Of Mice And Men

In the novella "Of Mice And Men", John Steinberg gives the characters interesting parts. Lennie Small is the bigger one and he has the brain of a little child. George is the little one and he watches out for Lennie to make sure he does not get in trouble. The central conflict in “Of Mice and Men” is that of character verses self because Lennie cannot control his actions, which gets him in trouble.
Lennie has the brain of a little child. He does things that only a kid of the age five to ten would do. He does things and is not aware of what he is doing, such as killing a mouse.

Lennie tends to panic when he does something wrong. He has learned to hold on to whatever is near him when he gets scared so when someone scares him, he holds on and the more pressure you add, the harder he grabs on to whatever he is holding on.

“George put his hand on Lennie’s shoulder. ‘I ain’t takin’ it away jus’ for meanness. That mouse ain’t fresh, Lennie; and besides, you’ve broke it pettin’ it. You get another mouse that’s fresh and I'll let you keep it a little while.’” (9)

Lennie loves little animals and he wants to squish them because they appear to be cute to him. That is why he killed the mouse. He did not know he had did it and when he does, George understands that it is not because he thinks it is funny. It is not because of meanness, he does it because his brain does not function the way other people’s brains his age function. He regrets doing what he did at the end, but at that point it is too late for him       

Lennie tends to panic when he does something wrong. He has learned to hold on to whatever is near him when he gets scared so when someone scares him, he holds on and the more pressure you add, the harder he grabs on to whatever he is holding.

“Then Slim straightened up and regarded Lennie with a horror, ‘We got to get him in to a doctor,’ he said. ‘Looks to me like ever’ bone in his han’ is bust’. ‘ I didn’t wanta,’ Lennie cried. ‘I didn’t wanta hurt him.’”(64)

Lennie had panicked so therefore he held on to Curly’s hand and crushed it because everyone put pressure on him. He did not know who to listen to so therefore he followed his instincts and held on and tightened his grip every time someone yelled at him. while he was being pressured, he got his eye busted which I think made him realize what he had done. 

Lennie is in need of George’s support and help so when he does something wrong, he is willing to go to any extent to keep George from finding out.

 “He shook her then, and he was angry with her. ‘Don’t you go yellin’,’ he said, and he      shook her; and her body flopped like a fish. And then she was still for Lennie had broken        her neck.” (91)

Lennie was afraid that if George had heard Curly’s wife, who has no name, screaming, he would have gotten mad a Lennie. Therefore, he tried to hide it by throwing his arm over her mouth, and telling her to shut up. He thought that if he shook her, things would get better but he was not aware of the damage he is capable of. It looks like this, Lennie is scared of George so he tries to avoid messing up so that he will not have to hear George give him hell.

All of these incidents lead to the horrifying and unnecessary conclusion. All of Lennie’s behavior causes him to face a horrible death. He ends up getting shot by George in the back of the head when he was off guard. It was a stupid and sad ending and it bugged me to have to read that but it is how the book ended.