How does the author make Lennie a sympathetic character? Essay

In â€Å"OF MICE AND MEN† John Steinback makes Lennie a sympathetic character by the way he is described as in physique and also in means of mentality. Lennie is also described by the author in the way the other characters in the story describe him. His act of speech and his actions is also provided in the story. Lennie’s attitude and actions are not the same towards all the characters in the story. He gets along well with some of the characters in the story and with some he doesn’t. The fact that is really strange is that, his physique doesn’t match his mentality. The time at which this book was written, USA was going under The Depression. At which during this time many people were left unemployed. Most of the people who worked in the ranches at that time were all surviving and had just enough food to feed themselves. They were given very low wages and had to work in very bad conditions. People usually traveled miles together to find a job as they never had a fixed contract. Since all this used to happen in the late 1930’s, people would walk across the country in order to find a job and many a times they would get robbed as the majority of them traveled solo. But here, George and Lennie are an exception. Throughout the story, all the characters are alone except for George and Lennie, as I mentioned above earlier in the passage. During this depression people were hopeless as there was no unemployment money and there was no money paid by the government to those who were unemployed. At that time, the wanting to have a job was so desperate that the people would rob you or kill you inorder to take the job. In many cases they would also use your name for having the job making the person incharge think that it is the person who had sent a letter to them asking for a job. In â€Å"Of Mice And Men†, Lennie has been described by John Steinbeck as a very simple character who indulges innocence of a small boy without him realising it. He is not what he seems to be, in other words we can say that his physique does not match his personality. In comparison to George, Lennie is big, heavy, strong and not intelligent. He is described as any other ordinary person working in the farm. Many a times he doesn’t tend to kill animals whom he takes care of because he thinks that he is petting it. A perfect example is when he is petting the pup and he accidentally kills it. He hides it and tells George that his intention was to take care of it. This tells us that he loves animals and he himself doesn’t know how much harm he is doing to the animal because he doesn’t know how strong he is. He often acts like a kid because usually a small kid gives respect to an elder person who acts properly with him and treats him in a nice way. From the characters from the story, Lennie is recognised as a type of person who has a very low understanding power but person who is very strong in terms of physical matters. He doesn’t get along well with all the characters in the story. The only ones he gets along well are the ones who are good to them. Lennie is often known to be as a kid because most of his actions are quite childish and he isn’t responsible as a man of his age is supposed to be. This can be proved because George takes care of Lennie’s work card. He has to be incharge and give him his meals during the right times like a mother should do for her child. Another thing what proves this is that, Lennie is told off by George not to drink in the dirty water. This fact tells us that Lennie doesn’t know the difference between right and wrong. When George takes the dead mouse from Lennie’s hand, he starts to cry. He doesn’t get along very well with Curley and his wife because the very moment he came to the Ranch, Curley hated him. Before Curley attacked him, Curley didn’t know how strong he was and it was only after Lennie squeezed his hand he knew his strength. He had the wrong impression of Lennie. This tells us that Lennie always wanted to look for fights and get other people into trouble. After the fight we don’t see any more of Curley until the last part when he wants to kill Lennie after his death of his wife. From the first part of the story when the author gives us the physical description of Lennie, we could say that George was a man of low understanding power and Lennie was the man which was the opposite of George. We can prove this because John Steinbeck says that â€Å"the way a bear drags his paws†. This gives us the first impression that Lennie is a huge man. Also the author doesn’t mention who is who in the when he gives the description of both the characters. Whenever in the story when Lennie makes George angry, he is upset like a kid because always wants to make his elders happy. Lennie totally depends on George because he knows that he can’t do anything alone and he needs George to be with him. This can be proved in the line â€Å"†¦somebody’d shoot you for a coyote if you was by yourself†. In this line George tells us that if Lennie was on his own, he would be shot by the owner for whom he worked for. Nobody would accept him due to his stupidity and lack of understanding. He often tends to over and over again and sometimes forgets to what he is told before. George tells Lennie between the difference right and wrong because † Curley says he’s keepin’ that hand soft for his wife†. It tells us that he doesn’t know what it means. George tries to tell and make Lennie understand that Curley’s wife is a seductive type of woman and he should try to keep away from her.Curley’s wife is a seductive type of woman and he should try to keep away from her because she could get him into trouble. From first itself when George sees Curley’s wife he says â€Å"she’s got the eye†. He tells Lennie that she tries to flirt with Carlson and Slim. Lennie is only left alone once in the ranch when George goes out with his people of work. He is told by George to stay away from her. After he is told that, whenever Curley’s wife tries to speak to her he tells her directly that he is not supposed to speak to her. Lennie is forced by George not to speak in the beginning part of the story when they go to the ranch to get a job. He fears that Lennie will say something stupid and show how dumb he is and this might cause them to loose their job. To prove this he says this in the exact words â€Å"I’ll give him the work tickets, but you ain’t gonna say a word. You jus’ stand there and don’t say nothing†. Lennie often tends to forget what he did in the past. The way he speaks is ungrammatical and moreover like a lower class type of dialogue. They use a colloquial way to speak with eachother and Lennie many a times repeats the sentences again and again.