Essay On Lennie Small

Lennie Small is a big, kind and special man. He travels around with a man named George. Through his actions and words, you can tell that something is not quite right with Lennie. Lennie is a man of mystery in the beginning of the story. At first, you are not sure what is wrong with Lennie. Does he not think about his actions and what the follow through might entail? Further into the story, more details get revealed about Lennie. One detail is the fact that Lennie may not be able to process the things that are happening around him. When things become too much, Lennie shuts down and does not know how to react. During these times, Lennie becomes panicked and tries to make things better. Often times, however, he tends to make things much …show more content…
He does not seem to have the ability to take in the full situation and think about his actions before following through on them. Lennie has something wrong with his brain that limits his potential. Looking at page 11, he wanted to feel the dress. Lennie did not think about the affects of his actions, he was impulsive and did what he wanted to do. From everything that he has done in the past, to his actions now, he does not seem to learn. Lennie keeps making the same mistake over and over again. It seems he will never learn any better. His actions can also foreshadow further into the story. Going back to his Aunt Clara giving him mice, his excitement was too much and killed them. In the weed, Lennie gets too excited and scared while holding the girl 's dress that he just keeps holding on. “So he reaches out to feel this red dress an’ the girl lets out a squawk, and that gets Lennie all mixed up, and he holds on ‘cause that’s the only thing he can think to do.” (Steinbeck, pg. 41). This foreshadows that Lennie cannot learn from his actions, he may repeat them. Lennie looks up to George, and does everything he says. On page 63, Lennie is being attacked by Curley, the boss 's son, and George tells Lennie to “Get ‘im Lennie!” (Steinbeck, pg. 63). Lennie listened to George and only George, even when others wanted to help. Lennie’s actions lead the reader back to knowing that something is wrong with …show more content…
We get invited into his life through the writing style of the author, John Steinbeck. The reader, if looking properly at the elements, finds out a lot about Lennie. The reader learns he has a mental disability. The reader also learns of how he is caring and how he constantly relies on George for simple tasks. With the use of foreshadowing, you can predict that something bad is going to happen as a result of Lennie not being able to think through his actions and acting upon impulse. The elements of narration reveal that Lennie has a constant need for George’s approval. Lennie has the mindset of a small child that can not be fixed. In this time period, people would have a hard time finding out what is wrong with Lennie, especially since he was poor. Lennie is a key character in this story, and helps to deepen and expand the