First Impressions of George and Lennie
Lennie and George are like chalk and cheese in appearance. George is ‘small and quick’ ‘every part of him was defined’ while Lennie, Georges faithful friend, is a ‘huge man’ ‘sloping shoulders and walked heavily’. This match of appearance can be very helpful as Lennie is big and can look after George physically. They both still had things in common though ‘both were dressed in denim trousers and denim coats’ ‘both wore black shapeless hats’. They were both dressed like this because they on their way to a ranch, to work as a farm labourer and they were living the lives of drifters.
George is quick-witted and particular, this becomes apparent when he says ‘Don’t seem to be running, though. You never oughter drink water when it ain’t running, Lennie,’ this suggest that he knows how to look after himself and he knows what is best for him, and the way he says Lennie at the end tells the reader that he is looking out for Lennie and trying to keep him safe too. Lennie is slow and dim-witted we know this because when he talks is he uses monosyllabic words for example, ‘long, big, drink’ this suggest he is uneducated and has a mental age of around 5 years old.
George is also very forgetful ‘you forgot that awready, did you? ’ this is another sign of him acting younger than he is and it shows that he needs someone to look out for him. There is another side of George though this is shown when he tries to deceive George by saying ‘Ain’t a thing in my pocket’ this shows he can be quite sly and deceiving. It is clear that Lennie has no sense at all and George has to watch over him constantly.
The very first time the men are described it tells us that there is a clear leader ‘they had walked single file down the path, and even in the open’ this shows us that Lennie follows George and sees him as a good example. Lennie is constantly always looking out for George ‘aw, Lennie! I ain’t taking it away jus for meanness, that mouse ain’t fresh’. George always does what he thinks is best for Lennie even if Lennie does not agree. ‘you get in trouble. You do bad things and I got to get you out. ’ It becomes clear the George would much prefer not to be with Lennie as he always fantasises about if he was on his own he would do much better for imself and he wouldn’t constantly be dragged down by Lennie, but even though he says all of it, we can tell that secretly George wants Lennie to stay with him ‘cause I want you to stay with me’ this says that even though Lennie depends on George, George still needs Lennie so he isn’t alone and doesn’t suffer from loneliness and has someone he can talk to. We know that in previous work that Lennie has mess it up for George and they both got run out of weed ‘and we got to sneak out in the dark and get outta the country’ this tells the reader that in the upcoming work job It may not be all that simple.
Also George tells Lennie that if he gets into trouble at the ranch to come back to the brush and wait for him, this is foreshadowing the future and telling us that George most definitely get into trouble. George and Lennie both are ambitious though and both dream of having the American dream together, but George is more realistic and knows if he carries on with Lennie that the dream will never come true, but he doesn’t tell Lennie this, and keeps him happy by letting him think that one day they will have a place of their own.
