Characterization

In John Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men", Lennie Small is a main character in the novel. Lennie is a giant of a man with prodigious strength having the power to kill. Lennie is a giant, however, his companion, George is small. Ironically, the small man George is keeper of the larger Lennie Small.

Lennie loves to pet soft, pretty things. He is very slow and clumsy. He can remember nothing except the things, which George says. He is frightened of people and avoids them. Lennie delights in making the water ripple, and he is content to pet a dead mouse. Basically, people would not pet a dead mouse.

Lennie is response to animal. He can remember almost everything that George says. He is trained to response in life by George's voice, and acts upon this voice command. Lennie's dream is to have all the rabbits that he can take care of, and his attempts to do the right things are motivate by his fear that George would not let him take care of the rabbits.

Lennie's big problem is he doesn't have a good memory. He never plans to do anything wrong, but he can't remember what is wrong and what is not. Lennie has just been playing with his small animal and accidentally killed it. He could not remember to treat it gently. In the novel, when Curley's wife allows Lennie to stroke her hair, he could not remember to stroke softly and accidentally he killed her in same simple manner that he kills the little animals that he loves.

Curley is the son of the boss in the novel. He is a little person who likes to get into fights with larger people. He likes to get into fights with Lennie because if he wins, people would think he is a good little fighter. If he loses, then everyone says big person should not have a fight with little person. After Lennie killed Curley's wife, Curley was determined to brutally kill Lennie just like Carlson killed the old dog.

I like Lennie in the novel, however, I don't want to be him because I think he is a little bit stupid and he can't solve problem by himself. I would like to have Lennie as a friend because he is innocent and naïve. It is very easy to get along with him. You will not be worried, he will betray.