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Character Analysis Of Lennie Small In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

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Once in school there was a girl who couldn’t speak well. She could only make out a few words, but not sentences. Kids bullied her because of her issue. Teachers ignored her and let it slip. The kids bullied her even physically, and nothing was done to help her. Why did this happen? People are treated differently, but society does not wish to change at the whim of others. In John Steinbeck’s novella Of Mice and Men, set in the 1930’s of Salinas Valley, California. Now main characters, a static character Lennie Small, who has a disability that he has trouble processing things, being slower than others. 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). Lennie Small is a static character that is implied to have a mental disability and cannot function as an adult, but as a toddler. Many times due to his strength and his body he has ruined or made a …show more content…

He life has so far been trying to keep a steady job while caring and looking after Lennie, who easily gets them kicked out of almost every place they go to. “An’ you ain’t gonna do no bad things like you done in Weed, neither,”(Steinbeck 8). George honestly knew he would be better off without Lennie. But because of Lennie’s aunt, he would keep him safe even if a town was after him. Multiple times he has saved Lennie from others who misinterpreted him for a fool or a creep, when really they acted on impulse than understand the situation at

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563 Words | 3 Pages

The author does not give too much of a description of Lennie besides what is provided on page 2.

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841 Words | 4 Pages

Many people are disabled and have trouble doing things. In fact, a young boy named“Jude was so severely disabled he could not speak or write, he was miraculously able to verbalize the alleged abuse….” (Rosenberg). As a young child, Jude could not talk, or even function, and he was abused because of his condition. This relates to Lennie because just like the child, Lennie is so, so, so disabled that he can barely speak full sentences, write, and was abused.

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268 Words | 2 Pages

Lennie is a gentle guy who can 't really control his reactions while in a sudden moment. He makes mistakes very quickly to where he can 't control the outcome. He is a strong guy who isn 't very smart, he lets george do all the thinking out of there group. And his short of intelligence escapes him when he gets into a serious matter. He makes a lot of mistakes very often, but he gets by because everyone knows how he is.

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731 Words | 3 Pages

People today with mental disabilities are often criticized for not being “up to par” with everyone else in the world. This is true especially in the 1920’s, in which the novel Of Mice and Men takes place. Take Lennie Small for example, a large and hefty man, who has a mental disability. He, as a character, is blamed for the heinous act of murdering the antagonist’s wife, whose name is never revealed. It is true that Lennie does fracture her neck, but he does so without knowing.

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1004 Words | 5 Pages

How Steinbeck Tells the reader that Lennie is Retarded in Of Mice and Men In today’s world, there are many forms of technology to diagnose mental retardation. For example, trained clinicians may test a person’s reasoning, problem solving, abstract thinking, judgement, and practical understanding in order to diagnose retardation. During the Great Depression, however, mental retardation was never truly be diagnosed.

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576 Words | 3 Pages

People of his type would often end up in a mental institution and get treated like an animal. Slim, the wisest of Steinbeck’s characters points out the detriment this could have on Lennie when he says, “An’ s’pose they lock him up an’ strap him down and put him in a cage. That ain’t no good, George” (Steinbeck 97). With Slim stating that, we know that people with handicaps are looked down upon in this time era.

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1355 Words | 6 Pages

Lennie Smalls one of the main characters in the novel of Mice and Men, is impacted by the human rights issue of discrimination and living with an intellectual disability. “Intellectual Disability, formerly referred to as "mental retardation, is characterized by "significant limitations both in intellectual functioning and in adaptive behavior, which covers many everyday social and practical skills” (Death Penalty Info). Lennie exhibits several signs of having an Intellectual disability, for example, he has problems remembering things. George is constantly giving Lennie directions that he has to repeat several times to help him remember.

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207 Words | 1 Pages

Lennie Small is a character in Of Mice and Men that shows the true possible weaknesses that come with having a mental disability. Just because Lennie is strong, doesn’t always mean he can do good. While petting a puppy that was being mean to him, he got mad at it and hit it, accidentally killing it. After the puppy was killed, Lennie was in fear that when George returned to a dead puppy and Lennie wouldn’t get the rabbits he wanted. Even though he has an addiction, he may not always know when it is inappropriate to touch something soft.

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246 Words | 1 Pages

Lennie Small is a disabled character from the 1930s novel Of Mice and Men. As he travels to different farms with his companion, George, he finds himself in danger because of his disability. Throughout the story, Lennie’s disability is a major factor. Taken from the Prezi by Adam Mumford, Lennie most likely has autism, gigantism and acromegaly. Lennie showed many signs of these diseases with excessive petting, disproportionate bone structure and strength.

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721 Words | 3 Pages

In John Steinbeck’s novella Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck uses a line from Robert Burns poem “To a Mouse” to portray the theme that the main characters failure is inevitable; the forces acting upon this are Lennie’s display of his growing disability, and that nobody believes they can do it, plus the men’s inability to stay in one place. First of all, Steinbeck uses Lennie’s growing disability as a force acting on the main characters inevitable failure. After taking away a dead mouse, George said, “that mouse ain’t fresh, Lennie; and besides you’ve broke it pettin’ it” (9). This is the first time we see that Lennie is capable of hurting small things down to killing them. He did proclaim that he didn’t kill the mouse but George told the readers that this isn’t the first

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419 Words | 2 Pages

• The readers soon get the impression that Lennie is not a normal man and that he is mentally disabled. He is very childlike, impatient and he doesn’t really think about the consequences of his actions. Lennie is also compared to

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426 Words | 2 Pages

Throughout the novel, Lennie's innocence and childlike demeanor are emphasized, as well as his tendency to unintentionally cause harm. This evidence shows that Lennie's actions were not deliberate, and he should not be held fully responsible for them. Lennie is portrayed as an aloof and childlike

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450 Words | 2 Pages

What is right and what must be done are two different concepts. Often times, life requires people to do what must be done in order to save themselves, or others, from negative consequences. The characters in John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men illustrate how people implement remorseful decisions with astute intentions to help ease the consequences for those they care about. Lennie is a sizable, amicable guy.

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851 Words | 4 Pages

(Steinbeck 90). Lennie also hyperfixates on the puppies in the book, sitting and petting them for amounts of time. His memory is really bad, too. George always scolds him when he doesn’t remember any plans, and he never remembers any of them. All of these things are indications of his Autism; however, Lennie also shows signs of

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1005 Words | 5 Pages

The Plentiful Disabilities of Lennie Small Every human being with the IQ of at-least 70, understands that Lennie, the prominent protagonist of the novel Of Mice and Men, isn’t average. But what exactly is preventing him from being “average”? In the novel, Lennie participates in simple activities, yet completes the activities in the most inhuman way. John Steinbeck writes, “Lennie dipped his whole head under, hat and all, and then sat up on the bank and his hat dripped down on his blue coat and ran down his back.”

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