John Stienbecks's novella Of Mice and Men tells the story of two migrant workers, George Milton and Lennie Small. After getting stranded by a bus, far away from the camp they intended to report to in California, the two travel to a nearby ranch in search of some sort of work. Once they get there, they both (especially Lennie) face many challenges. Later on in the book we learn that Lennie has a mental disability, and since he is a giant, this is a huge challenge for him. A lot of the times, he accidentally causes pain to someone or destroys something because he just really has no way to control it.
There are a few other conflicts that occur in this book, but the central problem is a self vs. self situation with Lennie. Since he has a mental illness, Lennie does things unintentionally that get him into trouble with other people on the ranch. He is also very big and strong, but unfortunately he doesn't realize the kind of strength he has and that if he isn't careful, it can be very dangerous.
For example, when the men on the ranch find Curley's wife dead in the barn, they are really mad at Lennie and want him killed. However, George tries to defend him and says:
“Lennie never done it in meanness. All the time he done bad things,
he never done one of 'em mean” (pg. 95)
This quote from George is a good explanation on Lennie's intentions. He is saying that even though Lennie does some “bad things” on occasion, he never does them on purpose. Whenever he makes mistakes or hurts someone, it is only on accident. In other words, Lennie is pretty much a gentle giant because he is very big and strong, but he never really wants to hurt anyone or cause them pain. For example, when he broke Curley's wife's neck, Lennie shouldn't have really been the one blamed for it because she was the one making him feel nervous and uncomfortable. She was a very promiscuous woman and towards the end of the book, her and Lennie are alone in the barn together and she starts coming on to him. He remembers George telling him to stay away from her, but when he tries to get away, she won't leave him alone. So, out of fear Lennie grabs Curley's wife by her hair and, because he is so strong, he accidentally snaps her neck and kills her.
Another quote I found in the book was when George was talking to Slim about Lennie. He says:
“ 'Course he ain't mean. But he gets in trouble alla time because he's so God damn dumb. Like what happened in Weed... He seen this girl in a red dress. Dumb bastard like he is, he wants to touch ever'thing he likes. Just wants to feel it. So he reaches out to feel this red dress an' the girl lets out a squawk and that gets Lennie all mixed up, and he holds on 'cause that's the only thing he can think to do... I socked him over the head with a fence picket to make him let go.... He's so God damn strong, you know.” (pg. 41)
This second quote is another example of how Lennie's actions can get him into sticky situations. When him and George were in Weed, Lennie just saw a lady in a dress that he thought looked good. Because of his mental illness, he didn't realize that if he was to just go up and touch it that it would probably frighten the woman wearing the dress. Unfortunately, because this woman didn't know that Lennie's actions were completely innocent, she screamed and shrieked and later on, a couple of big tough guys came around looking for Lennie and George. This got both of them into a tough situation because for a couple of days, they had to stay in hiding to make sure that none of the guys hurt them.
So, in my opinion, Lennie's struggle with his own mental illness causes a self vs. self conflict in Of Mice and Men. Even though he doesn't mean to, his own disability causes harm to both himself and other characters in the book. This is one of the central issues throughout the story and a lot of other issues that occur in the book are either caused or effected by Lennie's disability. It isn't his fault but it causes a lot of trouble. Lennie vs. Lennie is a huge conflict in Of Mice and Men.
No comments:
Post a Comment