How Does Steinbeck Create Tension In Of Mice And Men

“...Now, look-I’ll give him the work tickets, but you ain’t gonna say a word...” (Steinbeck 6). This is when George is under stress because he is nervous Lennie may blow the job for them, so he does all he can in order to prevent Lennie from talking. In the novel Of Mice and Men George is a migrant farmer who acts as a protector to his mentally ill friend Lennie. Throughout the novel, George goes through many tense situations due to his stubbornness when it comes to protecting Lennie. George is a static character that never changes his mindset of caring for Lennie. He influences the end of the book by telling Lennie not to talk to the boss, or to Curley’s wife. By doing this, when Lennie is approached by Curley’s wife in the barn, he ends up

George says he will never let Lennie down again, but this promise creates stress for him. A credible source online stated “Most people who make decisions under stress end up regretting it later, which causes them to get more stressed – this leads to a vicious cycle of stress in their life” (OutOfStress). This statement describes George’s thought process precisely throughout the novel. He holds stress inside of him from letting Lennie down when they were younger, and that stress keeps building on him when they are adults. Secondly, having stress can cause someone to have random breakouts that show extreme frustration. This occurs in the story when George and Lennie are cooking beans over a fire and Lennie asks for some ketchup with his beans. George randomly blows up at this comment made by Lennie because he knows they are too poor to afford ketchup, and he continues to rant at Lennie until he cools off (Steinbeck online). The stress that George is going through causes him to have these random outbursts of frustration throughout the novel and shows he is under a great deal of pressure. Both of these stressful situations in the novel prove how George being under stress can cause him to make a bad decision or have random