Throughout the Course of the Novel?
In Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, George, one of the main characters, showed significant growth from beginning to end. At the start of the novel he had a different way of living and outlook on life than he did towards the end. At the start of the novel he was an idealist, and had been motivated, antisocial, short tempered, and much more. George started this novel with a dream of living an ideal life with Lennie. “We’re gonna live off the fatta the land,” he’d say. He wanted to go somewhere off the grid with Lennie so that they’d both be safe and not have to worry about other people or Lennie getting in trouble. He wants to escape the harshness of the world …show more content…
Another effect that killing Lennie had on George was that with the death of Lennie not only came the death of their joint dream, but the loss of motivation and purpose for George. At the beginning of the book George looked out for Lennie and made sure that they could go on towards their goal. This is shown where at the beginning on their first night camping, George “took out two spoons from his side pocket and passed one of them to Lennie.” This shows that Lennie cannot take care of himself and that George had to be the responsible one and take care of everything for the two of them, holding their work papers, and even their own plates and cutlery. The reason that George kept his head down ad saved his money was so he could achieve the dream of the ranch with Lennie. Otherwise he “could take [his] fifty bucks and go into town and get whatever [he] want[s].” Without Lennie he has half the expenses and no need to save his money – he has much more freedom now and can go with the flow. He’s no longer tied down and has so many more opportunities. He can take any job he wants in whatever city, eat what he wants, and do what he wants with the money. Having Lennie around was the same as taking a small child with him everywhere and hindered him in many ways. George also started off as a bit antisocial and standoff-ish. He would stick to Lennie mainly and play solitaire
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