Of Mice and Men

by

John Steinbeck

Lennie Small Character Analysis

Lennie Small is the secondary protagonist in Of Mice and Men. He is a huge, lumbering man whose bearlike appearance masks a sweet, gentle disposition. Lennie has an unnamed mental disability—according to George, this is the result of an accident as a child, though this is likely untrue. His childlike disposition, fallible short-term memory, and fascination with stroking and petting soft things are markers of the ways in which his strong exterior conceals a side of Lennie that many people, were they to witness it, would see as weak and seek to exploit. George is intensely protective of Lennie, and though the other ranch hands perceive their traveling together as strange or even suspect, it becomes clear over the course of the novella that the two men are only able to survive in the harsh landscape of the Depression-gripped American West with one another’s help. Lennie is a hard worker capable of lifting incredible weights, but the side of him most often shown throughout the book is the side obsessed with raising soft rabbits, petting puppies, and fantasizing about a comfortable and idyllic future alone on a farm with George. Lennie clearly doesn’t grasp his own strength, a fact that is evidenced by his repeated killings of animals including mice and puppies. Later, this leads to him accidentally murdering Curley’s wife, which occurs when he shakes her too hard after she begins screaming as a result of Lennie grabbing her hair—something she invited him to do in an attempt to allow him to touch something soft. Lennie flees the ranch and hides in a meeting-spot he and George chose before arriving at the ranch, believing George will come save him so they can flee together. Instead, George distracts Lennie with a story about how they’ll soon get their farm before shooting him in the back of the head in order to save Lennie from the wrath of the other laborers, who are out for revenge. Gentle but fearfully strong, insecure but gregarious, and trusting to a dangerous degree, Lennie is a mess of contradictions whose arc ties in with the novella’s major themes of the strong and the weak, male friendship, and marginalization and scapegoating.

Lennie Small Quotes in Of Mice and Men

The Of Mice and Men quotes below are all either spoken by Lennie Small or refer to Lennie Small. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Broken Plans Theme Icon
).
Part 1 Quotes

Slowly, like a terrier who doesn't want to bring a ball to its master, Lennie approached, drew back, approached again.

Related Characters: George Milton, Lennie Small
Page Number: 9
Explanation and Analysis:

“Well, we ain't got any,” George exploded. “Whatever we ain't got, that's what you want. God a'mighty, if I was alone I could live so easy. I could go get a job an' work, an' no trouble....An' whatta I got,” George went on furiously. “I got you! You can't keep a job and you lose me ever' job I get. Jus' keep me shovin' all over the country all the time. An' that ain't the worst. You get in trouble. You do bad things and I got to get you out.”

Related Characters: George Milton (speaker), Lennie Small
Page Number: 11
Explanation and Analysis:

“Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They don't belong no place. […] With us it ain't like that. We got a future.”

[…] Lennie broke in. “But not us! An’ why? Because...because I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that's why.”

Related Characters: George Milton (speaker), Lennie Small (speaker)
Related Symbols: George and Lennie’s Farm
Page Number: 13-14
Explanation and Analysis:

“Well,” said George, “we'll have a big vegetable patch and a rabbit hutch and chickens. And when it rains in the winter, we'll just say the hell with goin' to work, and we'll build up a fire in the stove and set around it an' listen to the rain comin' down on the roof.”

Related Characters: George Milton (speaker), Lennie Small
Related Symbols: George and Lennie’s Farm
Page Number: 14-15
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 2 Quotes

“Ain't many guys travel around together,” he mused. “I don't know why. Maybe ever'body in the whole damn world is scared of each other.”

Related Characters: Slim (speaker), George Milton, Lennie Small
Page Number: 35
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 3 Quotes

“We could live offa the fatta the lan'.”

Related Characters: Lennie Small (speaker)
Related Symbols: George and Lennie’s Farm
Page Number: 57
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 4 Quotes

“I seen it over an' over—a guy talkin' to another guy and it don't make no difference if he don't hear or understand. The thing is, they're talkin', or they're settin' still not talkin'. It don't make no difference, no difference...It's just the talking.”

Related Characters: Crooks (speaker), Lennie Small
Page Number: 71
Explanation and Analysis:

“A guy needs somebody—to be near him.” He whined, “A guy goes nuts if he ain't got nobody.”

Related Characters: Crooks (speaker), Lennie Small
Page Number: 72
Explanation and Analysis:

“A guy sets alone out here at night, maybe readin' books or thinkin' or stuff like that. Sometimes he gets thinkin', an' he got nothing to tell him what's so an' what ain't so. Maybe if he sees somethin', he don't know whether it's right or not. He can't turn to some other guy and ast him if he sees it too. He can't tell. He got nothing to measure by. I seen things out here. I wasn't drunk. I don't know if I was asleep. If some guy was with me, he could tell me I was asleep, an' then it would be all right. But I jus' don't know.”

Related Characters: Crooks (speaker), Lennie Small
Page Number: 73
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 5 Quotes

“Why can't I talk to you? I never get to talk to nobody. I get awful lonely.”

Related Characters: Curley’s Wife (speaker), Lennie Small, Slim
Related Symbols: Lennie’s Puppy
Page Number: 86
Explanation and Analysis:

He pawed up the hay until it partly covered her.

Related Characters: Lennie Small, Curley’s Wife
Page Number: 92
Explanation and Analysis:

“I think I knowed from the very first. I think I knowed we'd never do her. He usta like to hear about it so much I got to thinking maybe we would.”

Related Characters: George Milton (speaker), Lennie Small
Related Symbols: George and Lennie’s Farm, Rabbits
Page Number: 94
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 6 Quotes

A water snake glided smoothly up the pool, twisting its periscope head from side to side; and it swam the length of the pool and came to the legs of a motionless heron that stood in the shallows. A silent head and beak lanced down and plucked it out by the head, and the beak swallowed the little snake while its tail waved frantically.

Related Characters: Lennie Small
Page Number: 99
Explanation and Analysis:

“No, Lennie. I ain't mad. I never been mad, an' I ain't now. That's a thing I want ya to know.”

Related Characters: George Milton (speaker), Lennie Small
Page Number: 106
Explanation and Analysis:

"Never you mind," said Slim. "A guy got to sometimes."

Related Characters: Slim (speaker), George Milton, Lennie Small
Related Symbols: Candy’s Dog
Page Number: 107
Explanation and Analysis:
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Lennie Small Quotes in Of Mice and Men

The Of Mice and Men quotes below are all either spoken by Lennie Small or refer to Lennie Small. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Broken Plans Theme Icon
).
Part 1 Quotes

Slowly, like a terrier who doesn't want to bring a ball to its master, Lennie approached, drew back, approached again.

Related Characters: George Milton, Lennie Small
Page Number: 9
Explanation and Analysis:

“Well, we ain't got any,” George exploded. “Whatever we ain't got, that's what you want. God a'mighty, if I was alone I could live so easy. I could go get a job an' work, an' no trouble....An' whatta I got,” George went on furiously. “I got you! You can't keep a job and you lose me ever' job I get. Jus' keep me shovin' all over the country all the time. An' that ain't the worst. You get in trouble. You do bad things and I got to get you out.”

Related Characters: George Milton (speaker), Lennie Small
Page Number: 11
Explanation and Analysis:

“Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They don't belong no place. […] With us it ain't like that. We got a future.”

[…] Lennie broke in. “But not us! An’ why? Because...because I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that's why.”

Related Characters: George Milton (speaker), Lennie Small (speaker)
Related Symbols: George and Lennie’s Farm
Page Number: 13-14
Explanation and Analysis:

“Well,” said George, “we'll have a big vegetable patch and a rabbit hutch and chickens. And when it rains in the winter, we'll just say the hell with goin' to work, and we'll build up a fire in the stove and set around it an' listen to the rain comin' down on the roof.”

Related Characters: George Milton (speaker), Lennie Small
Related Symbols: George and Lennie’s Farm
Page Number: 14-15
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 2 Quotes

“Ain't many guys travel around together,” he mused. “I don't know why. Maybe ever'body in the whole damn world is scared of each other.”

Related Characters: Slim (speaker), George Milton, Lennie Small
Page Number: 35
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 3 Quotes

“We could live offa the fatta the lan'.”

Related Characters: Lennie Small (speaker)
Related Symbols: George and Lennie’s Farm
Page Number: 57
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 4 Quotes

“I seen it over an' over—a guy talkin' to another guy and it don't make no difference if he don't hear or understand. The thing is, they're talkin', or they're settin' still not talkin'. It don't make no difference, no difference...It's just the talking.”

Related Characters: Crooks (speaker), Lennie Small
Page Number: 71
Explanation and Analysis:

“A guy needs somebody—to be near him.” He whined, “A guy goes nuts if he ain't got nobody.”

Related Characters: Crooks (speaker), Lennie Small
Page Number: 72
Explanation and Analysis:

“A guy sets alone out here at night, maybe readin' books or thinkin' or stuff like that. Sometimes he gets thinkin', an' he got nothing to tell him what's so an' what ain't so. Maybe if he sees somethin', he don't know whether it's right or not. He can't turn to some other guy and ast him if he sees it too. He can't tell. He got nothing to measure by. I seen things out here. I wasn't drunk. I don't know if I was asleep. If some guy was with me, he could tell me I was asleep, an' then it would be all right. But I jus' don't know.”

Related Characters: Crooks (speaker), Lennie Small
Page Number: 73
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 5 Quotes

“Why can't I talk to you? I never get to talk to nobody. I get awful lonely.”

Related Characters: Curley’s Wife (speaker), Lennie Small, Slim
Related Symbols: Lennie’s Puppy
Page Number: 86
Explanation and Analysis:

He pawed up the hay until it partly covered her.

Related Characters: Lennie Small, Curley’s Wife
Page Number: 92
Explanation and Analysis:

“I think I knowed from the very first. I think I knowed we'd never do her. He usta like to hear about it so much I got to thinking maybe we would.”

Related Characters: George Milton (speaker), Lennie Small
Related Symbols: George and Lennie’s Farm, Rabbits
Page Number: 94
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 6 Quotes

A water snake glided smoothly up the pool, twisting its periscope head from side to side; and it swam the length of the pool and came to the legs of a motionless heron that stood in the shallows. A silent head and beak lanced down and plucked it out by the head, and the beak swallowed the little snake while its tail waved frantically.

Related Characters: Lennie Small
Page Number: 99
Explanation and Analysis:

“No, Lennie. I ain't mad. I never been mad, an' I ain't now. That's a thing I want ya to know.”

Related Characters: George Milton (speaker), Lennie Small
Page Number: 106
Explanation and Analysis:

"Never you mind," said Slim. "A guy got to sometimes."

Related Characters: Slim (speaker), George Milton, Lennie Small
Related Symbols: Candy’s Dog
Page Number: 107
Explanation and Analysis: