Lennie:
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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.
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"If you don' want me I can go off in the hills an'
find a cave. I can go away any time." - Ch 1
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"Lennie stared helplessly at his hands. "I
forgot, George." - Ch 2
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"Lennie dabbled his big paw in the water" - Ch
1
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"Lennie covered his face with huge paws and
bleated with terror. He cried, "Make ‘um stop,
George."" - Ch 3
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"...and he walked heavily, dragging his feet a
little, the way a bear drags his paws." - Ch 1
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"...like a terrier who doesn't want to bring a
ball to its master..." - Ch 1
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"They'll tie ya up with a collar, like a dog." - Ch
4
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"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
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"He pawed up the hay until it partly covered
her." - Ch 5
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"Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the
loneliest guys in the world." - Ch 1
Relationships
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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
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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,
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Lennie avoids him if possible, during a confrontation Lennie
crushes Curley’s hand in his own fist but did not fight back
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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)
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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)
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Curley's wife death- " Oh! That’s nice,' and he
stroked it harder. "Oh that's nice."