Mental Deficiency In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

In the book Of Mice and Men one of the main characters, Lennie, is shown to clearly have a mental deficiency. This can be said to have caused Lennie to get killed at the end of the story because Lennie has a hard time controlling his strength. Another way that having a mental deficiency led to Lennie being killed is that he has a hard time knowing what is right and what is wrong. Mental deficiencies also cause Lennie to meet his untimely death because back then there was no real place for people with mental deficiencies to be put or taken care of. Despite George’s best efforts to protect Lennie, his mental deficiencies lead to him being killed. In the story Of Mice and Men Lennie has a mental deficiency which leads him to be unable to control his strength. Because Lennie can not control his strength it caused him to kill things that he does not mean to. Among the things he killed was a mouse, a puppy, and a human women that was flirting with him. After Lennie kills the women on accident George kills Lennie in a peaceful manner instead of the women’s husband killing Lennie. Despite George’s best efforts to save Lennie, his mental deficiencies cause his death. In the story Of Mice and Men, Lennie has a hard time telling …show more content…
Lennie being taken care of by George was probably one of the best ways to take care of Lennie. Popular treatments at the time included insulin-induced comas, Lobotomies, Malarial Infections and Electroshock therapy. None of these treatments had any proof of actually working so most people started trying more radical cures. There was also no government funded or public facility to take care of the mentally disabled. That is why despite George's best effort Lennie dies due to his mental