Who Is The Oxymoron In Of Mice And Men

Of Mice and Men is a novella that was written by John Stienbeck, which follows two men, George and Lennie, who have been forced out of town and are in search of work. George acts as a caretaker for Lennie, who is portrayed as mentally disabled. Throughout the story, George struggles with internal conflict; Lennie is a constant reminder of a better life that awaits him if he didn't have the burden of caring for him. Lennie has sensory issues, which enables him to start harming small animals, which eventually progresses to him killing Curley's wife after touching her hair. George finds out that Curley's wife is dead and “understands what he needs to do.” He steals Carleson’s luger and shoots Lennie. In the aftermath of the novella, readers

The author uses his name as an oxymoron to describe his personality, and though his appearance is menacing, his mind and disposition are slow. Although Lennie is kind in nature, he does not understand that his actions may have even worse outcomes. Throughout the story, Lennie is known to keep mice in his pocket, which he tends to pet a little too much- and a little too hard. Due to this tendency, he ends up killing the mice, resulting in ridicule from his friend George. As the novel progresses, Lennie becomes increasingly violent, despite his intentions not to. By the end, it’s determined Lennie has become a danger to society. Considering the fast progression of Lennie’s behavior, George takes it upon himself to do something about

In the 1930s, phyciatric care was still limited. Many facilities relied on barbaric methods of treatment like electro-shock therapy, drugs, and surgery to help their patients. Considering the inadequate knowledge, many of the people who were suffering with mental illness were very misunderstood. Many times throughout the story, it is made very clear that if Lennie were to get in trouble, he could be killed. When George is descussing the story on why the pair came to the ranch, he says “Well, that girl rabbits in and tells the law she been raped. The guys in Weed start a party out to lynch Lennie.” (Steinbeck 42). The people during this time did not understand mental disabilities as well as we do now. If George were not to have killed Lennie himself, he could have ended up with a worse