The Tragic Hero In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

In harmful or frightening situations, there is the fight or flight complex which enables one to either evacuate the situation completely or fight until there is nothing left fighting for. Now, it is common for the human physci to also just stop working in these situations. It is clearly somewhat common for that to happen in children since the brain is not fully developed and due to naivety children sometimes cannot comprehend when a situation is harmful. Imagine that happening everyday, even for no reason at all. The human capacity to understand is key to overcoming daily obstacles and situations that are common to most, yet some, like Lennie are not able to do those things. With the mind of a child, Lennie does not know the difference between right and wrong, which can get him and George into troubling situations. Thus, Of Mice and Men is a piece of writing that can show just how far a friend will go to protect one another, it is a story of friendship and of constant longing for something better. In Of Mice And Men, Lennie is somewhat of a tragic hero. He is a symbol of simplicity, he cannot know the consequences of actions and of his own strength. The simple nature of Lennie is used by Steinbeck to illustrate that Lennie acts truly upon impulse and desire. He is helpless and George is the only one trying to help him. …show more content…
Their friendship is undoubtedly stronger than almost all friendships in their time and now. Of Mice and Men is a classic piece of literature about so many subjects with relativity to the reader, it remains timeless due to the the question it asks to the reader. How far would one go for their best friend? It leaves the reader thinking about what they would do with someone they are close to and if they were put in George’s shoes, if they would do the same thing, and if they have to strength to go through