Essay about The Death Of Lennie Small

The death of Lennie Small was made an emotive yet inevitable end to the novel through foreshadowing. Just before Lennie, a vulnerable yet dangerous human being was murdered; he was discussing how he and his fellow companion, George were going to live the ‘American Dream’ (owning a vast amount of land to farm and cultivate animals and to bring in income). Lennie is portrayed as a fair-minded character, who literally put his life in George’s caring hands. Justifiably George ended Lennie’s life by placing a bullet through his skull. This death was justified as an act of selfless desperation, and to protect Lennie from further evils from the cruel Curley.

Lennie’s use of vocabulary isn’t very broad, he manipulates words so it’s easier for him to articulate. This doesn’t create a full sentence (syntax). ‘I knowed it’ and ‘knowed’ are not grammatically correct. Although this poor use of vocabulary doesn’t just occur in Lennie’s speech, we see it throughout the whole of the cast. The sentences used are a mixed style between simple or compound. He is a quiet character; to the contrary he is also one of the main characters. He doesn’t speak much in the novel due to George telling him not to, e.g.: ‘that’s it-that’s it’, as he always says the wrong thing. Lennie is shy, possibly due to the way George pulls his confidence down by telling him to stay quiet when they enter the ranch, for example, because he’d say something that shouldn’t be said. This is shown very clearly in the novel;…