Furthermore, Lennie imitates George to try and be like him. When George “drew up his knees and embraced them”, Lennie also “drew up his knees, embraced them and looked over to George to see whether he’d done it right.” This demonstrates Lennie’s child-like behaviour as he tries to copy George like a child would copy a role model.
Lennie further exhibits his child-like behaviour when he emotionally blackmails George by saying, “If you don’t want me... I’ll go off in those hills... and live by myself.” He acts like a child playfully blackmailing a parent, because he knows that George does not want him to go. This makes Lennie seem like a jolly, playful character that must always be innocent.
However Steinbeck’s portrayal is more complex than this. He describes Lennie in terms of an animal more than a child. Animals are innocent as they do not have the capacity to act morally or know good from bad; but animals can be dangerous because they act only on instinct. Steinbeck compares Lennie to a bear, a potentially dangerous animal. Lennie drags his feet “the way a bear drag’s his paws”. The only way he can cope is to be like a tame dog, tethered always to his master George and never let out of his master’s sight. Yet Lennie can also be like a wild dog, needing to ‘put down’ by his owner.
Lennie is ignorant of his own strength. Lennie found a mouse and then “broke it pettin it”. This tells us that he often misjudges situations as he doesn’t realise that he is doing anything wrong. Another example of where he misjudges the situation is in Weed. He doesn’t realise that he should not have felt the girl’s dress, and when she jerked away, “He was so scairt he couldn’t let go of that dress”. Lennie panicked and unintentionally hung on and used his strength to frighten the girl, even though he was frightened himself.
However, Lennie’s immense strength could be seen as an asset when it came to work, as he could “put up more grain alone than most pair of hands” could. George praises Lennie’s skill at picking grain. This tells us that Lennie is extremely hard working and not just a useless simpleton.
Lennie delights in his and George’s dream of a small farm. He pleads with George, “Tell me. Please, George. Like you done before,” to retell their dream. For Lennie, the dream is like a night-time story and he insists upon hearing it, just like a child. This shows his innocence as all he wants to do is live in peace and “tend to the rabbits.”
In spite of this, Lennie always seems to attract negative attention, even though he does not want to harm anyone. This can be seen from the scene where Lennie breaks Curley’s hand. Lennie “didn’t want no trouble” yet he needed to stop Curley’s relentless attack, so he panicked and grabbed Curley’s hand without realising what damage his strength would do.
Lennie is shown to be totally dependent on George. They “goes ever’ place together” as George is aware that Lennie would not be able to cope on his own. Lennie’s kind and caring nature, as seen by his innocent willingness to “not eat no ketchup” and “leave it all for... George”, also compels George to stay with him. It is this characteristic of Lennie’s that crooks and Curley’s wife see when they decide to confide in him.
However, Lennie’s response to Curley’s wife death portrays him as selfish and cold-hearted. He knows that he has “done a real bad thing” yet all he is worried about is George not letting him “tend no rabbits”. He even grows angry and blames Curley’s wife by saying, “you gonna get me in trouble just like George says you will.” This sort of aggressive behaviour, though unexpected from this ‘innocent’ and ‘child-like’ character, shows us a more negative and possibly evil side of Lennie, and also the extent to which he can go in order to avoid trouble.
In conclusion, Steinbeck has created a character with a personality which could be interpreted in different ways depending on the reader. Lennie is portrayed as a lovable, dependent child in the midst of the cruel 1930s environment. However his response, to the death of Curley’s wife shows a different side to his personality. The ultimate death of Lennie’s character is intelligently used to question the real existence of the American Dream.
