Lennie had low brains and high strength, allowing him to get far with George helping him. But, Lennie never knowing when he did something wrong only put him on a clock before he would end up dying for something he didn’t understand. “They run us outta weed,”(Steinbeck 7) this quote shows that already at the beginning of the book Lennie has
They use to make fun of my accent they would taunt me and say “Howdy y’all!” and act like a cowboy. In John Steinbeck’s novella Of Mice and Men setting of the 1930’s in Salinas Valley, California we meet the static and round character Lennie Smalls and his best friend George a dynamic character. While it is obvious to the reader that Lennie has a mental disability because of his actions, it is never directly stated.
Lennie has the most obvious handicap, since it greatly affects his ability to function. Lennie has the mental capacity of a child, and he can’t take care of himself. Lennie loves to “pet” things, but he is unaware of his own strength. This results in a dead mouse, puppy, and eventually, woman! Lennie is enthralled by the idea of living on a farm with George, and he uses this picture-perfect image almost as a moral guide.
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.
American Association on Mental Retardation (AAMR) as “significantly subaverage intellectual functioning exiting with deficits in behavior developed during the development period.” ( Mental Retardation 1) Not, only was Lennie mentally disabled, but he was mentally unstable. After Lennie ran away he started seeing things. His Aunt Clara popped up and yelling at him. There was also a talking bunny telling him, how disappointed George would be.
“Sure, right now. I gotta. We gotta.” And George raised the gun and steadied it, and he brought the muzzle of it close to the back of Lennie’s head. The hand shook violently, but his face set and his hand steadied.
In the novel Of Mice and Men, written by John steinbeck, George Milton saves his best friend Lennie Small from being lynched by a mob of fellow ranch hands, and chooses to kill him himself, in a peaceful way, much like Carlson killed Candy’s dog. The character of Lennie Small clearly has the mental capability of a small child. Lennie is on the verge of getting killed by curley because lennie accidentally murdered his wife in the barn. Curley's wife instigated Lennie to kill her leaving George no choice but to kill his best friend saving him from having a painful death. George has been like Lennies caretaker because they've known each other since they were kids forming a natural friendship.
Lennie Small is the main character in the novel Of Mice and Men. He is facing mental adversity. He is tall and mentally disabled man who can’t clearly understand things and can’t control himself. For example, when he’s petting the puppy, he thinks that there’s nothing wrong with this, until the puppy died. He doesn’t know what he had done.
In Of Mice and Men, the struggles of the disabled were demonstrated through literature. It can be thought that the disabled in the 1930’s were demonstrated by Lennie. One example of Lennie being mentally disabled is in the quote “Lennie was smiling with delight at the memory of the ranch. Curley stepped over to Lennie like a terrier. ‘What the hell you laughing at’ ” (Steinbeck 61)
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.
Lennie Smalls is a unique character in Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. He is very strong, but does not realize his own strength. Of Mice and Men depicts the story of two migrant workers named Lennie and George. Although they do not have much, they are gifted with each other. Other people living on the farm suffer from loneliness, but Lennie does not because he has George.
The novella, Of Mice and Men written by John Steinbeck, starts off with a brief description of two men named George Milton and Lennie Small. George is puny and quick with a dark face that included restless eyes and sharp, strong features. Lennie, on the other hand, was the diametric. Lennie was described to be a much larger man with a shapeless face, large pale eyes and wide sloping shoulders. And based off of one of their conversations, it becomes clear that Lennie has some type of mental disability because he struggles to remember where he and George are going and what they are going to do.
While there is a lot less poverty today, poverty is present in both the real world and in Of Mice and Men. Another issue that we see in both Of Mice and Men and the real world is unfair treatment of people with disabilities. In the text, we see many cases of people being mean or taking advantage of Lennie. Early on in the text, George is talking to the head of the ranch and said that when Lennie was a kid he got kicked in the head by a horse, even though he didn't. This shows that George doesnt think Lennie is smart and he's stupid, and by doing this he is putting Lennie into a situation where he cannot defend himself.
Mental Disabilities in Of Mice and Men In the Steinbeck novel Of Mice and Men the two main characters are a man named George who is a tough hard worker, and his cousin Lennie who has mental defects. Lennie’s mental defectiveness is at most times a problem and a hassle to George because he cares about Lennie and he only wants the best for him in life. Lennie looks up to George because George is the one who usually always get Lennie out of trouble when he does things. One time Lennie thought that a young lady’s red dress was very pretty so he tried to touch it and the girl thought he was trying to hurt her
Because Lennie has a mental disability, he comes off as very vulnerable and helpless. However, Lennie has unbelievable physical strength that is beyond his understanding. Throughout the story, the reader learns that Lennie views the world as a child would. His attraction to soft, fuzzy things gets him in trouble more times than not. First, he touches a woman’s dress in the town of Weed and causes a scene.
