Of Mice and Men tells the story of two close friends, George and Lennie. George is a small man, but he is smart. Lennie is his opposite, he is big but weak-minded. They make their living by working on farms. They do this so they can get enough money for their dream farm. On this farm they want to have a small land with animals, cultivated fields, and they do not want to work for any boss. On the farm they are working at, they end up getting into trouble because of Lennie. They can not keep a job because of him. Lennie has a strong desire to pet soft things, this desire puts them in a difficult position every time. The reason why they had to leave the old town they were in, to move to the new ranch was because of this weakness. Lennie wanted …show more content…
This is shown in Curley’s wife. She does not even have a name on the farm, she is just known as Curley’s wife. Allso, all the men on the ranch think she has the eye for everyone and that she is just a tart. They call her a tramp. “Jesus, what a tramp (Steinbeck 32),”.They do not realize that she is just lonely and wants somebody to talk to on the farm. “‘Why can’t I talk to you? I never get to talk to nobody. I get awful lonely’ (Steinbeck 86).” All the men think she is trying to tempt them in a way they can not resist. For most of the story Of Mice and Men she is portrayed as an evil temptress who is trying to bring evil into the men's' lives by tempting them with her beauty. It is not until the barn scene when she shows that she also has dreams just like many others on the farm. Her dreams involved a stint in the movies with all the benefits, money, and pleasure it would provide. “‘Coulda been in the movies, an’ had nice clothes—all them nice clothes like they wear. An’ I coulda sat in them big hotels, an’ had pitchers took of me. When they had them previews I coulda went to them, an’ spoke in the radio, an’ it wouldn’ta cost me a cent because I was in the pitcher. An’ all them nice clothes like they wear. Because this guy says I was a natural’ (Steinbeck 89).” Her dreams make her appear less like she is trying to seduce the men, and make her look more human and vulnerable. This shows even the worst of people have …show more content…
This is shown in Lennie. Lennie is a big man who looks mean, many people would expect that he would fight anyone, except he has a mental disability. This disability makes him weaker and more vulnerable. One time when George had just told Lennie about their dream farm, he was smiling at the thought of it. Curley went into the bunkhouse and thought Lennie was laughing at him. He started to fight Lennie. Lennie was just trying to mind his own business, and was telling George to get Curley to leave him alone. “‘Make ‘um let me alone, George’ (Steinbeck 63).” “‘Make ‘um stop, George’ (Steinbeck 63).” This shows that Lennie did not want to fight Curley, he just wanted to be left alone. Lennie can not think for himself, so he was not going to fight Curley until George told him to. “‘Jus’ tell Lennie what to do, an’ he’ll do it if it don’t take no figuring. He can’t think of nothing to do himself, but he sure can take orders’ (Steinbeck 39).” It was not until George said to Lennie “‘Get ‘im Lennie’ (Steinbeck 63)!”Lennie started to fight Curley back and defend himself. This shows that Lennie has to be told what to do for him to do
“But Curley’s gonna want to shoot ‘im” (Steinbeck 97), said George to Candy. That there? Just an argument between Curley shooting Lennie. Ill explain later, but this is where George is thinking about what he's going to have to do to Lennie, you see Curley is going to want to slowly kill Lennie for killing his wife. But George kills Lennie quick and easy.
When Curley became aware of what occurred, he grew so angry and threatened Lennie’s life. “‘I’m gonna shoot the guts outa that big bastard myself, even if I only got one hand. I’m gonna get ‘im.’” (Steinbeck) George knew it had to be him to kill Lennie rather than Curley.
Lennie killed Curley’s wife (not on purpose) and got into a fight with him. Curley is ready to shoot him and torture him, except George has the choice to shoot him painlessly first. Some people may say that Lennie should have had a say in this situation and that Lennie didn’t do anything on purpose, he
Once Curley finds out about his wife's death he angerly promises the guys that he's going to kill Lennie, saying, "I'm gonna get him. I'm going for my shotgun. I'll kill the big son-of-a-bitch myself. I'll shoot 'im in the guts"(Steinbeck 96). If George wouldn't have stepped in, Curley was going to make sure Lennie died as painfully as possible for the death of his wife.
The fictional novel Of Mice And Men, by John Steinbeck depicts a tragic time during The Great Depression of two migrant ranch workers. George Milton and Lennie Small are the main characters, who have known each other since they were younger, and because of special circumstances George vowed to look after Lennie. The novel takes place near the Salinas River in California resulting in their shared dream of having a ranch of their own. As the two approach a ranch, they realize that it would be a felicitous place to stay in, as long as their plans go as planned. Despite the troubles they endure Lennie and George manage to stick by each others side.
(Steinbeck 61). When George finds out that Lennie killed Curley’s wife he then knew this would only end in either them running away again, finding a new job and Lennie makes another mistake, or Lennie dying. George then wants to be the one to kill Lennie, he does not want to regret not doing it. When George kills Lennie he does it as a way to say sorry and save
However, in the conflict towards the end of the book, Curley’s wife had told Lennie to feel her hair. She asked him to stop soon after, but he would not. Curley’s wife started to scream and Lennie held on in fear of getting into trouble. Steinbeck wrote, “Lennie began to cry with fright. ‘Oh, please don’t’ Lennie said, ‘You gonna get me in trouble jus’ like George says you will.
He ran furiously out of the barn.” (Steinbeck 96) This quote shows the anger that Curley had towards Lennie, proving that if given the chance, he would have killed Lennie. George taking Lennie’s life allowed him to die with someone who he loves and trusts, not to be killed by someone who has nothing but hatred for him. George’s actions were not to hurt Lennie, but of an act of love and care for Lennie.
Lennie's inability to comprehend that what he did was wrong would
Throughout the story, Lennie did things that proved that he was a danger to people. For instance when Lennie crushes Curley’s hand. Curley wasn’t too fond of bigger dudes like Lennie. This could explain why Curley decided to strike him. When Curley continued punching him, George told Lennie to fight back.
Lennie is even warned to avoid Curley because of the amount of trouble that will cause; Lennie doesn’t “want no trouble… [and has] never done nothing to him.” (Steinbeck 60) he is scared without ever having met
This quote tells us that Curley would kill Lennie and shoot him in the guts. It tells us that Curley wants him to suffer. George killing Lennie was the right choice
(Steinbeck, 96) This proves that Curley would stop at nothing to kill Lennie, and he would do it in a brutal and excruciatingly painful manor. George simply shot him in the back of the head, Lennie had no idea it was coming, and therefore was not scared, he had nothing to fear. George told him everything would be okay, that they would get their ranch and he could tend to the rabbits, he did ths to calm Lennie down, and allow him to die
(pg. 22). Since Lennie is mentally challenged and can’t think fast enough, he relies on George to tell him what to do. Curley had turned on Lennie by punching him; and protect himself, Lennie had grabbed Curley’s hand and crushed with his own hand. Lennie felt bad for what he did so George
The point of physical violence has not been touched upon. In the midst of the rising action in the novel, Curley starts to beat Lennie because he was grinning at the thought of the ranch, but Curley thought that he was laughing at him. Lennie made a remark that he does not want to fight him. Consequently, Curley assaults Lennie, and he accepts it. It was only at George’s call for permission that Lennie crushed his hand.