Of Mice And Men Animal Analysis

In the book Of Mice and Men, written by John Steinbeck, he uses a lot of animal imagery when talking about Lennie. The book is about two men who have traveled from Weed, California to a ranch in order to work. These men, George and Lennie, have a very interesting relationship, George, the more mature one, has to take care of Lennie and watch his every move so he will not get himself into trouble. Lennie is like a six year old boy in a grown man's body. Steinbeck does a great job of describing Lennie’s child and animal-like ways. I feel like Steinbeck uses animal imagery to describe Lennie because of his mannerisms. He doesn’t comprehend things like a man his age should and his maturity level is so much lower than what it should be. I think that Steinbeck is trying to get the point across that the working class is not full of tough men who know who they are. The working class can have people who look tough but on the inside are really soft and immature. One line he uses is, “..dragging his feel a little, the way a bear drags his paws” (Steinbeck 2). This is when Steinbeck compares the way a bear walks to Lennie’s walk. This shows his immaturity very well because a grown man should be able to pick their feet up off the ground while walking. Another good example is, “Lennie covered his face with huge paws and bleated with

The reason he uses this type of description is because Lennie has a lot of physical and social mannerisms the resemble an animal. He is compared to a bear because his physique is very large, like a bears. His feet drag on the ground as he walks just like a bear drags his paws. When Lennie is getting beat up and “bleating with terror” that shows his mental mannerisms. He feels like he cannot beat somebody up that is smaller and weaker than him. Steinbeck does a great job of comparing Lennie to an animal so the reader can really get a great picture of how Lennie