Saturday, February 25, 2012

How does Lennie act with other people?

Lennie is arguably the nicest person in the whole novella.  There are several times when people call him a "hell of a nice guy." For example, in a conversation between Slim and George, George says of Lennie: "Hell of a nice fella, but he ain’t bright." Later in the novel, Candy and Crooks also realize this fact about Lennie. 


From these points, we can say that Lennie's interaction with all people is friendly.  The problems come in, because people do not understand Lennie.  So, at times people take Lennie's friendly behavior in the wrong way, and they feel threatened.  In particular, this happens in Lennie's interaction with women.  In the beginning of the story, a woman accuses him of rape when Lennie just wanted to touch the soft fabric of her dress. At the end of the novella, Lennie accidentally kills Curley's wife, when Curley's wife thought that Lennie was up to something more sinister than petting her hair.


So, troubles abound in Lennie's interaction with people, but these problems are not entirely his fault.  This is partially why the story is so tragic. 

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