There were quite a few tragic characters in Of Mice and Men such as Crooks who most likely dreamed of being free from having to work for others, Curley’s wife who wanted to be a movie star when she was slightly younger and we are told this whilst she’s talking to Lennie, but none of them were more tragic than Lennie Small. Lennie, who was a ranch worker, was born with a mental disability of being mildly mentally delayed meaning he can be easily confused ‘Lennie’s face wrinkled with apprehension’ the word apprehension suggests that he is becoming more anxious as the word apprehension means, anxiety or fear that something bad or unpleasant will happen.
Lennie suffered in more ways than others is thought to be a tragic hero as a tragic hero particularly suffers from; Character Flaws as he’s Mentally disabled making us sympathise for him as he doesn’t understand his strength or regular situations such as not being able to keep the dead mouse prior to them entering the ranch. He always gets lured into bad situations e.g. killing Curley’s wife. He suffers when George shoots Lennie in the back of the head to save him from further misery. Hero experiences cleansing
Lennie cannot be cleansed because he is dead, but his best friend George has experienced the cleansing because he doesn’t have to watch after Lennie and get into trouble because of him anymore.
Lennie, who was a ranch worker, was born with a mental disability of being mildly mentally delayed meaning he can be easily confused ‘Lennie’s face wrinkled with apprehension’ the word apprehension suggests that he is becoming more anxious as the word apprehension means, anxiety or fear that something bad or unpleasant will happen.
Lennie was also very caring of his friend George “Ain’t nobody goin’ to talk no hurt to George” the fact that Lennie says that nobody is going to hurt George implies that they are very close friends which links to the fact that he can be very caring towards people particularly George, which was shown when he was with Crooks who suddenly became angry and bitter towards Lennie asking what Lennie would do if something bad was to happen to George and tells Lennie that George might not return to the ranch resulting in Crooks angering Lennie, and in terrible fear, Lennie nearly attacks Crooks which reiterates that Lennie is concerned for George’s well being even though he shows this in an intimidating way. This is particularly tragic due to the fact that George is the person who kills Lennie at the end of the book
Lennie who loved to feel things in especially soft things “Dumb bastard like he is, he wants to touch ever’thing he likes” which proved to be his downfall as this resulted in George and Lennie being chased out of weed. But his main downfall was he didn’t understand his own strength, which was shown when he accidentally kills Curley’s wife since he started to panic as she had started to scream resulting in him breaking her neck, this tragic because not only will Lennie be in trouble with George but that he promised to stay away from Curley’s wife as George warned she’s nothing but trouble.
He is dependent on his friend, George, to guide and protect him from himself as well as others. The reader feels sympathy for Lennie and begins to experience a sense of sorrow as Lennie’s dreams of being able to tend to rabbits on George, Candy and his farm, which inevitably falls apart due to him killing Curley’s wife and his death when he has to be shot by George.
