It is this inability to judge his strength, combined with his desire to pet things and Curley's wife's desire to be petted and admired which leads to Lennie's inevitable death. The ability to judge one's own strength is one of the first signs of maturity, and it is important that Lennie doesn't have this ability.
Despite the major flaws in his character he is amiable and friendly, and doesn't do any of the bad things he does on purpose.
He has a poor memory, and has to repeat things to himself many times to remember them. Even then, he still forgets them.
He has a sort of blind faith in George, trusting in George to protect him and look after his welfare. For example, remember the incident George describes to Slim when he told Lennie to jump in a river and Lennie obeyed, without a thought to his own well being. This illustrates Lennie's trust in George, and also his immaturity.
However, it must be noted that Lennie can still be quite crafty, as when he cunningly persuades George to tell him the story about the rabbits by threatening to leave him.
The next afternoon, George and Lennie arrive at the ranch and are ushered into their bunkhouse by an old man, whose name we later learn is Candy. He works as a swamper, mopping the floors, and has lost his right hand in some accident. He tells George and Lennie that the Boss is angry about their failure to turn up on time, but also says that generally the Boss is not a bad man.
When the Boss arrives to meet them, George explains why they are late, and the Boss seems to understand although he is not happy. The Boss asks George and Lennie's particulars and writes them down, but he is suspicious about George, whom he thinks is tricking Lennie out of his pay. George lies to the Boss, telling him that Lennie is his retarded cousin. The Boss is satisfied, and tells them to go out to work after dinner.
After the Boss has left, George talks to Lennie, who had forgotten his vow not to say anything to the Boss. George chastises him for this failure. They converse a little more, until George finds old Candy eavesdropping on them. He is worried because Candy now knows that Lennie is not really George's retarded cousin, but Candy reassures George that he will not tell anybody else.
Just then, Curley, the Boss' son enters the bunkhouse, and rudely asks where his father is. After Candy tells him, Curley notices George and Lennie. For some reason he immediately hates Lennie, and almost starts a fight. When Curley leaves, Candy explains that Curley, being rather diminutive in size, hates big guys.
Of Mice and Men is set in the farmland of the Salinas valley, where John Steinbeck was born and which he knew all his life. Steinbeck's father owned land in the area, and as a young man Steinbeck had worked as a farm hand. The ranch in the story is near Soledad, which is south-east of Salinas on the Salinas river. Weed is nearby. The countryside described at the beginning of the book, and the ranch itself, would have been very familiar to John Steinbeck.
The novel of Mice and Men is primarily about George and Lennie’s
relationship and the hardships of living in America during the 1930’s
when there was mass unemployment because of the depression caused
by the wall street crash. Gorge is a slow, child like man. He is not
intentionally bad, but he is naive and so gets himself in trouble all
the time which he and Lennie have to run from. This is how Lennie and
George find themselves on the ranch where the story is set. We will
meet the characters outlined below, and follow the events that lead to
tragedy with the death of Lennie.
During the book Steinbeck uses many contrasts and also uses symbolism to good effect. He also introduces nature in the perfect way, which then turns into nature and its bad ways.
George and Lennie are two American workers searching for the American dream. The story tells us about the way they set about to achieve this dream, the good and bad. It’s basically this, George and Lennie need each other, and as the story goes on their relationship gets further and further away. Steinbeck has made contrasts and used symbolism between nature and the relationship of George and Lennie.
In the book there are two main paragraphs in which Steinbeck describes nature, the first paragraph in the first chapter and the first paragraph in the last chapter. These two paragraphs contrast a lot and in a way show the way George and Lennies relationship is heading throughout the story. These two paragraphs are almost total opposites but do contain some sentences that are near enough the same, but put in to the context relating to George and Lennies relationship.
In the first chapter Steinbeck is describing nature as peaceful and nature working as a community. Steinbeck describes a beautiful pond and the way nature works in harmony and peace. He then goes on to describe animals and the main one being a rabbit. ‘Rabbits come out of the brush to sit on the sand in the evening’. This relates to George and Lennies relationship during the first chapter. Their relationship was good, and though they were thrown out of weed George and Lennie stood side by side. While in the first paragraph in the last chapter, Steinbeck turns to the bad side of nature. He describes a water snake attacking its prey and the wind blowing on trees. ‘A far rush of wind sounded and a gust drove through the tops of trees like waves’.
Extracts on the Mountains from the first and last chapters:
1st chapter-‘On one side of the river the golden foothill slopes curve up to the strong and rocky Gabilan Mountains’.
2nd chapter-‘Already the sun had left the valley to go climbing up the slopes of the Gabilan Mountains’.
These two sentences from the different paragraphs contrast in a way. In the first chapter Steinbeck uses the word strong, which can symbolise the relationship between George and Lennie. This can also symbolise the way nature works and how good the way nature is a strong community. Also in the first sentence Steinbeck uses the word golden, which as you can see, was not used in the second sentence because the mood had changed. The word ‘golden’ gives almost some sort of poetic imaginary to the scenery and also it gives value and beauty to nature, as gold is a precious item. In the second sentence, which appeared in the last chapter, the mood has deepened a little more. Steinbeck doesn’t use words like ‘golden’ and ‘strong’ but instead uses words like ‘left’ and ‘climbing’. This is probably because he wants to symbolise the way George and Lennie are heading through the way he describes nature. In that last chapter Steinbeck uses the word ‘left’. This can symbolise what is going to happen in the story. The relationship of George and Lennie started off strong but during the story it has changed for the worse. The word left may indicate someone leaving someone else and in this instance it was George and Lennie. Also in the first paragraph in the last chapter Steinbeck uses the word ‘climbing’. When something is climbing it in some cases is struggling. Here again Steinbeck has used symbolism. It is also a comparison to George and Lennie that they are struggling to climb up and up. That George and Lennie they are finding life ever increasingly difficult.
In both of these opening paragraphs Steinbeck introduces a creature or animal of some sort. In the first chapter it’s a rabbit and in the last chapter it is Water snake. Though there is more animals introduced in these chapters these seem to stand out the most. For instance dogs, deer’s and water snakes. The rabbit in the first chapter seems to be in a nice quiet place where nature stands out whilst the heron is placed in also in the same place. So there are similarities. But it’s the actions of these creatures that contrast the most. The rabbit is simply there enjoying life sitting in the evening sun. This also symbolises the way George and Lennie thought about the American dream, that it was possible and that it was believable as it was achievable. But as we got to the end of the story, in the last chapter Steinbeck describes a heron attacking its prey with its cunning and conniving ways. This also symbolises the way George and Lennies belief about the American dream was destroyed during their time at the ranch. Like there belief was suddenly taken away from them like the heron taking the water snakes life. It is as if all throughout the story it has seen George and Lennies relationship has evolved during the story for the worse.
Steinbeck wrote about nature because he was interested in biology. Steinbeck would go with his friend Ricketts’ and would research marine biology and he would look at communities and the way they work. Fish is an example. And therefore because of this in the story Steinbeck introduced two communities, the first being nature and the second being the bunkhouse. The bunkhouse was like a little community of people living away from city life and living there a bit like a hamlet. During the story, visiting the ranch actually destroyed George and Lennies relationship. So it clearly told us how the ranch worked as a community.
Apart from nature symbolising George and Lennies relationship there has also been killings throughout he story, which have also symbolised the good to bad relationship of George and Lennie.
John Steinbeck John Steinbeck was born in Salinas, California, in 1902. He was raised in a fertile agricultural valley about twenty miles from the Pacific Coast. Both the valley and the coast would become the setting for some of his novels and short stories. In 1919 he attended Stanford University, where he took literature and writing classes. In 1925 he left the university. He did not attain a degree before his departure. For the next five years of Steinbeck’s life, he worked as a laborer and a journalist in New York City. Then he worked as a caretaker for an estate in Lake Tahoe. During these five years, he was also working on his first novel, Cup of Gold. He then got married and moved to Pacific Groove where he published his next two books, The Pastures of Heaven and To a God Unknown. He also worked on some of his famous short stories. He gained success and financial security with his book Tortilla Flat. This was full of stories about Monterey’s paisanos. In 1952, he published East of Eden, a story about the Salinas valley and Steinbeck’s own family history. The last decades of his life were spent in New York City and Sag harbor with his third wife. Throughout Steinbeck’s life he published twenty-five books. After his death in 1968, four more of his books were published. Six years before his death, John Steinbeck won a Noble Prize. Of Mice and Men The book Of Mice and Men is about the trials and tribulations of friendship. Throughout the book, George is continuously telling Lennie that if he were alone he “could live so easy.” When Lennie gives his answer of leaving, George instantly jumps down Lennie’s throat and reminds Lennie that he “was jus’ foolin’” and wants Lennie to stay. The relationship these two characters posses is that of best friends who will be together until the end. Since George never wants Lennie to go off on his own he obviously cares. George gets Lennie out of numerous situations throughout the length of the book. When Lennie is accused of rape, George and him leave town together. When Curley picks a fight with Lennie, George is the one who convinces Lennie to “get ‘im.” And finally when Lennie accidentally kills Curley’s wife, George is the one who puts Lennie out of his misery in order to keep “‘im [from] gettin’ lynched” and to save Lennie from the consequences that would soon follow. The true trials of friendship become apparent throughout the book. It is evident that along with a true friendship comes many hardships. Lennie is George’s hardship, but George loves him regardless. In the book Of Mice and Men John Steinbeck uses his characters to create a theme of friendship overcoming all. Friends are willing to go to any lengths for each other, no matter the consequences. In the book, George puts his life on the line several times in order to save his companion, Lennie. When Lennie gets himself into trouble, is always right behind to “save ‘im.” Even when George is forced to end Lennie’s life, he understands that he “hadda” in order to save Lennie’s soul. There is no step too large for a “true” friend to take for another friend. Steinbeck utilized the characters George and Lennie to achieve the theme of friends going to any length for each other. Lennie symbolizes the hardships of friendship. He has the “mind of a child” and requires someone “quick” like George to care for him. The relationship between these two men is referred to as that of a “family.” In this book, Steinbeck also uses his own unique style to create his theme. By the way he shows his characters interacting with one another, the theme becomes obvious. He displays George doing anything and everything he can for Lennie, even though he doesn’t gain anything out of it. He also has the two characters speak the way the really would have had it been nonfiction. Steinbeck refers to George and Lennie wanting to “live of da fatta the land.” This phrase means that the characters were hoping for a life full of wealth and luxuries. He achieves an idea of the characters having high hopes for their future. Of Mice and Men is book in which many issues dealing with the responsibilities of friendship become apparent. The style and characters Steinbeck creates in the story face problems that conclude with real life consequences. The problems faced are realistic for an adult with “the mind of a child.” Throughout the length of the novel, Steinbeck portrays friendship as a difficult task, but well worth it. He makes it clear that true companions stick together through everything.
Friendship: Every man needs someone to make him feel special.
- George and Lennie share a bond so strong that when one is destroyed, the other inevitably is as well. Steinbeck often stresses how ranchers are loners, and George and Lennie are the only ones who travel in pairs. They seem to be two halves of the same person, and they know how special together they truly are. "Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world...They got no family. They don't belong no place...With us, it ain't like that. We got a future. We got somebody to talk to that gives a damn about us..."
- Candy's need for the companionship of his dog also stresses the importance of true friendship. For, after the passing of his old dog, Candy attaches himself to the dream Lennie and George share.
Morals/Lessons/Applications:
- People need others to talk to to survive. (Crooks' statement about needing someone or going crazy, the attachment of Crooks and Candy to the dream Lennie and George share, Curley's wife seduction of the ranch hands as a buffer against loneliness)
- A man's ability to dream is directly attached to having someone to share the dream with. (George lets go of the dream after Lennie is killed.)
- Sometimes, even though it's not what you want, you have to do what's best for you and those you love. (George shoots his best friend, Lennie so that Lennie can escape a brutal lynching.)
One could describe their relationship by saying that George is the leader of both because he is more clever than Lennie. That's why Lennie admires George, he is his idol and so he imitates George whenever he can.
But George feels responsible for Lennie because Lennie is mentally disabled and if he was alone, he wouldn't find any work.
Because of these aspects one could say, that Lennie and George are good, or ratherlike one between a father and his son.
