How Is Lennie Firstly Introdced in the Novel of Mice and Men?

 Lennie’s character traits are emphasized in the beginning of the novel by Steinbeck in a number of way s,making His lack of mental stability and incredible reliance on George clear.

Firstly the author wishes to highlight lennies dependence on George subtly so that his inability to self rely, and his low mental capacity is made evident. “hed walked in a single file down the path...one stayed behind the other”. The fact that lennie was being guided and led by George to do such a simple task like walking, underlines his lack of  simple understanding and thus his mental state. George in this resembles a parent guarding a child of whom has trouble comprehending simple instructions. This is later reinforced when we are told,  “ Lennie, who had been watching, imitated George exactly” . he watches george and tries to mimic his exact doings being he looks up to him, like a small child looks up to their parent, who at that age is their role model . He may als’o be trying to copy his companion george, being he cannot do simple tasks and needs to be reminded how exactly to do perform them.

Additionally, the author wishes put emphasis on  lennies unusually strength and size as well as animal like behaviour.” he walked heavily, dragging his feet a little, the way a bear drags his paws” The author describes Lennie to have tendencies similar to an animal rather than a child.  Animals are perceived as innocent creatures being they do not have the capacity to act morally or distinguish any good from bad, however,they can also be considered as dangerous, being they have no morals, and act promptly on instinct. In this Steinbeck compares Lennie to a bear; of which is a big and strong creature, in order to get this subliminal message across to the reader. The fact that the bear has paws could potentially represent Lennie as a dog also however, one who at all times has to be tamed by his master (who in this case for Lennie is George)  or one who needs to be ‘put down’ being he is too dangerous to be kept alive, foreshadowing what later is to come . He is also described as a horse which again is another fierce animal suggesting an aggressive pattern in the description of Lennie.