Of Mice and Men - Chapter 1 - How Lennie and George's Relationship Develops (May Need Editing...)
How does George and Lennie’s relationship develop in the first chapter?
George and Lennie have a close relationship as we discovered in the first chapter and it is almost like a father/son relationship. Although throughout the chapter George sounds as if he is putting Lennie down and ruining his joyous spirit, it is actually to protect him from harm from the outside world and does is through love.
George uses adult characteristics towards Lennie which shows that he believes he is superior to Lennie. When we are first introduced to the characters of George and Lennie the writer tells us they are in ‘single file’. This immediately notifies the reader of the kind of relationship George and Lennie share. We could use this quote to symbolise the game ‘Follow the Leader’ showing us that George is the ‘leader’ and is the responsible carer. This is strengthened by the amount of times George has told him to not say anything when they look for work so they don’t find out ‘what a crazy bastard you are’.
Also George almost sounds as if he is making Lennie feel inferior on purpose as after he reminded Lennie not to say anything he made him say it out loud not just once but three times. This made Lennie feel small, despite his height, as he ‘droned himself softly’ whilst he told himself and George that he ‘ain’’t gonna say nothin’…’. This tells the reader that in this father/son relationship, George is the superior father and Lennie is the errant son. You can see this again on page sixteen where Lennie beckons for the story of their dream again. This could be similar to the way that an adult reads a child a bedtime story, once again showing us their kind of relationship.
As a result of the superiority getting higher from George it ends up in George ranting to Lennie about a life he could have without Lennie. He climaxes with ‘An’ whatta I got… I got you!... You crazy son-of-a-bitch.’ This resembles the sort of argument two brothers would have rather than a father and a
George and Lennie have a close relationship as we discovered in the first chapter and it is almost like a father/son relationship. Although throughout the chapter George sounds as if he is putting Lennie down and ruining his joyous spirit, it is actually to protect him from harm from the outside world and does is through love.
George uses adult characteristics towards Lennie which shows that he believes he is superior to Lennie. When we are first introduced to the characters of George and Lennie the writer tells us they are in ‘single file’. This immediately notifies the reader of the kind of relationship George and Lennie share. We could use this quote to symbolise the game ‘Follow the Leader’ showing us that George is the ‘leader’ and is the responsible carer. This is strengthened by the amount of times George has told him to not say anything when they look for work so they don’t find out ‘what a crazy bastard you are’.
Also George almost sounds as if he is making Lennie feel inferior on purpose as after he reminded Lennie not to say anything he made him say it out loud not just once but three times. This made Lennie feel small, despite his height, as he ‘droned himself softly’ whilst he told himself and George that he ‘ain’’t gonna say nothin’…’. This tells the reader that in this father/son relationship, George is the superior father and Lennie is the errant son. You can see this again on page sixteen where Lennie beckons for the story of their dream again. This could be similar to the way that an adult reads a child a bedtime story, once again showing us their kind of relationship.
As a result of the superiority getting higher from George it ends up in George ranting to Lennie about a life he could have without Lennie. He climaxes with ‘An’ whatta I got… I got you!... You crazy son-of-a-bitch.’ This resembles the sort of argument two brothers would have rather than a father and a