Intellectual Disability In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

Life is full of big events and big decisions. A person sometimes have to make a hard moral decision on doing something when necessary. In Of Mice and Men, Lennie and George are good friends since when they were little. George has promised Lennie’s Aunt Clara to protect and take care of Lennie. George acted as a parent to Lennie, and Lennie relied on George to make every decision. Lennie is oblivious of what is right and what is wrong. Steinbeck uses his character to show how society treats people. Lennie has intellectual disability. Intellectual disability is a disability that occurs before age 18. Lennie got in trouble when he was at a ranch called Weed. Lennie reached out and grabbed a woman's dress one day. The woman started screaming and …show more content…
It’s clear from the beginning of the story that Lennie has caused trouble for George. When George was talking to Lennie, he said, “‘They run us outta Weed,’ he exploded triumphantly. ‘Run us out, hell,’ said George disgustedly. ‘We run. They was lookin’s for us, but they didn’t catch us” (7). Lennie has caused George to lose jobs because he was always getting into trouble and he has to be watched by George every time. George and Lennie had to run away from Weed because Lennie reached out and grabbed a woman's dress. She started screaming and accused Lennie of raping. The reason why George takes care of Lennie because he has promised Lennie’s Aunt Clara to protect Lennie. Because of the incident, Lennie almost got both of them lynched. Lennie kept causing trouble for George, and had to rely on George for everything. Lennie was too much of a load to George. Additionally, George has the responsibility to take care of Lennie. When George was talking to Lennie, he said,“George still stared morosely at the fire. “When I think of the swell time I could have without you, I go nuts. I never get no peace” (12). George always verbally bullies Lennie, telling him that he could have lived a much better life without him. Even though George has the responsibility to take care of Lennie, George knows just how easy his life would be without Lennie and all the trouble Lennie had cost. George realized that he couldn’t take care of Lennie forever. …show more content…
He was constantly causing trouble on the ranch. Curley’s wife was also known for being a troublemaker. Her beauty is her power and she uses it to flirt with other people, making her husband jealous. “‘You stop it now, you’ll mess it all up.’ She jerked her head sideways, and Lennie’s fingers closed on her hair and hung on. ‘Let go,’ she cried. “You let go!” (91). He is proven to be a danger to others when he snaps Curley’s wife neck. Lennie’s innocent strength has created unexpected tragedy. Even though Lennie did not mean to kill Curley’s wife, he was scared that George would get mad at him for getting in trouble again. Lennie reminded himself what happened in Weed, and he does not want the same event to happen again. When Lennie killed Curley’s wife, this symbolizes that he killed his dream about the farm as well as George and Candy’s dream. Lennie always relied on George to make every decision. “He slashed at Lennie with his left, and then smashed down his nose with a right. Lennie gave a cry of terror. Blood welled from his nose” (63). When Curley attacked Lennie, Lennie was scared and did not know what to do. Lennie failed to protect himself. He was proven to be a danger to himself too. Lennie was getting beat up badly by Curley, but Lennie did not try to fight back until George said so. Even though Lennie is a strong guy and crushed Curley’s hand; he was still scared about what happened and