Of Mice and Men Literary Analysis

Here is my literary analysis of the characters in Of Mice and Men. Please do not plagiarize any part of my writing.

            Have you ever been emotionally attached to something furry or small, such as a blanket or a teddy bear? If so, I am certain that you will easily to relate to Lennie, a character from John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men. This novel explores the relationship between two characters that end up in a mutual relationship despite their very different personality and appearance. George Milton, a small man with defined features, serves as the leader of the second character, Lennie. “… a huge man, shapeless of face, with large pale eyes with wide, sloping shoulders, and he walked heavily” (2). Small and soft animals comfort Lennie because he feels secure around them; the size of the animals represents his mental age.

            Lennie tends to follow George around wherever he goes; he remains too dumb to think and act on his own. The mental processes of Lennie are similar to that of a child. Throughout the novel, Lennie demonstrates a tendency to stroke small and soft animals, such as rabbits, puppies, soft hair, or mice. This has been shown in the beginning of the novel in the first scene. “ ‘I could pet it with my thumb while we walked along’ ” (6). If you also like to stroke the fur of a dog, a cat, or any other pet you may have, you probably experience the same pacification. Lennie, despite his age, is like a child of George.

            Lennie’s strange addiction of petting soft things may represent his mental age. “ ‘And I get to tend the rabbits’ ” (105). The size of animals increases with Lennie’s maturity, which progresses throughout the novel. Lennie hopes to tend the rabbits so that he can spend time with them. He is portrayed as an animal in the novel, and that is the image the author desires to put in our mind. He stated that he has paw-like hands, and lumbers around like a bear. He goes to sleep right along with the newborn puppies right in the nest, and offers to go live in a cave, which is probably full of creatures like bats. In the novel, the animals that Lennie likes also change. In the opening scene of the novel, Lennie likes to stroke mice, which are small creatures. Towards the end of the novel, he wants to tend rabbits on a farm they are dreaming of getting.

            We know now that the size of the animals in the book is steadily increasing, but what about Lennie. As I have stated earlier, in the beginning of the novel, Lennie did not want to venture far from George. However, the space between them slowly increases throughout the novel. “ Only Lennie was in the barn…” (84). He does not rely as much on George to tell him what to do every single moment of the day. He grows more independent now. This is also shown when he is in the barn alone with Curley’s wife. Had this event taken place earlier in the novel, Lennie would have probably been playing horseshoe, or even just watching the game. Yet, it is ironic how Lennie’s self-reliance indirectly caused his death. Another example of his independence is how he gathered up the courage to go and run into the brush until George came to find him and tell him what to do next. He was previously struggling to remember George’s instructions, and now he is debating whether to carry them out or not.

            Lennie improves in many ways in the novel, and the animals in the novel can represent that progression. Lennie strokes animals because they give him comfort, and he enjoys doing so. His mind works like that of a child, and many different things constantly occupy him, whether it is thoughts, remembrances, or actions. They hardly ever show him asleep because he is almost always looking forward to something new. The size of the animals represents his mental age, and his mental age progresses through the novel. His preference of the animals he likes is constantly changing. Lennie is not only mentally progressing, but he is also becoming more independent, and looking out for the welfare of others. An example is that he quickly defends George when he is threatened. This is shown when Crooks asks Lennie what would happen if George never came back. He did not like this, and prepared to attack the poor man. The sizes of the animals that are shown in the novel represent the mental age of Lennie, which matures and matures throughout the novel.