What aspects of Lennie's character make the death of Curly's wife almost inevitable ?

''Even in the open one still walked behind the other'' .He even

tries to model himself on George when he is eating

''Lennie,who had been watching copied George exactly''

He also uses emotinal blackmail several times to get his own way

,very much like a child.When George is angry for having to stay

with Lennie all the time and not go off on his own Lennie responds

by saying

''I can jus' as well go away George and live in a cave''This makes

George feel guilty for yelling at him as he knows Lennie wouldn't

survive on his own.

Lennie also has absolutley no subtlety in his emotions.Just like a

young child he will either be completly happy or very sad,but

there is never a comprimise.He also asks for items he knows he

can't have when they are camping when he says

''I like 'em with ketchup''knowing full well that there is no

possible way of getting ketchup out there.It's only till Lennie uses

emotinal blackmail that George calms down again.

As well as having a child's mannerisms he also has a similiar

characteristics to that of a animal.When he walks John Steinback

describes it as

''the way a bear drags his paws''and when he drinks it is

described as

''dabbled his big paw in the water''.When George discovers that

Lennie has a dead mouse in his pocket he throws it away in

disgust.Later on,Lennie retrieves it like a dog but George finds

out.Lennie reacts to this

''Slowly like a terrior who doesn't want to give a ball back to its

master''

Even George knows just how animal like he is ,telling Lennie when

he uses emotional blackmail that it is impossible for him to run

away and live in a cave as he would be shot for a coyote.Lennie

has one more aspect of an animal and that is his unhuman

strength just like that of a grizzly bear.George tells the farm

owner that

''Lennie can buck barley like two men''and that

''He's as strong as a bull'' and that Lennie can even

''Lift a four hundred pound bale''.This is one of the main reasons

why they get the job in the end but there is a major fault with

Lennie having the mind of a child and the strength of a man and

that is he cannot control his strengh sometimes when he's

pannicking or alarmed.This is one of the reasons why the death of

Curlys wife is almost inevitable.

Lennie needs reassuring many times especialy with his and

Georges dream to live of ''The fatta lan' '' and how they won't

need to travel anymore and they'll have animals.Lennie is

especcially comforted by the fact that there will be rabbits there

to stroke and is often afraid when he does something wrong that

George will not let him tend to the rabbits.Whenether Lennie does

something wrong he needs George to tell him that everything is

fine for example when Lennie crushes Curlys hand in a fight in the

bunkhouse he says to George straight away after

''I didn't want no trouble'' and''You tol' me to do it George''.

He also likes to stroke soft things as a re assurance.Unfortuatly

when he strokes something live he will always kill it,not through

intend but because he is just too strong and Lennie doesn't

realise this.Lennie isn't a violent person at all and doesn't kill

things on purpose.He also shows a pattern of who he kills by

stroking.

Piece of cloth Mouse Puppy Curly's wife

(Lost) (Killed) (Killed) (Killed)

These are the four objects that Lennie either loses or kills

throughout the novel.At firsthe harmlessly loses a bit of cloth but

it leads to first a mouse,then a puppy and finally the

manslaughter of a human.

Once Lennie starts using his strength,there is only one man who

can stop him-George.When Crooks starts too taunt him he is only

just able to calm Lennie down or there would have been another

death.When Curly fights him,Lennie will only start to fight when

George yells out

''Get 'im Lennie''.Lennie then proceeds to crush Curlys hand in a

mad rage and Curly is very close to having his hand crushed to

bits when George yells

''Leggo his hand Lennie .Leggo''.In this sense Lennie is like a

robot who is being controlled by George.Unfortuately when

George and Curly's wife are alone in the barn together,George is

outside playing in a horseshoe tornament unaware of the danger

going on.Curlys wife begins to tell Lennie all about her past when

Lennie mentions his love for soft things.Curly's wife says the

worst possible thing

''Feel my hair,thats right feel right aroun' there an' see how soft

it is''

As soon as she says this she has effectively signed her own death

warrant.He strokes her hair with some force untill she panicks

and yells

''Hey let go''Lennie panicks,hat if George hears her and comes in

? He grabs her,shakes her to shut up and accidently breaks her

neck from the brutal force.Lennie then panicks and runs away.As

soon as George finds out whats happened he has no choice other

to tell Lennie how proud he was to be his friend before shotting

him in the back of the skull.All of Georges dreams are shattered

because of an accident that just had to happen,that no one could

stop which ultimately resulted in the death of two people and

several shattered dreams