Differences Between Lennie And George Milton

In the novel Of Mice and Men, that takes place during the Great Depression, there are two peculiar characters known as Lennie Small and George Milton. Even though there is a significant contrast between the duo’s characteristics, they seem to fill in missing puzzle pieces of one another. They’ve travelled the country together, worked together, and endured the hardships of the Great Depression together. Lennie is a mentally deficient, simple-minded, with a broad body structure and impressive height, yet gentle and friendly man. George, on the other hand, is the brain. His personality usually reflects both vexation and understanding. Of the two men, he is the one who thinks things through and considers how their goals can be achieved. Once an opportunity comes up, George is the one who ponders about the details, and is the voice of reason. George is the somewhat unlikeable protagonist, who’s sharp in every way (physically and mentally.) Despite his character flaws, due to the fact that he is a dynamic character, meaning his thoughts and actions develop throughout the course of the story, he eventually inhabits a place in the reader’s heart.

He also often foresees possible complications and

But George did the right thing when he shot Lennie, because he would have been attacked by other men in the worst case for what he had done to Curley’s wife, and be arrested in the best case. In my opinion, mercy killing was the best thing George could do for Lennie; there was no other way. The Great Depression was not a great time for even the most competent men. Lennie couldn’t function back then, he needed to be treated, but back then treatments for the mentally impaired were hard to come by in that time. He never had a chance at being normal, nobody understood him nor took the time to understand his behavior. George, with his great deal of common sense, had done Lennie an enormous