Of Mice and Men Extract Question. At the beginning of the extract, Lennie is mourning the death of his puppy

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At the beginning of the extract, Lennie is mourning the death of his puppy – by his own hand – when Curley’s wife enters the barn and attempts to comfort him and she allows Lennie to stroke her hair. When ‘Lennie’s big fingers fell to stroking her hair’ we see that something is going to happen as the mood changes and the tension is heightened. We have an inclination to what is about to happen as we have seen the inevitability of the scenario with Lennie’s strength and Curley’s wife’s desire for affection and attention. When Curley’s wife
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tells Lennie not to ‘muss it up’, Lennie strokes ‘harder’, as he is overcome with the pleasure of the experience, this shows that Lennie doesn’t listen to anyone except from George, thus reinforcing what we already know. Curley’s wife says ‘ you stop it now’ and ‘jerks her head sideways’ and Lennie then panics and automatically his ‘fingers close on her hair and hung on’, this is because it is the only thing he can think to do, this emphasises his child-like mentality as his reaction is physical as opposed to psychological. ‘Lennie was in a panic’ and ‘his face ...

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