When you first begin to read the book you are surprised at the appearance of George, He’s such an authority figure, you would expect him to be a large, muscular person. However he’s the complete opposite. “Small and quick, dark of face, with restless eyes and sharp strong features.” Due to George’s fatherly role, you expect him to be bigger than Lennie, but he’s much smaller. For a small guy his actions and the way he speaks are very assertive.
George sometimes gets fed up with Lennie’s immaturity, probably because he always has to deal with it, this leads to collisions among the two, where George gets really frustrated. “An’ ‘whatta I got; George went on furiously. “I got you! You can’t keep a job and lose ever’ job I get.” George shows his frustration of having to deal with someone, who at times can be very immature, he describes his life been completely negative with Lennie, and how it can be so much better without his humongous partner.
However every single time that George has a go at Lennie, he feels sorry and guilty straight after, he realises how hard it is for him with his mental disabilities. “No-look! I was jus’ foolin, Lennie. Cause I want you to stay with me.’ George feels sorry straight after the heated encounter; he doesn’t want to have any hard feelings between him and his best mate. He worries that Lennie might leave so he humours him straight away, and he convinces that he was only messing around.
This is partly because he does really care about the guy; he knows at a time like this in America, people like Lennie can find it cruel and horrible in the social world. Things are hard as it is, and with someone like Lennie it’s only going to get worse. So George kind of looks after him the best he can, and cares about him. “Tell you what I’ll do, Lennie. First chance I get I’ll give you a pup” Lennie always wanted a pet, but never could get one with George and the ranch work, but George promises him that after they realise the American dream he will get him a pet and many other things.
Lennie is a strange person but also very simple and kind. He is a very large, muscular man, perfect for ranch work. Having someone like Lennie in a ranch can do three people’s work quicker, and cheaper, as you only have to pay wages for one person. “A huge man, shapeless of face, with large, pale eyes, with wide sloping shoulders.” Steinbeck describes his childlike character in this way, his appearance and his personality are the complete opposite, giving the reader a unique prospective.
Lennie might be very muscular and strong, but he’s very simple minded and slow. He takes his time to understand things, and never remembers anything you tell him. He tries his best but always seem to fail, this leads to many frustrations with his mate, George. “Why sure George, I remember that….. but…. What’d we do then?” Through his conversations with George, you can see that his memory span is quite poor and struggles very much to keep with his partner.
It’s true that Lennie is very simple minded and dumb, but you can see that he’s not as bad as you first think he is. He possesses Emotional intelligence; this is proven in the novel where he encounters problems with his partner George. “If you don’ want me I can go off in the hills an’ find a cave. I can go away any time.” Lennie is clever here, he uses reverse psychology and makes George feel guilty and sorry. He tells him that he’ll leave if he wants to. This makes George scared and causes him to humour Lennie, and make him feel wanted. This proves that he does have some brains.
However in the beginning of the novel, Lennie is described like a large animal by Steinbeck, due to his large image and big presence. The way he does things and his various movements and actions can make it easy to compare him to a typically large animal. “He walked heavily, dragging his feet a little, the way a bear drags his paws.” Here he is compared to a bear because of his size and the way he drags his feet. This creates a good idea of the character Lennie in the reader’s head.
Lennie might not be the smartest person in the world, but he also has a dream, a dream that he shares with George but with his own personal twist. He dreams of a day where he’ll co-own a ranch with George, with his specific preferences. “An’ live off the fatta the lan; ‘Lennie shouted “An’ have rabbits.” This quote shows how he believes that he’ll live happily and comfortably, and be able to finally own rabbits as pets. This portrays what the typical American’s believe as The American Dream. This is Lennie’s American dream.
These two characters are completely opposite to each other both in appearance and personality; however Steinbeck groups them as the perfect pair of friends. George needs Lennie as a loyal companion, and Lennie needs George to guide him through this difficult times. Even though they sometimes have their frustrations, they stay loyal to each other and help each other out. This bond of trust and friendship between the two main characters are the highlight of Steinbeck’s brilliant novel.
