Lennie is like a little boy, he has no sense of right and wrong, but a fairly good intuition. By this I mean that he does not know whether or not something is a good or bad thing to do, unless someone tells him, usually George. Aside form this, he can sense when something is not right, or a person is not a good person, take Curley for example. Right off the bat Lennie could tell he wasn't going to like him or get along with him, he knew that Curley was a bad man. Lennie acts like he hasn't a worry in the world, even when he thinks of something that might be worrisome, he just forgets about it soon afterwards. Whenever they talk about their plans to buy that little house he seems giddy with excitement.
I think this is exactly how Lennie feels inside too, he feels like he cant be alone, or he might do something wrong. I think he feels elated every time he hears word of their little house, with a couple acres and bunnies of every colour. You can just picture his eyes lighting up and a smile creeping onto his face ever so slowly, just slowly enough that if you were to watch him, only for a second, you wouldn't notice.
I think Lennie is a lost puppy inside and out. He has left his home on a whim, had a friend with him the whole way, and now that whim is starting to prove itself a good one. I think this is why Lennie is so, almost, transparent, although I hate to say that. I think that since he is so much like a little boy or a puppy that he cant hide what he is feeling and mask it with something else, he has no choice but to be an open book.
Lennie and Crooks are two completely different people. Lennie is a large man with a hard work ethic, but very little intelligence. Crooks is a broken man, who is black and gets made fun of and discriminated all of the time. The difference between these two men is that Lennie acts the same, inside and out, whereas Crooks hides his emotions under the skin of his being. Lennie acts innocent outside, and feels like he needs guidance on the inside. However, Crooks acts sour and bitter toward other farmers, while on the inside, he is just very lonely and feels let out just because his skin color is different. However, they are both similar because some of Crooks' inside thoughts affects what he does, and acts like as a person. It is the same way with Lennie in how he needs guidance to do something, and is always provoked by thoughts that are implanted in his head, mostly by George. This shows that there are a lot of differences between the way people act and think, yet there are similar things as most humans' actions are provoked by their innermost thoughts.
ReplyDeleteThis is great analysis of Lennie and a very insightful comparison and contrast of Lennie to Crooks.
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