In a world where friends were rare, two who travel together were looking for a little place to call home. Lennie small was one of them. He was a colossal, dumbfounded, sort of cuddly guy. He and George Milton went around trying to get enough jack together to get some land. Lennie Small, a name more fit for his mind than his physical appearance.
A huge man, shapeless of face, with large, pale eyes, with wide slopping shoulders; and he walked heavily, dragging his feet a little the way a bear drags his paws. His arms did not swing hat his sides but hung loosely. (2)
Those few sentences described Lennie. He was as it said, big. Lennie was also incredibly strong. As shown later in the book he was able to crush Curly’s hand with one hand. Being as strong as he was made him a good worker, he was able to do a two man job all by himself.
Lennie was not very bright. On a light bulb scale a ten watt. “‘Oh I ain't saying he’s bright. He ain’t. But I say he’s a God damn good worker.’” (22) George described this as Lennie when they were talking to the boss. Lennie was aware that he wasn’t bright, but George looked after him and George was smarter than him.
There was not much in the book about Lennie’s morals. Lennie was a simple person, so he had simple morals. His morals were basic, meaning that he knew right from wrong, when he did something wrong most of the time he recognized it, and had a simple understanding of the consequences that his actions held.
Lennie’s social aspects did come into play. When he talked to Crooks in the barn John Steinbeck shed a little light on how he handled having a conversation with somebody.
“Ain’t anybody goin’ to talk no hurt to George,” he grumbled
Crooks said gently, “maybe you see now. You got George… A guy goes nuts if he ain’t got nobody. Don’t make no difference who the guy is, long’s he’s with you.” …
“George gonna come back,” Lennie reassured himself in a frightened voice.
That quote actually told more about Crooks than Lennie. It showed that Crooks was lonely but it also showed that Lennie didn’t care who he was talking to, just as long as somebody was talking to him. He never really was lonely; he did not have enough sense to know he did not have anybody when George was not around.
Where friends were few and far between, Lennie Small and George Milton were best friends. They were just trying to make a better life for themselves. Lennie Small’s role in the book was big, unlike his name.
Keep writing.
