie instantaneously cups his massive hands around her mouth and nose, knowing what consequences will follow if he gets caught in trouble again. Lennie’s childish actions causes Curley’s wife to start suffocate until he eventually breaks her neck. It takes a few moments for Lennie to react to what he has done an then he remembers whar George told him to do if he got in to trouble, “Lennie if you jus’ happen to get in trouble like you always done before, want you to come right here an’ hide in the brush” .
This is the only thought he can think of at this point, so he sets out for the river.George eventually finds out about the death of Curley’s wife so he sets out and kills Lennie by the river. Lennie dies a gentle death, thinking only the happiest thoughts. The moment before he died, his mind is filled with their farm and there rabbits and there dream.
Steinbeck reminds you that Lennie is still as gentle as he ever is, despite the fact that he killed Curley’s wife, Steinbeck does this frequently through out the novel, he does this because he never wants the reader to hate Lennie even if it mean depicting Curley’s wife as the one who did wrong even though he killed her.The ending of the novel can be seen as a happy and a sad ending, happy because Lennie dies believing in the dream and it also leaves the reader hoping that Lennie does achieve his dream of tending to the rabbits in the afterlife but the ending is also sad because people like George who lost his only friend and the person who kept the dream alive and now that Lennie is gone George has to spend the rest of his life with the thought that he almost achieved his dream and even if he could achieve there dream there would be no point because with out Lennie the dream isn’t worth living.Even though Lennie is born with this disability, it is not only him who receives the suffering; others as well are forced to live with it. Both George and Candy’s dreams are shattered; Curley is left all alone, and Curley’s wife is killed by a complete stranger.
In a world of lost dreams and loneliness, John Steinbeck portrays Lennie as the perfect victim of both. Not only does Lennie suffer from this mental disability, others around him suffer great losses as well. Through out the novel Lennie is often compared to animals, this reflects his, thoughts, mannerisms and appearance. Lennie is very big, tall and strong.
He has big hands which were often compared to the paws of a bear, this is said to show the obvious brute strength that he possesses, “Lennie dabbed his big paw in the water” This gives the impression that Lennie’s hands are very big and are probably rough and weathered. Lennie’s actions are often animal like and show his lack of intelligence for example when he drank from the pool, he snorted it down and didn’t take a breath and he didn’t even check to see if the water was clean, this shows his lack of ability to take care of himself with out the aid of George . “(he) drank with long gulps, snorting into the water like a horse. Lennie is often acting on instinct rather than thinking about what he is doing.
I think it is ironic that Lennie should be compared to animals as he loves them so much. Lennie is extremely strong, but he was not aware of his power. We get warning signs about his strength from early on in the book, these are also clues about what happens at the end of the book.Lennie loved to pet mice because they were soft.
He kept mice he found in his pocket but killed them because he stroked them too hard. “I’d pet ‘em, and pretty soon they bit my fingers and I pinched their heads a little and then they was dead. When he gets a fright, he grabs on to something and wont let go. Back in Weed, Lennie felt a girls dress because it was soft.
When she screamed, he held on tighter so the dress ripped. The first real indication of Lennie’s immense strength was when he broke Curley’s hand. “Curley’s fist was swinging when Lennie reached for it. The next minute Curley was flopping like a fish.
” Lennie broke Curley’s hand almost instantly. The other men were surprised at how strong Lennie actually was. “looks to me like ever’ bone in his han’ is bust” At the end of the book, Lennie broke Curley’s wife’s neck.He had his hand over her mouth to try and stop her from screaming, but he held on too hard so broke her neck.
Lennie didn’t know how to react when she screamed. Holding on was the only thing he could think to do. However, Lennie’s strength does have its good points. He is a very good worker and is very fast at bucking barley.
“Maybe he ain’t bright, but I never seen such a worker” Lennie has a very simple mind, he doesn’t think on the same level as the other characters in the book. He doesn’t have a good memory and often forgets things that George tells him. “So you forgot that awready, did you? Lennie has a selective memory, he doesn’t remember a lot of important things, like where they were going but he remembers their dream. He is always thinking about the rabbits and worries, that George wont let him tend them if he gets in to trouble.
Lennie doesn’t have a lot of common sense. He is dependent on George to make decisions, he couldn’t survive without him. “You ain’t got sense enough to find nothing to eat. ” He doesn’t know that when someone screams he should let go of the instead of holding on.
He doesn’t realise that he is hurting them. Lennie is relatively unaware of the world around him and is very much like a child.Little things that adults would ignore or take for granted fascinate him. “Lennie dabbed his big paw in the water and wiggled his fingers so the water arose in little splashes”.
Rings widened across the pool to the other side and came back again. Lennie watched them go. ‘Look. George.
Look what I done. ’ “ He loves animals, the prospect of tending the rabbits is the main thing that keeps him out of trouble. He is terrified that if he does something wrong George wont let him look after them. It could be expected of children to love and want animals as pets but it is very unusual for a grown man to want a rabbit.
Lennie looks up to George, he wants to be just like him. “Lennie, who had been watching, imitated George exactly…
He looked over to George to see whether he had it just right. ” Lennie treats George like a parental figure, he always asks his permission before doing something. George in turn treats him like a child. George tells Lennie what to do and shouts at him when he does something wrong.
When they go to see the boss, George does all the talking. He doesn’t want Lennie to say anything stupid. George tries to keep Lennie under control and out of difficult situations, but this is hard as Lennie is not a child.He just acts like one.
Lennie gets in to trouble because of this, he must face adult punishments for child like acts. When he killed Curley’s wife, the men decided he must die. If a child killed something they would not be killed but told not to do it again. This is unfortunate as Lennie has no more sense than that of a child.
Another aspect of Lennie’s child like mind is his lack of prejudice. He does not understand people’s prejudices and treats everyone the same. I think this is one of Lennie’s most important qualities, although it is sometimes a disadvantage to him. As most people grow up, they develop bias towards certain people.
This is usually based solely on what they have been told and not their own judgement. For example, the men on the ranch may have been told, when they were younger, to avoid black men and that there is something different about them. So as they grow older this develops in to racism. For this reason, Crooks is not allowed in to the bunk house and is unable to talk to them.
Lennie may have been told the same things, but forgotten them, so he did not have the same prejudices against people. This is why he went to talk to Crooks when he was lonely, he didn’t see why the other men ignored Crooks. “ ‘I ain’t wanted in the bunk house..
. ‘Why ain’t you wanted? ’ Lennie asked. ” Lennie also didn’t understand why the men didn’t talk to Curley’s wife. He didn’t see her in the same way they did.
To Lennie she was just “purty”. This got Lennie in to trouble, he didn’t know that Curley would get very angry at Lennie for talking to her. This is sad because Lennie had nothing but good intentions. I feel very sorry for Lennie.
He was always trying his hardest to stay out of trouble and please George but some how didn’t manage. His child like nature meant that he was curious and wanted to find out about things he probably should avoid.For instance, the girls dress. He was not respected by a lot of people and, in spite of his size, was easy to pick on because he didn’t know how to defend himself.
I think it was particularly sad that people discriminated against Lennie because of his child like mind. He didn’t make judgements about people, he was fair and treated every one the same. This is one of Lennie’s most important qualities, it stands him apart from all the other characters in the book. However, Lennie’s child like innocence and lack of prejudice was a great burden to him.
If he was smarter he would know how to defend himself and wouldn’t get in to as much trouble. But, if he could look after himself , he would not have George for company and would be just another lonely ranch hand. I think the ending was especially tragic because Lennie had such a good nature. It doesn’t say much about society if the good people are killed and the nasty people, such as Curley, are allowed to live.
Nevertheless I think George was right in shooting him. Had Lennie been allowed to live he would have been a danger to himself and the people around him.
