Lennie: Quotes Character profile Animalistic - Lennie is described as an animal multiple times in the book, specifically a terrier, horse, bear and coyote. A bear can clearly represent his giant body and incredible strength as well as unpredictable behaviour. A terrier is relating to his loyalty towards George who he follows unconditionally and looks up to. He was described as a coyote, which are hunted and shot, and finally a horse; a horse is often controlled by someone else which could possibly represent Georges relationship with Lennie. Mentally ill - Lennie is mentally disabled which is shown throughout his behaviour in the book; he is often stubborn and doesn't listen much like a child, as well as being selfish and thinking only of himself or George. George is like a parent figure to him which shows his child like mindset again. Lennie is helpless without him and can hardly stand on his own two feet. He also does not experience guilt which is shown through his lack of remorse when he kills things, only seeing the consequences for himself. Likes soft things - Lennie is obsessed with soft feeling things, including animals such as mice and a puppy, stroking women dresses has gotten him into trouble on two occasions Strong - Lennie is unaware of his strength and is able to kill things without necessarily meaning to, his strength makes him a good worker but also can cause him a lot of trouble such as when he broke Curley’s hand and killed his wife. "If you don' want me I can go off in the hills an' find a cave. I can go away any time." - Ch 1 "Lennie stared helplessly at his hands. "I forgot, George." - Ch 2 "Lennie dabbled his big paw in the water" - Ch 1 "Lennie covered his face with huge paws and bleated with terror. He cried, "Make ‘um stop, George."" - Ch 3 "...and he walked heavily, dragging his feet a little, the way a bear drags his paws." - Ch 1 "...like a terrier who doesn't want to bring a ball to its master..." - Ch 1 "They'll tie ya up with a collar, like a dog." - Ch 4 "An' why? Because...because I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that's why." - Ch 1 "He pawed up the hay until it partly covered her." - Ch 5 "Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world." - Ch 1 Relationships Development (change) & Death George - Lennie is reliant on George who in turn has to mother him due to his behaviour, care for each other greatly, travel together, are opposites in appearance, have a 'dream' of getting their own land which is more realistic to Lennie than George, having each other means they are not lonely like most ranch men. Curley - Curley dislikes Lennie from the first time he sees him perhaps because he is intimidated by Lennie’s size, Lennie avoids him if possible, during a confrontation Lennie crushes Curley’s hand in his own fist but did not fight back when Curley was attacking him, once Lennie kills Curley’s wife, Curley is out to kill him by shooting him in the gut so he would not only die but experience pain. Curley’s wife - Lennie is 'fascinated' by her, thinks she is 'purty', Lennie is told to keep away because she is considered 'jail bait', however they start talking in the barn which eventually leads to her death, Lennie is perhaps attracted to her so much because she has pretty dresses and soft hair, he doesn't care so much that he killed her, more worried about what George will think and the consequences of her death to himself. Lennie's violence gets worse throughout the book proleptic irony for death of Curley's wife. The animals Lennie kill get bigger and bigger throughout the novella; first a mouse, then a dog, which both foreshadow the death of Curley's Wife Lennie doesn't learn from his mistakes; a similar thing happened in Weed Mouse death -"I'd pet 'em, and pretty soon they bit my fingers and I pinched their heads a little and then they were dead"- Lennie doesn't know when to stop an innocent thing led to anger = death (Chapter 1) Puppy's death- " Why do you got to get killed? You ain't so little as mice. I didn't bounce you hard" -He attempts to show affection which instead ended in a tragedy. (Chapter 5) Curley's wife death- " Oh! That’s nice,' and he stroked it harder. "Oh that's nice."