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John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men: An Analysis

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In John Steinbeck’s novella Of Mice and Men, George Milton’s feelings towards Lennie Small, his companion, changes significantly throughout the course of the story. George is a migrant worker during the time of the Great Depression; he travels, searching for work with Lennie Small. George is a parental figure and a friend to Lennie. Along his journey to achieve the American Dream, he befriends a man by the name of Slim who in the end of the story reveals his deep connection with George. Curley, the Bosses’ son, does not like George primarily because he’s insecure and jealous of Lennie, George’s companion. Steinbeck describes George as being “small and quick” (Steinbeck 2). George’s physical appearance is described as being “dark of face, with …show more content…

During the time of the Great Depression, two men travelling together was not common which is expressed several times throughout the novel. However, in this case it is necessary for George and Lennie to travel together in search of work because Lennie isn’t capable of taking care of himself and George feels obligated to take care of him. In the article “Of Mice and Men: A Story of Innocence Retained” McEntyre, a critic, explains how Lennie’s dependence and his innocence weakens George. She says that George is “the one to see the larger picture, to foresee consequences and to control Lennie’s behavior for their mutual behavior (McEntyre).” Therefore, McEntyre is saying that Lennie is a parental figure to Lennie. When they travel together to find work Lennie is not independent. He has to depend on George for food, shelter, a job, etc. Also, Lennie is constantly getting in trouble which George has to get him out of as well as disciplining him. McEntyre also mentions that “…one man’s innocence may require another man’s guilt…to preserve innocence is costly and undesirable (McEntyre).” This shows that during the Great Depression and even currently now in modern-day, innocence is not desired. Furthermore, George had too much responsibility with taking care of both of them and with dealing with Lennie’s

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In John Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men”, Lennie and George travel together to work. They discuss the trouble they experience with Lennie's touching things he shouldn't and how that forces them to run, hide, and constantly search for work. Throughout the book, Steinbeck gives just a small picture of all the trouble Lennie has caused and how George continues to guide him to get by. A problem with a girl leads us to chapter 1 and 6, and how they share in setting, but George and Lennie's interactions differ. The similarities and differences of chapter 1 and 6 show how Lennie and George's cohesive friendship with a bright future develops into a loving bond that had to end.

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Some decisions you have to make in life are so difficult that we would rather not have to deal with them. George Milton had to decide the fate of his closest friend’s life. Lennie Small, a character from John Steinback’s book Of Mice and Men, is a childlike adult that George looks after. They were best friends until he accidentally killed the wife of their boss’s son. George had to decide whether or not he would kill Lennie mercifully, or let the rest of the worker's murder him.

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Lennie has been proven repeatedly to not be self-sufficient. He relies on George for everything, for example when they went to the job interview for the wheat bucker interview at the ranch George was the only one who talked. Also, Lennie didn’t stick up for himself

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In John Steinbeck’s novel Of Mice and Men,George and Lennie are two guys that are heading to their next job. Lennie is a giant and forgetful guy who does not always know what he is doing. George, on the other hand,is the opposite. He is short and knows what he is doing when it comes to work. Lennie was dangerous to everything around him and he also liked to pet soft things.

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For the entire duration of the story George is taking care of Lennie who portrays a lack of ability to take of himself, George through the book implies to the reader without Lennie he could have better chances in life but as George says these things and constantly brags to Lennie about how he could leave him he continues to stay with Lennie and not pursuing opportunities that would be more convenient and better without Lennie in return weighing George down because he does not leave. In the book, the author wrote “if I was alone I could live so easy. I could go get a job an’ work, an no trouble. No mess ' all, and when the end of the month come I coul' take my fifty bucks and go into town and get what‘ ever I want. Why, I could stay in a cat house night.

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Examine how far George and Lennie are loyal to each other throughout 'Of mice and men' In the novella 'Of Mice and Men', by the well-known author, John Steinbeck, the reader is introduced to a varied range of different characters on the ranch; within this realm loyalty between George and Lennie plays a significant role in the lonely itinerant lifestyle. The characters in this short novel act in a world of their own, having no connections to any other type of society; through this Steinbeck can strongly depict the theme of loyalty and friendship in dire situations during this period of time. During the 1930's, at the ranch, a predominant role of intelligent white-males is seen to retain power over lesser groups of people, of which Lennie is portrayed to be this part as he is mentally disabled. Despite this George and Lennie strike up a friendship of loyalty: showing firm and constant support. ' Guys like us got no fambly...they ain't got nobody in the worl' that gives a hoot in hell about 'em' sums up the reason why their loyalty and companionship is so vital and special to each other.

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In the story Of Mice and Men written by John Steinbeck, it mainly takes place on a ranch where two migrant workers, Lennie and George travel around to find work. Throughout the story George helps Lennie throughout the whole story because Lennie is mentally handicapped and has trouble thinking. Lennie cannot be by himself and needs help with simple tasks. George has a large amount of responsibility for Lennie as he always has to care for him. There were events throughout the story where Lennie does some bad things that gets him and George in trouble and at risk of getting kicked out of the ranch.

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As previously mentioned, the portrayal of George is through his strengths, but as Steinbeck sinks deeper into the story, his flaws start to appear, leading to the climax. Steinbeck begins every chapter with descriptive and vivid diction to set the scene, one that will become blemished by the contrast of the continued story. One could compare George to a mouse, just as the title of the novella, Of Mice and Men. A mouse, compared to Man, retains innocence, just as George is at the novella's beginning. He notices Lennie is not improving because of his continuous errors, causing them to flee and find another job.

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In Of Mice and Men, George demonstrates that you can be friends with who ever you want which can make unique friendship and being open minded, because he has a friend that has trouble controlling himself, but George still continued to help him and stay beside him. The story takes back in the day during the American great depression and people struggles to live in America. The two main characters in the story are George who is the sharp eyed hard worker and Lennie who is handicapped and has bad control of himself. George and Lennie are searching for work and Lennie who happens to cause trouble for George which gets in George’s way a lot and because of Lennie they had to leave the town, because they were interviewing job with the manager

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The last line of Of Mice and Men is said by Carlson. In regards to Slim and George after Lennie’s death, he says, “Now what the hell ya suppose is eatin’ them two guys?” (Steinbeck 108). George is clearly negatively affected by what has happened. It makes it clear, George was not selfish in his act, but wanted only to show Lennie compassion and give him a gift.

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In Soledad California, during the 1920’s we find George and Lennie, the two main characters. Two friends that have a very unique relationship. George is a short man with sharp features and quick wits, where as Lennie is a big man with a round face and is a just like a large child. They are lowly workers that bounce from ranch to ranch looking for work, in search of their unique american dream. In Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, George becomes more understanding and friendly towards Lennie through the beginning, middle and ending of the novella.

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Do you know how hard it was to maintain a stable family during the Great Depression? So many people had that idea of the American dream, which meant having the perfect family. In the U.S. so many families wanted the American dream, things were normal, women and men had their roles, things were cheap, everything was perfect. When the 1920s hit, that was when Americans all started thinking about the American dream and what it would be like living in it and having it. During the 1920s, appliances, cars, houses, were cheap.

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George and Lennie are the main characters in this story. They are two young friends who were left with nothing except some hopes and dreams. George and Lennie have dreamt of having and owning a small farm, but they were not able to fulfill their wishes because their lives were followed by heartbreaking failure. In the text, ‘Of Mice and Men’, friendship is portrayed in a very confusing way. It is dangerous so as to say.

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During the time of the Great Depression people did not know about mental disabilities and that is why Lennie was not treated fairly. Lennie got into a lot of trouble at work, which caused for him and George to find different jobs all the time. An example of when Lennie and George had to leave a job because of Lennie’s actions was when they were in Weed and Lennie touched the girl’s dress and would not let go. The only reason why Lennie did that was because he saw something he liked and he did not want to let go and he became scared when she started to scream. People during this time period were unaware of mental disabilities which made it hard for them to get jobs.

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Although described as a rather large man, Lennie’s role between the two men is very childlike. Lennie is treated like a child by George because Lennie does not have the maturity or mental capability to make decisions for himself. For example, George must continuously remind Lennie of the spot he must come to if in trouble because Lennie cannot focus long enough to process this information. Lennie is also fairly unintelligent and blindly loyal to George. This loyalty is seen when George tells Lennie to jump into a river, and Lennie obeys even though he is unable to swim.

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