Lennie In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

Although John Steinbeck introduces a plethora of memorable characters in Of Mice and Men, Lennie can best be remembered by his childish traits. In the beginning of the story, when George and Lennie were sitting at the encampment by the river Lennie begged George to tell the story of the rabbits(14). This story was about much more than just rabbits; but Lennie, being the manchild he was only cared about the fact that he got to care for and play with the rabbits, just like any child would. Later on in the story, Curley picked a fight because Lennie was supposedly laughing at him and Curley got his hand crushed, but “Lennie was jus’ scarit. He didn’t know what to do”(62). Lennie didn’t actually mean any harm but when Curley started beating on
him and George told him to get Curley back, Lennie was just acting as a confused and scared little child should; grabbing on to whatever is nearest and not letting go. In the end of the story, when Lennie accidentally kills both the pup and Curley’s wife, he was scared and knew he did something bad but didn’t want to disappoint George; so he ran, he ran away to the spot where George told him to go if any trouble happened(92). Lennie did this to please George because he knew his previous actions would upset him; this is just as a child would do to keep out of trouble. Throughout Of Mice and Men, Lennie is portrayed as a very child-like character.