There are words and paragraphs throughout the story which are used as an emphasis of his size and mental inability, “Behind him walked his opposite, huge man, shapeless of face, with large, pale eyes, with wide, sloping shoulders; and he walked heavily, dragging his feet a little, the way a bear drags his paws”. This paragraph is used after describing George, the other man in the story, it’s placed perfectly and it gets a picture in your head of what Lennie looks like, although my version of the story has a picture of Lennie and George on its front cover, with the detailed descriptions throughout the story the picture isn’t needed, you have enough descriptive information and detailing in the story to picture what he looks like and how he acts in your head. Size is referred to throughout the story, making Lennie an outsider.
Gulliver, had trouble fitting in with the different civilisations throughout his journey too, as he was either too large or too small, or he was in a completely alien environment, where he wasn’t understood nor did he understand. From his shipwreck he first ended up in Lilliput, where he was a giant and it’s inhabitants were tiny people called Lilliputians, he was discovered and then captured, the Lilliputians and tied him down to the rock on which he lay after having swam from his shipwreck, once he awoke he noticed he had been captured, the Lilliputians thought that he was holding an army inside of him sent from their enemies who lived on Blefuscu. After explaining himself he was untied and kept as a prisoner inside Lilliput. He was named by the Lilliputians, “Man Mountain”. This is used to emphasise his size, as the Lilliputians see his as a giant, and Gulliver sees the Lilliputians to be tiny little people.
Communication played a major part in both stories as there was a considerable lack of it, in Lennie’s case he didn’t really understand anyone or anything, nor did anyone understand him, as all he would do, is whiter on about, “rabbits”. Lennie had an incredibly bad memory, so he would never remember anything anyone would tell him, except for the story George would tell him about them living on a ranch with lots of land and rabbits. At the beginning when Lennie and George were on their way to the ranch, George told Lennie that if he got into trouble that he should meet him at the stream in the brush, “Lennie- if you jus’ happen to get
In trouble like you always done before, I want you to come right back here an’ hide in the brush.” Amazingly latter on at the end of the story, Lennie does get into trouble and remembers he has to hide in the brush, and makes his way there. Lennie is very unaware to his surroundings and doesn’t understand most things; he just likes to pet things, which are soft and smooth, which gets him into trouble throughout the story.
For Gulliver he has trouble communicating with all of the civilisations as they speak different languages which he’s never heard before, or they don’t believe what he's saying as he's not the same as them. Gulliver had to learn these new languages to try and communicate with them, but even though he learnt some of language from each place he went to he was always seen as being different and classed as an outsider.
All the civilisations that Gulliver went to had their own ways of life, with customs and rituals, many of which Gulliver did not understand, he tried to learn them and abide by them, but he saw many as being petty or pointless. Gulliver told of his customs, rituals, and ways of life back in England, many of the civilisations disagreed with the way England was run, as they didn’t see the point in war, or taxes as they shared everything, so there was no rich, nor any poor, everyone had equal wealth and food, even the queen.
Lennie too, didn’t fit in with life on the ranch, he wouldn’t join in with social events such as the card games, which would go on most nights, nor did he join in with the other social games they all played such as horseshoe throwing, or going to the pub. Instead he would sit stroking his pup, or something soft, or just being a loner. Lennie didn’t understand many things that happened on the ranch. This inability or lack of wanting to join in with social events, made Lennie a bit of an outsider from the rest of the workers on the ranch. This wasn’t helped by his mental inability, as he had a mental age of a child.
Where as Gulliver on the other hand was on outsider but with great intelligence, and intellect. He was an outsider due to his unusual experiences over eight years, and a lack of sane conversations with English people, about things he actually understood, and knew. But once home all he could do was relive the experience over and over in his mind, and tell the tales of where he had been and what an ordeal he had been through.
Due to size, language, communications, customs, social conventions, mental inability, and intelligence both Lennie, and Gulliver are classed as outsiders from society.
