Of Mice and Men Question “Lennie’s big fingers fell to stroking her hair” Essay

The pathetic figure of Lennie seems to symbolise mankind in its search for love. Do you agree? How does Steinbeck treat this theme in Of Mice and Men? In the book, Of Mice and Men, Lennie an opposite extreme to George; George is quite smart but not very tall or exceptionally strong, Lennie on the other hand is extremely stupid and very tall with exceptional strength. The way Steinbeck writes about Lennie, the audience feels great pity for him; the dialogue is very basic and he has trouble remembering simple tasks like keeping silent. The way he speaks can be related to the same way a three year old speaks; Lennie has the same sort of mind as a three year and is pleased by the same things. He has an affinity to touch everything and that is how he came to be stroking the lady’s hair. The way Lennie acts, speaks and looks creates a strong sympathy for him in the readers mind and Steinbeck plays on this to give the overall plot of the story. The idea that Lennie symbolises mankind in its search for love is what I believe is not a very good theory. The main basis for this is because Lennie does not understand what love is and the idea that man’s job in life is to look for love does not appeal to me. I do not think that a man goes around looking for love but love finds him, George did not ask to be loved by Lennie or to even take him on, he was offered and he made a promise. The only way which I believe that a man looks for love is through what he enjoys doing. If you love playing football then you are in search of your chance to be a footballer, you are in search of your love. This is the only in which I think this theme works in Of Mice and Men. Lennie loves George in a way which he does not understand, but George has grown to love him through their escapades together. In Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck uses love in a lot of ways; one way is George’s love of his dream. George fantasizes about owning his own little cottage with land he can farm on, he loves his dream and wishes it to come true. Lennie loves all creatures be it mice or puppies, he adores them and just loves to pet them and stroke them like a toddler loves to touch anything it can lay it’s hands on. Candy loved his dog and spent all his time with it, Curley loves boxing and spends most of his time practicing with his fists, Curley’s wife loves acting and deeply regrets missing her chance. Love plays a great part in Of Mice and Men, but nothing is as strong as the love between Lenny and George, George only realises how much he loves Lennie when Lennie is under the death sentence. George risks his own life to save Lennie and he realises that he will thoroughly miss Lennie. The theme that man is in search of love is also incorporated into Of Mice and Men by Steinbeck’s pen. George is in search of his dream cottage and every possible way to get it, the cottage is his love and he would go to no extreme to reach it. Lennie’s love is of keeping a heard of rabbits, he is constantly referring to them in the book and would love to have them. However he is letting George pursue the search to get them for him because he is completely incapable of getting them himself. Crooks is in search of finding friends to sit and talk with or being accepted by the other men on the ranch. His love is gain friends and become one of the â€Å"gang† and be allowed to play cards with them in the bunkhouse. Curley is in search of becoming a boxer, he loves using his fists and he is searching for his chance to become a boxer again. Curley’s Wife is constantly searching for her chance to escape from Curley and become and actress, she loves acting so she is in search for a career in acting. The idea of searching for love is incorporated a lot into Of Mice and Men; every main character is in search of his or her love whether it be human, animal or even a career.