Society will only permit so much volatility resulting death and destruction before taking action to correct the problem. The short story Of Mice and Men, written by John Steinbeck, shows a pair of young men struggling to fit in a new workplace. The main character, Lennie, portrays an extreme childish nature, lack of intelligence and an overly strong body that proves a deadly combination. Lennie seems to constantly make poor decisions and acts inappropriately without the ability to understand why. The remorse for the results of Lennie's actions seems to haunt him and cause him to dream of a more perfect world. Another supporting character, George is seemingly and consistently dealing with his friend Lennie's unfortunate acts simply by association. .
After reading just halfway through this book it becomes obvious Lennie will continue to escalate to more violent actions. In the beginning of the book, you figure Lennie's personality is of a gentle nature as he looks for things to comfort himself. As the story progresses, you realize Lennie is really a grown man with a five-year-olds intellect. When Lennie feels under pressure he tends to overreact and forgets how much strength he has. This results in him hurting or killing something and eventually someone. It is easy to assume Lennie has a mental disability due to many factors such as him talking to himself and instances of memory loss. .
Lennie and George dreamed up an idea for a perfect house in a perfect world. They set a goal together to buy this perfect house once they had enough money. Lennie becomes obsessed and the dream house is all he eventually thinks about. Lennie perceives that he is not acting as he should but can't seem to figure it out. Whenever Lennie is in trouble the image of that house becomes his "happy place" where he escapes to and believes he will never get in trouble. In reality, Lennie lacks the social skills to survive in society and is incapable of making good decisions, especially when under pressure.
