Of Mice and Men

“Lennie dabbled his big paw in the water and wiggled his fingers so the water arose in little splashes; rings widened across the pool to the other side and came back again. Lennie watched them go. ‘Look, George. Look what I done.’”

In this quote, Lennie’s hand is metaphorically compared to a paw, likening him to an animal. The image of a large man like Lennie drinking at the pool with his “paw” suggests a large creature like a bear, strong and dangerous but perhaps harmless until provoked. In Lennie’s childish mind, his impact on the water, creating rings across the pond, is impressive, and he asks his companion George to look as a child would invite his mother to show her attentiveness, which speaks to George’s role as caretaker of Lennie.

“That ranch we’re goin’ to is right down there about a quarter mile. We’re gonna so in an’ see the boss. Now look—I’ll give him the work tickets, but you ain’t gonna say a word. You just stand there and don’t say nothing.”

George gives Lennie strict orders not to speak until after both men have secured work on the ranch. Lennie’s manner of speech highlights his intellectual disability, which may lead the boss to reject the pair. Once Lennie is put to work, his strength and his single-mindedness become significant assets, but if he is allowed to speak, Lennie may never be given the chance to prove how strong of a worker he can be.

“‘An’ live off the fatta the lan’,’ Lennie shouted. ‘An’ have rabbits. Go on, George! Tell about what we’re gonna have in the garden and about the rabbits in the cages and about the rain in the winter and the stove, and how thick the cream is on the milk like you can hardly cut it. Tell about that, George.’”

The italics in this quote indicate phrases that particularly excite Lennie. He repeats these words often throughout the novella when he talks about the dream farm he and George hope to buy some unspecified time in the future.