It is established early on in John Steinbeck's novella Of Mice and Men that Lennie has a fixation with petting soft things. Throughout the novel he incessantly refers to the rabbits he will "tend" when he and George get their farm. In Chapter One he is carrying a dead mouse in his pocket. He tells George that he didn't kill it and "found it lyin' right beside the road" but George claims that Lennie "broke it pettin' it." Unfortunately, Lennie doesn't know his own strength and is usually lethal to any animal he gets his hands on. The incident with the mouse proves to foreshadow the events in Chapter Five when Lennie is seen with a dead puppy. Like the mouse, Lennie has basically killed it with affection. He tells Curley's wife,
"I was jus' playin' with him...an' he made like he's gonna bite me...an' I made like I was gonna smack him...an'...an' I done it. An' then he was dead."
When Curley's wife insists that Lennie talk to her she is unaware that she may be in danger. When the discussion turns to Lennie's fascination with petting soft things, Curley's wife allows Lennie to stroke her hair. When she begins struggling, he attempts to keep her from yelling and accidentally breaks her neck. As with the mouse and the puppy, Lennie had not intended on killing Curley's wife. His overwhelming strength simply got away from him and his powerful hands, which earlier crushed Curley's hand, easily leave the girl limp and dead on the floor of the barn.
Friday, May 8, 2015
How would you compare the incident with the mouse in Chapter One with the killing of Curley's wife in Chapter Five?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Summarize the major research findings of "Toward an experimental ecology of human development."
Based on findings of prior research, the author, Bronfenbrenner proposes that methods for natural observation research have been applied in ...
-
One way to support this thesis is to explain how these great men changed the world. Indeed, Alexander the Great (356–323 BC) was the quintes...
-
At the most basic level, thunderstorms and blizzards are specific weather phenomena that occur most frequently within particular seasonal cl...
-
x=4cost y=2sint First, take the derivative of x and y with respect to t. dx/dt=-4sint dy/dt=2cost Then, determine the first derivative dy/dx...
-
Ethno-nationalism is defined as "advocacy of or support for the political interests of a particular ethnic group, especially its nation...
-
Both boys are very charismatic and use their charisma to persuade others to follow them. The key difference of course is that Ralph uses his...
-
Find the indefinite integral $\displaystyle \int \sec^4 \left( \frac{x}{2} \right) dx$. Illustrate by graphing both the integrand and its an...
-
The most basic attitude difference between Mr. Otis and Lord Canterville is their attitude toward the ghost. The attitude difference start...
No comments:
Post a Comment