Lennie Smalls In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

In the novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, the character Lennie Smalls is a large man who is physically fit but immature emotionally. He poses a danger to the other characters, as he is responsible for the death of various creatures, the accidental injury of Curley’s hand, and the gruesome murder of Curley’s wife. Although the outcome of the situations was unintended, innocent lives were lost as a result of his lack of fast reaction and childish mentality. Through the actions of Lennie and the negative reactions that followed, Steinbeck reveals that Lennie’s powerlessness over his physical strength acts as his Achilles’ heel. Curley picks a fight with Lennie because of his large size and physical strength. The reality that Lennie is
Lennie’s unintentional murder of Curley’s wife results in a mad rampage to find him, and as an end result, kills him. He kills Curley’s wife from attempting to stop her from screaming, shaking her violently and “her body flopped like a fish” (Steinbeck 91). He couldn’t control his strength and accidentally broke her neck. When she is discovered by the men in the barn, Curley immediately frames Lennie and blames him: “‘I know who done it...that big son-of-a-bitch done it...I’ll kill the big son-of-a-bitch myself. I’ll shoot ‘im in the guts’” (Steinbeck 96). Curley saying that he would kill Lennie himself and shoot him “in the guts” implies that he is going to torture him and give him a painful death. The reason Curley is able to say that is because Lennie asserted too much physical strength on Curley’s wife and murders her. Lennie’s uncontrollable strength causes violent incidents; even though he didn’t mean to hurt her, he is still guilty of the despicable crime. Due to his physical power, others view him as a foolish, dangerous monster, especially Curley, who wants the chance to torture Lennie and get revenge for breaking his hand. In the end, Lennie is shot and killed during the search to hunt him down. because of the incident he caused when he couldn’t control his physical strength.
Lennie’s weakness is his inability to control his physical power. Because he didn’t know how to react in tense situations, he panicked and asserted too much force on his victims. His actions, which are later regretted, stirs a resentful and angry hatred directed toward him. After the accident that he created, people like Curley had reason to shoot and hurt him. This indicates that being only physically strong is not enough for one to survive in the harsh realities of our