of mice and men

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Of Mice and Men
In John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, the real antagonist is Lennie Smalls due to the following three reasons. First, although Lennie and George are married, Lennie keeps causing trouble to George, which made George regret at some instance that his life could be better if he stops caring for Lennie. Secondly, Lennie always caused troubles in the workplace. George had to lie to bosses that Lennie was kicked by a horse while a child. The third reason why Lennie is the main antagonist, he is always troublemaker due to his mental instability. He likes playing with soft things, and at the end, he kills them accidentally. This habit of playing with soft things and killing them accidentally led to his death after killing Curley’s wife. Therefore, in this paper, I am going to explain in details the reasons why Lennie is the main antagonist in the Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck.
Foremost, Lennie caused much trouble to George as he tried to protect him. For instance, George lost the Job because of the mistake caused by Lennie, which made them move and look for new Job somewhere else. Lennie was accused of rape for trying to touch the cloth of a woman at their former workplace. Not that he wanted to rape the woman, but his addiction to soft things made him do so. George was compelled to take the burden to by quitting the job and moving to new place to save Lennie from being arrested. However, George never gives up on Lennie; “I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that’s why (Steinbeck, 11).

” The above quote depicts how they were deeply in love.
Secondly, after Lennie causing trouble at their former workplace, he does not change his behavior of trouble making due to his mental instability. Subsequently, at the new job at the California farm, Lennie keeps on causing trouble to George as he acts weird something that makes their boss suspect them. Although George had lied that Lennie was his cousin at new work, Lennie’s behavior made everyone to suspect their relationship. George was ready to take all blame on behalf of Lennie, something that let everyone suspect their relationships. “Well, I never seen one guy take so much trouble for another guy. I just like to know what your interest is Steinbeck, 17.” The above quote just shows how George was dedicated to protect his stubborn lover Lennie.
Lastly, Lennie is addicted to soft thing, and the worse thing is that he accidentally kills them at the end. For example, Lennie killed the pet of the new Boss’s son, something that almost got them fired. Similarly, Lennie was playing with a dead rat, thus putting at risk not only his health but that of George too since they were a companion. “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 (Steinbeck, 23).” Worse of came when Lennie killed Curley’s wife. He was Caressing her hair since it was soft. However, he extended the limit and when Curley’s wife asked him to stop he broke her neck unknowingly killing her. George decided to give him a soft death by shooting him rather than leaving him to the mob.
Conclusively, Lennie Smalls is the main antagonists as evidenced in the above discussion. Lennie caused many troubles to George, his companion. Lennie caused George to quit the job and flee with him to protect him from rape case arrest. George was always watching Lennie ensure that he does not cause trouble or harm. Furthermore, Lennie’s habit of playing with soft things, made him kill innocent pets and worse of Curley’s wife, compelling George to give him a soft death than leaving him to the angry mob.

Work cited
Steinbeck, John. Of Mice and Men and The Moon Is Down. Penguin, 2010.