What Is Lennie Small

Improved Essays
George and Lennie met as a result of George originally meeting and getting to know Lennie's Aunt Clara. She was the woman who devoted a part of her life to rearing Lennie. Upon her death, George Milton became the guardian of Lennie, as his protector, as Lennie is of limited mental acuity.

Lennie’s full name in this novel by writer John Steinbeck is Lennie Small, the last name a literary device that is indicative of how the world sees Lennie as concerns his mental ability, but not how they see him physically, as he is of great strength.

George, through knowing Lennie’s Aunt Clara, came to know Lennie and agreed to take on the responsibility of caring for Lennie upon her death. Lennie and George have been friends since childhood. Later in life,

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    George has parent like characteristics, he is serious and caring towards Lennie. Section one of the novel establishes so much about their friendship. We see Lennie, who had been watching, “imitated George exactly. ”(P20) Steinbeck shows us, further how Lennie looks up to George as a role model.…

    • 1924 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    George and Lennie’s Relationship George and Lennie shared a fairly strong friendship, but the relationship that they had was not one that friends should have. Because of Lennie’s disability, George could not always treat him as a friend, but sometimes more as a child. The first moment in the book that we can start to see that George feels responsible for Lennie was after they had run away from Weed, and were hiding in the woods. This was when George was starting to get very angry and scream at Lennie, he said “An’ what I got, I got you!” (11) This quote shows that George feels as if his life could be so much better and easier without Lennie, but he has to keep Lennie with him, because he feels responsible for him.…

    • 656 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Lennie's favorite pastimes is to pet anything that's is soft like rabbit's fur and mice. "What mouse, George?" I ain't got no mouse," and," I wasn't doin' anything bad with it, George. Jus' strokin' it" (Steinbeck 8) At certain times in the novel George lets Lennie know that he would have a much better life if he had never met him,"God a' mighty, if I was alone I could live so easy."…

    • 1649 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Lennie is very reliant on George, and George keeps him out of trouble. Not only does George keep him out of trouble, he keeps him from being institutionalized. The entire novel relies on Lennie’s disability to cause the different conflicts throughout the…

    • 1093 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Lennie’s Aunt Clara died when Lennie was young, so George took him in, taught him things, and made sure he was okay. When George realizes he hurts everything he touches, and is always getting in trouble so George came with a plan for if Lennie got in trouble again, “‘Well look. Lennie- if you jus’ happen to get in trouble like you always done before, I want you to come right here an’ hide in the brush’” (Steinbeck 15). George is always looking out for Lennie, making sure he’s okay and healthy.…

    • 1150 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Lennie Monologue

    • 385 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Lennie mourned, “And then George won’t have to be worried ‘bout me.” Aunt Clara disappeared as Lennie tightened his…

    • 385 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Lennie Characteristics

    • 792 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The story Of Mice and Men is about two men, George and Lennie, and how George and Lennie go from ranch to ranch finding work. They have a dream to own their own ranch. They settle in one ranch and there they meet some people. They have lots of adventures there. Lennie breaks the boss’s hand because, Curly, the boss, beats up Lennie for not talking.…

    • 792 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Everyday you wake up hoping your kid has a good day. Always want them to have a better pain. Pleading their eyes with dark sorrow. Almost lost the will to live. What would you do?In the novel Of Mice and Mice written by John Steinbeck George is faced with a tough decision with his best friend.…

    • 132 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Lennie Smalls

    • 648 Words
    • 3 Pages

    “George raised the gun and brought the muzzle of it close to the back of Lennie’s head. He pulled the trigger” (Steinbeck 106). Moments before, Lennie was staring across a river with his best friend, dreaming of the future. What he did not know though, was that the future would never come. The book Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, takes place during the Great Depression in California.…

    • 648 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Lennie against the World I never thought I would meet someone that has more problems than me until I heard about Lennie. In the story Of Mice and Men, Lennie, a mentally disabled man, travels around with George. George is Lennie’s friend or caretaker, as some would say. The two journey to a ranch with unique personalities, such as Curley and his wife. In Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, conflicts arose between Lennie and George, Lennie and Curley, and Lennie and Curley’s wife.…

    • 697 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    They are men who only have each other. Neither of their families are living or known to be alive. Early in the book, Lennie talked about leaving George and George replied, “Your Aunt Clara wouldn’t like you running off by yourself, even if she is dead” (Steinbeck 7). George enjoys the company of Lennie and he also realizes that Lennie can’t survive without him. With Lennie styled as a pet in the book, an assumption can be made that Lennie needs George and is helpless on his own.…

    • 1165 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    George could have been well off without Lennie, but still continues to care and support him. They have one another to talk to, be with, and look after.      ‘With us it ain’t like that. We got a future.…

    • 921 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    George and Lennie display true friendship of loyalty to each other like family. According to Aristotle “Complete sort of friendship between people who are good and alike in virtue”. Easily dissolve”. “ its is clear that only the good can be friends for themselves, since the bad do not enjoy their own kind unless some benefit comes from them”.…

    • 253 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Superior Essays

    It is within each other that George and Lennie find the strength to work together and strive for their paradise. They are not only considered a family unit because they stick together but George also functions as a parental figure for Lennie. Due to his disability, Lennie is not capable of leading a productive life without some form of example and like a child, he mimics George’s actions and speech patterns. He also constantly tries to impress him and attempts to achieve his appreciation and affection.…

    • 1229 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Together, George Milton and Lennie Smalls make a great team. They consider themselves “brothers,” and they come together in the face of loneliness. In the book Of Mice and Men, written by John Steinbeck, the two main characters, George and Lennie, are best friends and are completely opposite of each other. George is small and Lennie is of great size. Even though Lennie is bigger, George helps Lennie tremendously due to the fact he promised Lennie’s aunt.…

    • 1016 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays