Death In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

When visiting in a nursing home, one may begin to feel depressed. The residents are carrying on in a childlike demeanor and not fully understanding where they are and what they are doing. The people that enter this facility including the employees excuse the residents actions knowing that these helpless people have no idea of how they are behaving a lot of the time. In John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men, there is a character by the name of Lennie Milton. Lennie's mental handicap prevents him from understanding things like his strength and his handicap causes him to act in a childlike manner and as a result of this, the novel has many occurrences of death or near-death experiences.
Because of his mental handicap, Lennie has a tendency to
do irrational things without understanding the effect of his actions. Lennie heavily depends on his friend George because his mental capacity is like that of a child. Lennie is often described in terms of animals (pg 2). Lennie is devoted to George like a dog is devoted to his master. Not really understanding the result of his actions, Lennie does things that are not normal. The only thing that Lennie knows is that George is going to get him if he does the wrong thing. Lennie often forgets the things that he is not supposed to say and needs George to keep him out of trouble. The theme of friendship is present throughout the novel as George is a great friend to Lennie. Lennie makes George feel special because George sees Lennie as a friend. With Lennie, George has a strong sense of responsibility. Lennie's irrational behavior includes a trip to a pool of water. A childlike wonders is seen when he slurps down the huge gulp of water like a horse. (Pg. 3). Often times, Lennie's actions are reminiscent of an animal and George gets frustrated and angry with Lennie because of his animal like behavior. George repeatedly gets angry that Lennie knows what it means when George "gives him hell" (pg. 91)
Lennie does not know his physical strength and because he does not know hisstrength he unintentionally ends the life of innocent things.
Lennie's greatest feeling of security comes from petting soft, "furry" things like rabbits (Pg 16.) The recurring motif of death in the novel often involves Lennie. Because of his disability, Lennie does not have the capability to understand such an abstract concept like death. For example, Lennie carries around a dead mouse not realizing that the mouse is dead but only understanding that the outer coat of the mouse leaves a satisfying touch on Lennie's fingers (pg 5-6.) Even though the mouse is alive when Lennie picks it up, he kills it when petting it because he doesn't know his own strength. Lennie's prodigious strength along with his childlike demeanor makes a dangerous combination. George does not realize how dangerous Lennie can be, and because of it, it makes it harder for their dream of owning a farm to come true. Lennie's innocence keeps the dream alive, but his handicap makes the dream impossible to realize. When Lennie tries to pet a new puppy, he nearly kills it (pg. 43.) Lennie moves up a ladder throughout the novel in the size of animals he kills or nearly kills. He eventually reaches the top of the ladder by killing a woman who he thought felt soft. He repeatedly say that George "is gonna be mad" (pg 88) knowing the partial consequence that he learned about from
George.
When analyzing someone's actions at a nursing home one may wonder if the actions can be judged reasonable. A majority of people might say yes because if one doesn't understand what they are doing, how they can be responsible for it. Just like the helpless people in the nursing home, Lennie Milton in John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men does some things that are like that of a child and his mental capacity is like that of a child. His actions cause death and pain to recur in the novel and because he is mentally handicap his behavior can be judged reasonable.