Lennie's Morality

Steinbeck’s motif of Lennie’s questionable ethics throughout Slim and George’s conversation establishes the theme that morality is a fluid and unclear concept.
In the bunk house George and Slim began to converse about Lennie’s morals as Slim states, “He’s a nice fella,” but the two begin to become unsure and repeat themselves as if to solidify the statement as fact: “ He ain’t a bit mean... I can see Lennie ain’t a bit mean.” Through their uncertainty of Lennie’s morals Steinbeck begins to challenge the belief that the protagonist is inherently good. While George and Slim believe Lennie “ain’t mean”, they are conflicted because “he gets in trouble alla time”,for instance, when he pulled the girl’s dress in Weed. This conflict of Lennie’s