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

The book Of Mice and Men by George Steinbeck is a book about two men who try to work hard in order to achieve their own version of the “American Dream”. One character is Lennie, who just dreams of having land of his own, is not able to have his dream due to his childlike demeanor, his friendship with his friend George, and his social class. Lennie has a very childlike-demeanor which is almost a good thing however, this almost disables his working ability. “Oh! I ain’t saying he’s bright. He ain’t. But I say he’s a God damn good worker. He can put up a four hundred pound bale” (Steinbeck 24). Lennie granted he is a good worker, he isn’t very intelligent so he just takes orders from others and he does that very well. His childlike demeanor is also a bad thing due to the fact that he wants to touch everything he sees. For example with the red

Throughout the book George precedes to demean and put down Lennie consistently throughout the book. “Jus’ tell Lennie what to do an’ he’ll do it if it don’t take no figuring. He can’t think of nothing to do himself, but he sure can take orders” (Steinbeck 43). This is just one of the many examples throughout the book. When George constantly does this it is an issue to Lennie’s mental health. George however, is actually kind of sorry for what he has done in the past “Tell you what made me stop that. One day a bunch of guys were standin’ around up on the Sacramento River. I was feelin’ pretty smart. I turns to Lennie and says, ‘Jump in.’ An’ he jumps. Couldn’t swim a stroke. He damn near drowned before we could get him. An’ he was so damn nice to me for pullin’ him out. Clean forgot I told him to jump in. Well, I aint done nothing like that no more” (Steinbeck 44). Even George is remorseful for what he has done in the past he still continues to demean Lennie. Which (due to his childlike demeanor) Lennie does not notice when he is being made fun