Why is Lennie responsible for his own actions in "Of Mice And Men"?

by niamhq123hotmailcouk (student)

17.3.13

Of Mice and Men

How Lennie is responsible for his own actions?

Throughout the novel ‘of Mice and Men’ John Steinbeck presents Lennie as a harmless giant, a huge, bear-like man whose hands are described as ‘paws’, strong ,slow witted ,loyal and innocent. Steinbeck presents Lennie physically as a huge character but with a child’s mind in a man’s body. But along with a childish innocence Steinbeck illustrates that Lennie can be devious, manipulative and responsible for his own actions and also shows how many times he is irresponsible due to his child like mind and not being able to understand like an adult would. Steinbeck shows how life was tough for working men in the 1930s especially for migrant workers like Lennie and particularly if they had such a limited ability as he had. The largely unskilled work that they did was seasonal in that they have to move from ranch to ranch as the work becomes available, so they never have a home and can have few possessions. Steinbeck illustrated how working men had to be responsible for their actions to be able to get a job, a house and even to get a family but this was very hard for men in those days. Many men travelled west to California ,thinking like George and Lennie in the novel, that they could pick up a cheap piece of land, start their own farm and live a better life but Steinbeck shows how Lennie was responsible in his aim to achieve their dream but becomes irresponsible towards the end of the novel following the tragic death of Curley’s wife .

Steinbeck begins and ends the novel by the pool in the river. Steinbeck compared Lennie to a bear in his initial description. Bears can be viewed as fluffy and comical, but it also suggests a hidden danger and unknown strength as bears can kill .Steinbeck illustrated how Lennie likes to stroke soft things, but inadvertently killed the mouse when he was stroking it because he could not control his own strength and had no idea what he had done to the little animals. The death of the mouse foreshadows death in future events. Before the arrival of George and Lennie, there is a sense of symmetry and much of the language is repeated, giving the novel a feeling of coming full circle. Within the novel Steinbeck showed that Lennie was doomed to fail within the setting of the novel using a cyclical structure painting a repeated theme of loss and death throughout the novel. We know from an early stage in the book that Lennie accidentally kills all of his little pets that he loved including his mice, dogs , kittens etc but does so without really noticing what he has done until George has to tell him that he was the one that had done something seriously wrong to his pets causing their deaths . Even after getting told off by George Lennie does not really understand the true implications of what he has done and doesn’t really comprehend that he was the actual person that had killed them “ I pinched their heads a little and then they was dead because they was so little“. Lennie’s remorse was probably more about the anger that he had caused to George more than any upset about the animals that had died at his hands .

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Steinbeck symbolises danger by repeating the red dress which could suggest danger due to the girl in Weed with the red dress. Steinbeck exemplifies how Lennie was responsible for the death of the mouse and then his dog due to his physical strength but demonstrates that Lennie was unaware that such a tragedy could happen to these animals due to his own power by showing us how Lennie liked to pet soft things; this warned the reader and foreshadowed the danger to Curley’s wife particularly when he demonstrated possible danger while he describing how he liked to pet her hair because it was soft. This created tension as the reader already knew about the previous death of the small animals that Lennie had stroked and killed due to his physical strength and not because of any intent on his part . The reader already had a suspicion that Lennie may also possibly harm or kill Curley’s wife as a result of his strength even if he was unaware that this could happen, suggesting that physically he was responsible for his actions but in reality was irresponsible for her death because of his child-like mind . Steinbeck also foreshadows Lennie’s death in the scene whereby Candy’s dog was shot in the head predicting that Lennie himself may possibly be implicated in such a tragedy as being shot in the head himself. Following this Candy said “I wish I shot him myself” this is exactly what George did to Lennie and knew it was the best thing to do. Throughout the novel Steinbeck demonstrated how Lennie was irresponsible and how his actions lead to death making their dream more and more unrealistic. Lennie had no understanding that his actions could have consequences. This was demonstrated by Steinbeck in the scene when he holds on to his pet mouse so tightly resulting in its death and with no understanding that he could have caused the mouses’ death.

Lennie nearly lost his job by breaking Curley’s hand after Curley “flopped like a fish”. Steinbeck used animal imagery to show how weak and ill Curley was. Before there was any physical movement Steinbeck wrote “Lennie looked helplessly at George, and then he got up and tried to retreat”The word ‘helplessly’ highlights Lennie’s vulnerability. Furthermore, the word ‘tried’ suggests that Lennie doesn’t have control of the situation and doesn’t know what to do. Steinbeck uses similes to show that Curley was aggressive, by comparing him to a terrier, a small violent dog used to attack larger animals. More similes are used when the fight starts. Steinbeck, instead of using the word hands for Lennie’s hands, he used ‘paws’ and by adding the adjective ‘huge’ in front of it, the reader can imagine that he is like a bear .He demonstrated how Lennie was responsible for doing what George had told him to do even though he didn’t mean to hurt Curley, he fought back with Curley but was not able to stop even though George screamed at Lennie “Leggo of him Lennie” but Lennie could not let go. Steinbeck got the reader feeling sympathetic towards Lennie as he did not want to hurt Curley but was responsible for doing what George told him to do. Curley ended up with a broken arm as a result of an altercation with Lennie . Again Lennie was demonstrating that he had no control or understanding of the effect of his physical strength . This demonstrated that Lennie’s irresponsibility stopping was due to his misunderstanding of how he could hurt animals or people due to his learning disability. Lennie is completely oblivious to the dangers of the world and the power of his great physical power always holding on to the dream of someday owning a farm with his best friend George, this was his dream and wa all he could think about. Lennie does not understand his own physical strength and also lacks the understanding of what is socially acceptable behaviour. Lennie was just like a big baby, like a huge gentle giant. He had no ability to defend himself and could not be held responsible for his actions. This irresponsibility, combined with his abnormal size and strength, causes many of the other ranch hands to shy away and fear him.

Throughout the early chapters we can see clear evidence of George and Lennie’s friendship. This is initially portrayed in chapter one whereby George is portrayed by Steinbeck as a father like figure to Lennie the child like figure “Lennie for god’s sakes, don’t drink so much” Lennie was drinking lots of dirty water and could not be responsible for his actions . George telling him to stop was good advice as Lennie was mentally not able to cope with such dangers as dirty water and showing how George looks after him. Steinbeck also shows how Lennie is irresponsible for his actions as George has to tell him what to do and Lennie does what he is told is like as if George is a father to him. Steinbeck illustrates how Lennie would not be able to cope without George as he is always getting into trouble but George always protects him and looks after him, if he did not have George he would not be able to cope with life.

Steinbeck also shows how Lennie can be just like a kid by forgetting things easily “George... I ain’t got mine .I musta lost it.”“I tried not to forget honest to god” Lennie doesn’t seem to regard his mental weakness as anything to worry about, in fact he does not appear to know that there is any difference between him and the people that he works with. Instead, he seems relieved that George is there to look after him. Lennie’s weakness might be responsible for the strength of his bond with George. “Say it over to yourself, Lennie, so you won’t forget it”. Steinbeck illustrated how Lennie tends to forget things easily showing he has to be responsible on what George tells him.

On the arrival to the ranch Lennie and George’s boss was angry as they were late. George told Lennie to keep quiet and thought that Lennie could be responsible to do this but Lennie was not able to do this and became irresponsible during the interview and he started giggling and repeating everything George said and the boss then became suspicious of this. Lennie repeated phrases such as “strong as a bull” Steinbeck used a striking simile and animal imagery here to show how mighty and powerful Lennie is by using animal terms. On the other hand Steinbeck showed how Lennie was responsible for getting his job due to his strength, how mighty and muscular he looked.

A few times throughout the story, especially near the end, Lennie realizes how much of a responsibility he is on George .George had always taken care of Lennie. Even when times were rough, George always made sure that Lennie was alright. Although most of the bad events that had taken place were Lennie's fault for being irresponsible George protected Lennie from people and things that might have caused him harm. One of Lennie's biggest concerns is that of a continued friendship with George. Throughout the novel their friendship is affirmed as Lennie states, "Because, because I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you," Lennie has a distrust of people except for George. Also, Lennie is not always sure about what is right and what is wrong; he relies on George to make the distinction for him and wouldn’t be able to take responsibility by himself.Lennie lacks the understanding that his actions have consequences. This is seen when he holds on to his pet mouse so tightly that he kills it. Lennie walks his way through life completely oblivious to the dangers of the world holding on to the dream of someday owning a farm with his best friend George.

Steinbeck shows how Lennie does not understand his own strength and also lacks the understanding of what is socially acceptable behaviour. George realizes that the bad things that Lennie does are not committed out of meanness. Lennie knows that he doesn't fit in, for example Lennie says, "Well, I can go away, I'll go right off in the hills and find a cave” Steinbeck illustrated how Lennie can do many bad things by his actions but does not mean to do it and doesn’t understand it due to his child like mind and can be very irresponsible at times.

Steinbeck illustrated how Lennie was irresponsible for going into Crooks’ room as white men were supposed to keep separate from black men in those days. Steinbeck demonstrated throughout the book how Crooks got treated very unfairly as in the 1930s, black men had to keep separate from white men and got treated differently and were segregated from the white men. The reader is given permission to enter the room and to experience Crooks ‘life’ Steinbeck illustrated a descriptive setting on his room. He used striking adjectives such as “small electric globe threw a meaple yellow light” This exemplified how he was lonely and showed there was a lonely mood associated. Steinbeck showed how Crooks felt isolated when talking to Lennie “They say I stink” as a result Crooks doesn’t welcome ranchers into his room and got mad at Lennie for coming and said “you have no right to come in” Crooks started to get aggressive for Lennie coming in and said “you all stink to me” but Lennie was confused and didn’t understand due to his child like mind. Lennie was irresponsible by quickly telling Crooks about the secret of their dream farm but crooks Loneliness had made him hostile, and he started taking out his anger on Lennie by insinuating that George may never come back. “What happens if George don’t come back?” Steinbeck got the reader feeling tense whenever Lennie got mad at this comment as he started to tower over Crooks and Steinbeck makes it look as if something bad is going to happen due to his strength but Lennie calmed down and was responsible for his own actions.

Steinbeck used a lot of animal imagery throughot the novel towards Lennie. Lennie is often compared to a bear with his huge size and strength. His hands are described as paws, and he is always associated with rabbits and mice. He snorts like a horse at the stream and circles like a terrier when he does not want to bring the dead mouse to George. Steinbeck used these animal images to foreshadow what would happen towards the end of the novel. With his enormous strength and his lack of intelligence, common sense, and responsibility, Steinbeck shows the reader how he wouldn’t be able to cope with life and take responsibility by himself.

Overall Steinbeck showed how Lennie can be responsible for his actions by being able to work as a ranch worker due to his strength and was responsible when he did everything that George told him to do But on the other hand Steinbeck illustrated how many times he was irresponsible at first he killed a mouse and broke Curleys hand and became more irresponsible towards the end killing the dog and then Curleys wife this showed how dangerous he was but Steinbeck exemplified how Lennie did not mean for any of this to happen and showed how he didn’t understand his how strong he was due to his disability and his child like mind.

Niamh Quinn