Of Mice and Men: Analysis of George's Feelings about Lennie

Can you handle a grown man with a tremendous size and a mind of a little child and, yet, you still need to take care of him? I can’t. However, George from the book Of Mice and Men could, even though he was still frustrated, irritated, and felt bad for Lennie who is the big strong guy that is mentally retarded. “God, you’re a lot of trouble, I could get along so easy and so nice if I didn’t have you on my tail. I could live so easy and maybe have a girl.” said George. This is a quotation from page seven in the book. Lennie had caused a lot of troubles for George, and George felt so much frustration. George thinks having Lennie on his tail is really annoying and bothers him a lot. However, he still takes cares of Lennie, He said it just to vent his anger. Lennie’s mind is even worse than a kid; he barely remembers anything. No matter how many times you tell him anything, he always forgets it. If he was told something a few seconds ago, he will ask you again: “What you just said?” I get really angry when people kept forgetting things I just told them. I believe George got really irritated when Lennie said “Where we goin’, George?” in book page six. George told him again where they’re heading to, but Lennie asked the question again after a few seconds. I think George is annoyed of Lennie’s lack of short term memory. Although George is on the edge of going crazy of Lennie, he still felt bad for him. Lennie is totally dependent on others. He does not know how to survive on his own. All he cares about is to pet a small and soft dead mice, which is really disgusting and childish. George thinks he’s a poor bastard and no matter how annoying Lennie is, he still wants Lennie to stay with him. He once said, “ I want you to stay with me, Lennie. Jesus Christ, somebody’d shoot you for a coyote if you was by yourself” in page 13. George is fully aware that Lennie cannot live on his own, and he has no confidence that Lennie can survive without him. Thus he kept Lennie with