Lennie In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

Almost everyone has that best friend that they always enjoy hanging out with. They have many good and bad memories with and couldn’t imagine going through life without them, but sometimes that friend can be annoying. In the novel Of Mice And Men, the author John Steinbeck builds the two main characters and demonstrates the complicated dynamics between them who are named Lennie and George who are two mid-aged workers who travel the country working on ranches to get money. Lennie is a tall, muscular character but has the brain of a 5 year old, making him very forgetful, unintelligent and unaware of his own strength. George however is short and smart who takes care of Lennie and tries to keep Lennie from getting himself into trouble. Even

Lennie is a physically strong individual who doesn’t like to use his strength against others, but sometimes his strength gets the best of him. One example of this is when Curley got in a fight with Lennie. Curley started throwing punches at Lennie and he didn’t want to fight back until George told him to so then he grabbed Curley’s hand, got scared and started holding it tighter and tighter by accident to the point where Curley was on the ground riving in pain with most likely a broken hand and Lennie didn’t let go until George had told him multiple times to “Leggo his hand, Lennie. Leggo… Suddenly Lennie let go his hold. He crouched cowering against the wall”(Steinbeck 64). Since the workers have witnessed Lennie take out Curley, this gives George some leverage and protection over the other workers. This is because if one of the workers angers George, he can tell Lennie to fight them and the other workers do not want to get in a fight with Lennie. Slim after the fight asked to see Lennie's hands and Lennie stuck out his hands, “Christ awmighty, I hate to have you mad at me, Slim said” (Steinbeck 65). Another reason why George needs Lennie is because he’s someone to have fun with and keep him company. While Lennie is out playing with the puppies, George is talking to Slim about George’s and Lennie’s relationship together. George is telling Slim about some of the good memories they have had and says

Lennie really likes feeling soft things and petting them and George knows this. While George was talking to Slim, Lennie walks in and goes directly to his bunk suspiciously. George notices his stomach looks large and realizes that Lennie brought one of the newborn pups back to the bunk with him and says to Lennie, “You get right up an’ take this pup back to the nest. He’s gotta sleep with his mother. You want to kill him? Just born last night an’ you take him out of the nest” (Steinbeck 43). After hearing George tell him this, Lennie brings the pup back to the nest. Lennie didn’t understand that he might kill the pup by taking him away from his mother since the pup is so young and if the pup had died that would have made Lennie sad. Since George told him to bring the pup back however, he saved the pups life and Lennie’s happiness. A second reason why Lennie needs George is for the things he wants to accomplish in life. Throughout the story Lennie has been reiterating his dream of having a rabbit pen for himself. While Lennie is with George and Candy he has George say out loud their image of their dream home and dream life. While George is explaining it and Lennie encourages him to continue, Candy is listening and when George is done speaking Candy joins them in talking about the dream home. George then ask Candy “Say--what’s it to you? You got nothing to do with us” (Steinbeck 59). Candy responds to Georges