Evan Solveson Mr. Feuerstahler Accelerated English 10 April 18, 2023 Complicated relationships in “Of Mice and Men” John Steinbeck uses friendships and relationships throughout “Of Mice and Men” in a very interesting and complex way that adds great depth to the story. Throughout the book, there are many different friendships that can be observed by the reader. These friendships can be interpreted in vastly different ways, and they can vary in relevance to the story. A few examples of friendships throughout the story are George and Lennie, Lennie and his puppy, Candy and his dog, and Curley’s wife and Lennie. Each of these friendships are very important to the plot and they all connect to how the book ends. George and Lennie is the most obvious …show more content…
He got his puppy early in the book and he loved how soft it was. He was always petting it and showing it affection, but Lennie often forgets his own strength, which causes him to kill small animals, including his puppy. When Lennie realized that he accidently Killed his puppy, he was full of emotion. He was scared that George would be mad, sad at the loss of his puppy, and angry because he thought that he wouldn’t be allowed to tend the rabbits at the dream ranch. As he was sitting in the barn, sad about the death of his puppy, Curley’s wife comes in and they have a long conversation. Curley’s wife tells Lennie about her life and tells him things that she has never told anyone else. She tells him about what she wanted to do with her life, and about how she was unhappy with were she was and who she was around, and she also tells him about how she hates her husband. Lennie tells her about his puppy and how it died, and how he was upset because he thought that George would be mad. He told her about the dream ranch and about how he was going to tend the rabbits and about how he just loved to pet soft things like rabbits and puppies. When Curley’s wife heard this, she told lennie to touch her sft hair. Lennie started to mess up her hair, causing her to scream and panic. This stressed out Lennie, and caused him to accidentally kill Curley’s wife. Lennie killed both his puppy and Curley’s
Much like Candy’s dog, Lennie was killed to “end his suffering”. Although this is not directly stated, George and most other characters in the story knew that he would only continue to be tormented for his mental disability. If he were left alive, he would only find trouble for the same reason. One quote that demonstrates his dog’s apparent “misery” is spoken by Carlson: "Whyn't you get Candy to shoot his old dog and give him one of the pups to raise up? I can smell that dog a mile away.
During their conversation, Curley's’ wife tells him to touch her very soft hair, but she’s tells him to stop and he didn’t instead he puts his hand over her mouth from behind to stop her from screaming, accidentally he breaks her neck killing her. The decision has been made by George to kill Lennie because he was pressured when Curley and other were searching for Lennie and he wanted to kill Lennie
Lennie adored the softness of Curley’s wife’s hair, that he killed her by accident by crushing her skull when trying to pet her hair. The two planned a future together; their own dream ranch. A ranch where nobody could tell them what to do. A ranch where no trouble would come their way and they couldn’t get into trouble. Right before George put him out from the back of the head with the luger, he made Lennie think of their dream ranch, their future home.
When she lets him touch her hair as it is soft like the puppy Lennie grabs hold of her hair and never lets go. To stop her screaming he covers her mouth and shakes her violently; he ends up snapping her neck. Knowing what he must do, Lennie flees to the designated spot in the clearing of the woods to wait for George. When George finds out that Curley’s Wife is dead he knows who did it. He makes sure to make it look like he didn't kill her by having Old Candy go and tell the rest of the men.
Lennie just likes feeling soft things. The worst thing he has ever done was kill Curley’s wife. He didn’t mean to, he just wanted to feel her hair. When Lennie gets nervous, it gets even worse. Curley’s wife told him to let go and then started yelling at him.
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.
An' then he was dead” (Page 87). In that quote, it is clearly stated that despite his love for the puppy, he was unable to control his strength, and as a result, he killed something he had not intended to. Lennie's dead puppy acts as a warning, but Curley's wife is unable to resist the attention and company he is offering and chooses to ignore it. This leads to Curley’s wife showing him her soft hair leading to disaster as Curley’s wife ”struggled violently under [Lennies] hands. Her feet battered on the hay and she writhed to be free; and from under Lennie's hand came a muffled screaming”
Lennie killing Curley’s wife is THE turning point in the book. Lennie does not mean to kill her but he does and that will stay with all of them. Much like every man and woman on earth. Everyone encounters obstacles in their lives but they have to push through. Lennie kills Curley’s wife after breaking her neck so she would not yell.
Although physically powerful, Lennie is not aware of his own strength, which causes him to harm others. This is seen in his crushing of Curley's hand during their fight, and eventually, in his killing of Curley's wife. Lennie's lack of understanding of social norms and his childlike nature also led to him unintentionally killing the puppies he was tending, even though he loved them so dearly. Despite his good intentions, Lennie's actions keep resulting in harm and
f Mice and Men Essay - Essays and Analysis Critical Context and Evaluation print Print document PDF list Cite link Link Of Mice and Men is one of the most widely assigned modern novels in high schools because of both its form and the issues that it raises. John Steinbeck’s reliance on dialogue, as opposed to contextual description, makes the work accessible to young readers, as does his use of foreshadowing and recurrent images. Equally important is the way in which he intertwines the themes of loneliness and friendship and gives dignity to those characters, especially Lennie and Crooks, who are clearly different from their peers. By focusing on a group of lonely drifters, Steinbeck highlights the perceived isolation and sense of “otherness”
This triggers Lennie to react harshly by “bouncing” the pup too hard and killing the puppy onsight. Lennie becomes troubled with the situation because he remember that George will not let him tend the rabbits in their dream ranch, so he proceeds to hide the puppy in the hay when Curley’s unnamed wife shows up to the barn where he is located. Lennie is first estranged to Curley’s wife,but as time passes on they become close and give up information to each other. Curley’s wife expresses the pain she has felt when
This quote shows that Lennie is incapable of keeping a puppy, nevertheless, rabbits. When it came to the incident with Curley’s wife, that was different. “You stop it now, you’ll mess it all up.” (91). She had invited him to pet her hair, but he started petting it to hard.
This time, when Curley’s wife tries to get away, Lennie breaks her neck and kills her, resulting in him running away from the ranch. Similarly to
The presence of friendship affecting Candy when he has a hard time letting go of his long time friend and when Lennie relies on his friendship with George to get him through tough situations. The absence of friendship affects characters like Crooks; since he is black and feels like he is not wanted he always wants to be alone and have his space. The presence and absence of friendship can affect different characters in different ways; especially in John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and
When Lennie and George get a farm his punishment is not to tend any rabbits. One thing George lost hope to Lennie and killed him is when he was petting Curley 's wife 's hair. When Lennie was petting harder and harder to Curley 's wife 's head, it was hurting Curley 's wife, so Curley 's wife 's natural reaction is to scream. Lennie doesn 't want to get into more trouble because he already killed a puppy before touching Curley 's Wife and he doesn 't want to get into more trouble, he gripped Curley 's wife 's neck and accidentally twisted it, which caused the death of Curley 's wife. George had to kill him because if he doesn 't kill Lennie, Lennie could cause more deaths and