Additionally, Lennie isn’t weary of the water being unsafe to drink, whereas George is. ‘“Lennie. You gonna be sick like you was last night”’ shows us that Lennie doesn’t learn from his mistakes, like a young child doesn’t, here Steinbeck foreshadows another key idea of Lennie not learning from his mistakes as throughout the book this proves to be one of Lennie’s downfalls. Lennie reacted to George’s comment by carrying on even more, when he ‘dipped his whole head under, hat and all’. This continues the idea of Lennie being a disobedient child, as when a parent tells their child not to do something they often carry on doing it even more. Lennie’s childlike qualities are also shown through means of his speech, ‘”Look George, look what I done”’ echoing what a proud child would say to their parent.
Throughout the novella, Lennie is fuelled by his and George’s dream. George’s story about ‘how it’s gonna be’ with rabbits, vegetable patch and how they’re going to ‘live off the fatta the lan’ has a childish bedtime story quality. Like Lennie, children enjoy hearing the same story repeating countless times; despite having the story memorised. They too talk along and correct their parents when they make a mistake or leave out details, ‘“Go on, George! Tell about what we’re gonna have in the garden”’. Yet again, this shows us Lennie’s childlike qualities as he gets excited about the story, just as he gets excited easily by other little things. However it is interesting to note that real rabbits are only seen once during the book, during the first chapter when they run away from Lennie and George, this symbolises that their dream is only a dream and will never happen, as it keeps running away from them as the rabbits do.
Lennie acts as a child and is described as acting like a ‘baby’; this contradicts the fact that he is larger than all the other men and is later on described as being ‘strong as a bull’. He often doesn’t know of the strength he possesses and this is his major downfall in the book. This is shown to us in the line ‘an’ he made like he’s gonna bite me…an’ I made like I was gonna smack him…an’…an’ I done it. An’ then he was dead’. This shows us how Lennie doesn’t fully understand the concept of life and death, or that it isn’t very important to him as he disregards it as a minor matter, ‘An’ then he was dead’. Also this shows us Lennie doesn’t understand right from wrong, just like a child. As well as this, Lennie doesn’t know his own strength when George threatens Lennie in order for him to obey, ‘“You gonna give me that or do I have to sock you?”’. Once again Steinbeck presents their relationship as father-son, as the threat could be similar to how a parent could threaten their child.
Steinbeck depicts Lennie as being childlike through his love for animals; this is shown to us when Lennie hides the mouse from George, just like a child would hide something they’re not supposed to have from their parents. Lennie didn’t understand that the mouse ‘ain’t fresh’ which gives a sense of naivety that a child would have. As well as this, George had to explain that he wasn’t ‘takin’ it away jus’ for meanness’ and had to promise to ‘get another mouse that’s fresh’ so Lennie could ‘keep it a little while’. George did this to stop Lennie ‘blubberin’ like a baby’ and George’s actions echo that of a parent who has, for example, promised to buy their child a new toy to stop them from crying.
Also in this event, George ‘imperiously’ demands the mouse from Lennie, and this further shows how George is superior to Lennie in the relationship. ‘George snapped his fingers sharply’ towards Lennie, like a master would with his dog, this is shown to us in the words ‘snapped his fingers sharply’ as this is what owners do with their dogs to follow commands. Lennie responds to this as if he was a trained dog, this is shown in the lines ‘like a terrier who doesn’t want to bring a ball to its master’ and also ‘at the sound Lennie laid the mouse in his hand’. Lennie being described as a dog could have significance as mentally impaired people at the time of the novella were classed as inferior people and were treated disrespectfully and mocked, describing Lennie as a dog could show this. These descriptions add to Lennie being described as animals, throughout the book he is often described as a dog; ‘Lennie covered his face with his huge paws’, ‘They’ll tie you up with a collar, like a dog’ and also ‘he pawed up the hay' and these can all add to Lennie being mocked as he is mentally impaired, however it could also show how loyal Lennie is as a friend as dogs are often animals portrayed as being loyal.
Additionally, Lennie follows George’s commands when he attacks Curley, this is shown when Georges demands ‘”Get ‘im, Lennie!” and Lennie responds by attacking Curley, because he is afraid as he ‘watched in terror’. This furthers the idea that Lennie follows George’s instructions like a child would from their parent or a dog would from their owner – either way it shows how Lennie is inferior in the relationship. As previously mentioned, Lennie was described as a bear, which is an animal that only attacks when it is afraid or protecting itself and this is evident in this event as Lennie was reluctant to fight at first until he had to, protecting himself. ‘Curley was flopping like a fish’ could supplement the idea of Lennie being described as a bear, as fish is usually the prey of bears and Curley was Lennie’s prey. This line also foreshadows a later event when Lennie kills Curley’s wife as she too was described as Lennie’s prey, ‘her body flopped like a fish’. All this adds to the idea that Lennie is animalistic.
Moreover, during this event we see Lennie’s childlike qualities come through. He doesn’t know how to react when ‘Curley’s rage exploded’ and this causes him to call out for George, which is shown in the line ‘Make ‘um let me alone, George’. George responds to this by telling Lennie to fight back, ‘Get ‘im, Lennie!’ and this may be similar to how a parent would tell their child to fight back to playground bullies. Afterwards, Lennie is afraid that George won’t let him ‘tend the rabbits’, this is shown in the line ‘I can still tend the rabbits, George?’ and this could be perceived by Steinbeck’s readers as Lennie being afraid of his punishment as a child would be scared of theirs.
In the time that Steinbeck wrote the book everyone wanted the ‘American dream’, which was to have their own land and lots of money. Many ranch workers hoped for the ‘American dream’ and many attempted to get it through hard work, this is shown to us in the book in the line ‘”I never seen a guy really do’, he said. “I seen guys nearly crazy with loneliness for land, but ever’ time a whore house or a blackjack game took what it takes”’. It was common for ranch workers to travel from ranch to ranch alone trying to find work, hence why it was a shock to the other ranch workers that Lennie and George travelled together, this is apparent in the line ‘“Ain’t many guys travel around together’…‘I don’t know why. Maybe ever’body in the whole damn world is scared of each other”’. However, Lennie and George knew that they were never alone and had each other; this is shown to us when Lennie says ‘“I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you”’. This shows a sense of companionship which is similar to a companionship of a master and his dog.
With the other characters, Lennie perceives them through ‘child’s eyes’ and isn’t aware of a threat they may pose to him, this is evident when George has to tell him to keep away from Curley’s wife, ‘“keep away from her, ‘cause she’s a rattrap if I ever seen one.”’ This could be foreshadowing later events, but it also sounds like a parent warning their child of other children who could be a bad influence, this supplements to the idea of Lennie and George’s relationship being a father-son one. As well as this it tells us that Lennie has an aura of naivety about him as he can’t distinguish who is good or bad. Additionally, this shows that Lennie perceives everyone as equals. This is shown to us when he enters Crooks’ room and has unconditional trusting for him. Lennie doesn’t understand why Crooks is segregated, ‘I seen your light. I thought I could jus’ come in an’ set’’, and this shows us that Lennie is absent minded from reality as previously mentioned and it furthers the idea of him being like a child as children don’t understand segregation, as they too think everyone is equal.
We can predict the downfall of Lennie as George tells him ‘“Look Lennie – if you jus’ happen to get in trouble like you always done before, I want you to come right here an’ hide in the brush”’. Steinbeck foreshadows that Lennie will get into trouble and will return to the place where they first started. George gave this command very obviously, and made it absolutely clear as Lennie lacks memory and needs instruction, similar to a dog being given instructions over and over again.