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Character Analysis Of George And Lennie In 'Of Mice And Men'

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People are never going to reach the American Dream. This is the opinion of author John Steinbeck, who felt as though poor people would never achieve the American Dream. In the book “Of Mice And Men” John Steinbeck writes a story about George and Lennie. George and Lennie are poor and they are trying to buy their house, but they fail. In, “Of Mice And Men”, John Steinbeck uses characterization and structure to communicate that being powerless means that you do not mean anything.
In, Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck uses characterization to show that George and Lennie are powerless to society. When we first meet Lennie, John Steinbeck explains Lennie as “dragging his feet just like a bear drags his paws.” John Steinbeck constantly explains Lennie as an animal because animals don’t have rights, or are treated like people. Another example that Steinbeck shows is when Curly tries to fight Lennie by smashing” down his nose with a right.”(63) John Steinbeck shows in this quote that Lennie does not fight back when Curly is punching him in the face because he is dumb. When Lennie kills the puppy he yells “ God damn you” now George is not going to let me tend no rabbit.(85) Steinbeck shows that Lennie has an intellectual disability. Steinbeck uses characterization to show that Lennie is powerless to society. In Of Mice And Men Steinbeck uses specific plot structures to communicate his message. When Steinbeck begins his story, …show more content…

John Steinbeck relates his characters to real life people because people in the real world are powerless and they can’t do anything more than what they are doing to fix the problem. The reader should think to himself that not all people are the same and that some just need a little bit of help to succeed in society. Most people are not going to make the American dream, but some people can just have a little bit of

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Within the novel it states, “Tell about what we're gonna have in the garden and about the rabbits in the cages and about the rain in the winter and the stove, and how thick the cream is on the milk like you can hardly cut it” (Steinbeck 15). This quote shows that Lennie is causing distraught to George, leaving him to potentially ruin their future. Also, George took in Lennie when Lennie’s Aunt left him to George, so George trusted Lennie to not cause trouble to his passion. Something distinct to an individual, a personality trait, is shown in Lennie as his behavior results in him making unwilling choices towards others. George shooting Lennie in the back of the head was a good choice, as he was causing to much harm to George, as George has to watch over him.

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I’ll smash ‘em with a stick” (Steinbeck 3.58). Lennie will do anything to keep those rabbits from getting hurt. He is so insistent on ensuring the safety of the rabbits because he could never prevent himself from getting hurt. Lennie gets hurt by society due to his disability, and he cannot fix that.

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And his friend George who takes care of him before and on the ranch, “Lennie smiled to himself. “strong as a bull,” he repeated. George scowled at him, and Lennie dropped his head in shame at having forgotten. ”(Steinbeck 22). Although Steinbeck does not say Lennie is disabled, it is implied through his actions, speech, and a short part of his younger life explained by George to another character, “I used to have a hell...lifted a finger against me,”(Steinbeck 40).

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