Lennie Small
Of Mice and Men
By Brad Palmer
His Behaviour
• Lennie’s child-like behaviour is frequent in
the book e.g. when he stays in the barn with
the puppies and doesn’t recognize the
consequence of taking the puppies from
their mother. When he cries when Curley
starts to beat him (of course eventually he
fights back, but only at George’s urging), or
in the very commencement when George
throws the mouse across the river and
Lennie tries to sneak over and get it, not
thinking George would hear him splashing
through the water also the repetitiveness of
when he says he wants to pet the rabbits.
He always asks George to mention how he
tends the rabbits this reassures him that he
will be happy soon.
Lennie Small
His Appearance
• “A huge man, shapeless of face, with large, pale eyes, with wide,
sloping shoulders; and he walked heavily, dragging his feet a little,
the way a bear drags his paws. His arms did not swing at his sides,
but hung loosely.”
• Lennie is compared to animals – perhaps because he’s quite stupid
but also strong.
• “dabbled his big paw in the water”.
• “dragging his feet a little, the way a bear drags his paws”.
• “Lennie continued to snort into the pool”.
• Lennie is intimidating because he is huge.
Key things he says
• The things he says the most is;
• “let me ten’ them rabbits”.
• He likes to ask George about the dream because it gives them a bit
of hope.
• And when he does something wrong his words after are “I di’n’t
mean no harm, George”. Because he doesn’t mean to, he just cant
control is strength e.g. when he kills the pup.
His purpose in the book
• He’s in the book to show traits of other characters like Curley’s
anger and George’s kind nature.
• Also he shows a ranch worker in the 1930’s depression in America,
not intelligent and shows how there dreams get shattered.
How steinbeck portrays him.
• Steinbeck shows that in the 1930s in America there was no help for
Lennie like social services, schools and there is no rights that he has
to stay on ranch because bosses can ‘can’ them whenever they
want.
The significance of his name
• Lennie ‘small’ has irony in it because small is the opposite to him,
his appearance. This shows Steinbeck having a joke.
Their Dream
• Their dream is the one of the most important aspects of the book
because in society in America at that time most ranch workers had a
dream but the majority of the dreams they have didn’t succeed. The
dream Lennie had, “ was to live off the fatta the lan’” and get some
rabbits to tend.
• Having the dream helped to connect with candy because he wanted
to join them.
Key Events
• The major event that he is in when he kills Curley’s wife this
reflected back at weed when he scared the woman there.
• He kills his pup that he gets off slim he is scared that George wont
let him tend the rabbits in the dream.
• Also when he crushes Curley’s hand because curley started
punching him.
The End :D