Is George a Failure?

Is George a Failure?

Taking care of a man who is twice your size and weight seems like a difficult responsibility. Although this man seems like someone that could fend for himself, the truth is this man has the capability of living on his own as a four-year old does. In John Steinbeck’s novel Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck creates a character of this nature, this character is Lennie Small. Lennie is an enormous man, who has the mentality of a child. Lennie is George Milton’s companion throughout the novel. George devotes most of his time and energy into looking after Lennie, while putting his own needs on hold. These two men embark on a job hunting journey in hopes of working towards George’s dream.

George took Lennie under his wing because Lennie’s former guardian died. To George, Lennie is somewhat of a burden because George had his own dreams. He wanted to own a place of his own, become his own boss, and live the out the “American Dream.” George used Lennie to his best interest. Since Lennie was so enormous, he appeared to be a good worker, and people would give them jobs. On the other hand George was a small, quick man that was not worth so much as a worker. Basically, George was using Lennie as a workhorse to further himself in the search of his dreams.

The two friends ran into many obstacles at their jobs. Since Lennie had the mentality of a young child, he did not see anything as wrong. Lennie liked to touch soft objects such as animals or clothing. Although Lennie meant no harm when he touched these objects he caused trouble that George had to deal with. Lennie would scare people because of his height and the fact that he would grab a woman’s dress and not have the ability to let go. These kinds of actions had serious consequences that Lennie himself could not deal with. George had to pay fines, talk their way out of trouble, and plead to be allowed to keep working. Since he had to deal with these consequences, it drained George of all his money. These setbacks put George back to square one, and even farther from his dream.

Sometimes it seemed that George did not help Lennie’s case of getting in trouble. George would sometimes tell Lennie to fight back rather than stopping. After finally letting go of a hand he was crushing Lennie said, “You tol’ me to George” (Steinbeck 64). This pleased George because