Can you imagine that you trusted someone so much that you would jump into a river without knowing how to swim just because that person told you to? Well, that happened to Lennie in John Steinbeck 's captivating novel, Of Mice and Men. George, Lennie 's friend, told Lennie to jump into the river but soon George realized that Lennie was unable to swim. He then jumped in and saved his life. Lennie was so grateful that George saved his life that he neglect to remember that George was the one that told him to jump. Lennie will do whatever George tells him to do, and we have seen this on many occasions in the book. This is why Trust is the most important and prominent theme. Imagine having down syndrome, now imagine not knowing what that was. In the 1930s there were many unknown medicines and diseases. Aunt Clara is Lennie late aunt. Aunt Clara knew that there was something wrong with Lennie, but she did not want to send him to a mental institution, so she told George to take care of Lennie. Aunt Clara clearly trusted George that he would not put Lennie into an institution. In the 1930s if someone had one of these diseases that did not have physical indications they would send you to a Psychiatric hospital. From this and other lines in the novel, many people believe that Lennie has Down syndrome. Lennie 's aunt trusted George that he could handle taking care of Lennie. Also, she knew that Lennie would be able to trust George. If George told Lennie to do something he would try