Of Mice and Men Qu Essay

Do you agree that Lennie is always incapable of taking responsibility for his actions? You should refer closely to Lennie’s words, to events and to the actions and opinions of other characters in your answer. Throughout the majority of the novel, Steinbeck demonstrates how Lennie relies on George to help him out of the dire, tense situations he brings upon himself. Steinbeck conveys this image of Lennie by producing this by frequent reoccurring events, Lennie’s actions or even implicit use of speech from or even directed at Lennie. At the opening section of the book, Steinbeck chooses to show us the large contrast between George and Lennie; he describes how Lennie â€Å"flung himself down† â€Å"snorting into the water like a horse.† The use of crude descriptive words such as â€Å"flung† or â€Å"snorting† suggests just how careless Lennie can be. This compares Lenny to an animal which instinctively lashes at the sight of something they want without thinking logically at all. And with this, the readers taste the first time at which how reliant Lennie is of George. Steinbeck chooses to have George say that Lennie will â€Å"be sick like you was last night.† By mentioning â€Å"last night†, the reader learns that Lennie must regularly make stupid mistakes like this. It is made very apparent how Lennie is unable to take responsibility for his actions when he crushes Curley’s hand. Lennie was unable to understand the situation when Curley made a misunderstanding about Slim and his wife and Lennie continued â€Å"smiling with delight† on a completely different topic. This produces a juxtaposition image in the reader’s mind where at one side: Curley is steaming hot with anger as he â€Å"whirled† upon Carlson (the word â€Å"whirled† also suggests how he only gave Slim respect opposed to Carlson who he flipped into his old aggressive self again) and on the other, Lennie is grinning to himself like an idiot. The fact that Steinbeck chooses to have Lennie fantasize whilst a loud commotion is going on nearby shows just how little awareness and sense Lennie has altogether. And this is what leads into the fight. When Lennie is being attacked, he has no intuition to make a decision on what to do so once again he â€Å"looked helplessly at George.† The word helplessly really emphasises just how incapable Lennie is like a baby animal or lamb for instance when he gets himself into trouble like this. He â€Å"bleated with terror† implying that even with the strength Lennie possesses, he is unable to analyse the situation to take responsibility of the problem he has gotten himself into. The words â€Å"bleated† and â€Å"terror† really create an atmosphere as if Lennie like a baby lamb has been corned by a wolf. This is done by using the onomatopoeia â€Å"bleat† so you can almost here how distressed and vulnerable Lennie is at this stage. All he can do is use his animal like instincts and â€Å"retreat† and defend with his â€Å"huge paws†. The reference to â€Å"paws† may also hint to us what is about to come however it may have several connotations; a bear is a shy beast and doesn’t want attention, however if a situation of danger arises, it can be extremely vicious and protective just like Lennie becomes when George tells him to â€Å"get him.† On the other hand, â€Å"paws† may refer to another weaker animal such as the â€Å"paws† of a puppy that Lennie was so infatuated about. This can symbolize how weak and inexperienced Lennie is since he is also new to this aggression he is receiving likewise to a new born pup is to the world. At this stage, Slim sees how vulnerable and useless he is and â€Å"jumped up† to help. The impact the moment is causing on the other workers watching is shown to be so big that the respected Slim is even shaken conveyed by â€Å"jumped up.† It shows how emotions inside Slim were building up until they finally â€Å"jumped† out of him in an explosion. Steinbeck does this to show how useless Lennie can be in these situations so that even people around him who have known him for a few hours understand how dependent he is. However, Lennie with George’s guidance was able to do something however his actions shows the reader once again just how unintentionally irresponsible he can be. At first the description of Lennie’s attack is just that Curley’s â€Å"fist was lost in Lennie’s big hand†. It isn’t very dramatic at this point and just seems like Lennie stops Curley from attacking him. For example, it could of been described using dramatic words such as: Curley’s hand was absolutely crushed causing him to scream with agony however it uses the word â€Å"disappear† to relieve all the tension that may of built up; this may be done to cause a greater impact later on. The speech that follows explains how the situation was worsening. George tells Lennie to â€Å"leggo of him† but all Lennie could do was watch â€Å"in terror† which shows how shaken up he is so that he can’t even respond. Even with George who â€Å"slapped him in the face again and again†, Lennie was still unresponsive. By slapping him George hoped to achieve a respond which would normally happen to anyone however it shows that Lennie was undergoing a mental difficulty insde. The way Steinbeck describes George having to give multiple signals â€Å"again and again† like slapping or verbal commands show how incapable Lennie was. When Lennie finally finishes he doesn’t seem to even understand what he’s done. He doesn’t even look at the â€Å"shrunken† Curley and immediately talks to George â€Å"miserably†. At this point Slim had â€Å"regarded Lennie with horror† showing how his opinion of him being a â€Å"nice fella† had turned so very quickly. By having Slim- a very high respected figure looking at Lennie with this â€Å"horror†, Steinbeck causes the readers to truly understand how dangerous and uncontrollable he is. Lennie’s only concern here was probably mainly whether or not he could tend to the rabbits so he was apologizing to George. He even asks George at the end of the section whether he can â€Å"still tend the rabbits† which once again shows us how unaware of the situation he really is and this requires George to look into their greater concern- whether they will â€Å"get canned now†. This shows that even though Lennie is not prioritized correctly, George once again desperately tries to fix the damage that’s been done which suggests how many times this may of happened in the past. Steinbeck just repeatedly reinforces the strong idea of what Lennie is like and how George has to bail him out time and time again. It states how â€Å"Slim smiled wryly† and instantly the world â€Å"wryly† shows how Slim is going to take responsibility and deal with Curley in a slightly devious, corrupt method so that George and Lennie won’t get sacked. After Lennie killed the puppy in section 5, his initial fears was once again the rabbits. And after he causes the death of Curley’s wife, his fears remained the same. At that point, â€Å"he pawed up the hay until it partly covered her† and left for the place where George told him to go if anything wrong happened. The fact that Lennie crudely leaves the body openly â€Å"partly† hidden in the barn shows how little concern he has for the bigger picture. The way Lennie only â€Å"partly† hides the corpse shows what little concern he has almost to the extent where it becomes ridiculous as all he can think of is go to the rendezvous part and have George help him yet again. Up until the beginning of section 6, Lennie has acted irresponsibly and ironically, he begins to think accordingly to the situation only when it is too late. Opposed to how he â€Å"flung† himself around in section 1, Lennie went through the bushes to the meeting place â€Å"as silently as a creeping bear moves†. He also â€Å"drank, barely touching his lips to the water† opposed to how he was â€Å"snorting† it like a horse. Steinbeck uses the same location to create a strong contrast between the juxtaposition used here. As he crept â€Å"silently† and drank â€Å"barely† touching the water, these two words emphasise how carefully he is acting. Steinbeck deliberately does this to emphasise how late it is for him to be responsible and coordinated. And even so, it is George once again who has to take the real responsibility to shoot him.