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Of Mice and Men Character Analysis

In: English and Literature

Submitted By slapshotjam
Words 540
Pages 3
Thomas Steiner
03/04/10
Hour 5

Lennie Will Never Change During the great depression families and workers were forced to walk the country in search of jobs. Some kept moving to new locations in hope of living the American dream by getting a house of their own and living on it. In the Novel Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, two characters, Lennie Small and George Milton, are migrant workers living and working on a farm in Soledad, California for a low pay. George is taking care of Lennie because Lennie is mentally handicapped. They both have a dream in which they buy a few acres of land and “live off the fat of the land.” Throughout the story Lennie is shown as a static character through external conflict, motivation, and complication. In the beginning, Lennie and George are being chased by a bunch of workers who want to kill them. Later in the story the author gives more details as to why they were being chased. Lennie had grabbed on to a girls dress because of an attraction he has to touching soft things. The girl started screaming and accused Lennie of raping her. George repeats multiple times that Lennie, “’…don’t mean no harm’” (36) , and the reader can tell he does not seeing he acts like such a kid. This attraction to soft things causes multiple complications throughout the story and you would think Lennie would learn, yet he always forgets and does the same thing. Also, there were external conflicts between Lennie and his boss’s son Curley. Candy had informed George that Curley “’Hates big guys’” (27). He is just jealous of them because he is small. The reader can be certain something will happen between them and eventually does happen. They get into a fight and Lennie breaks Curley’s hand, which causes another conflict. Now that Curley’s hand is broken he is sure to want revenge. No external conflicts actually affected what Lennie did and he

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