Of Mice and Men thesis paper
“Guilt is present in the very hesitation, even though the deed be not committed” –Ciero. In Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, Lennie is innocent and Curley is guilty. The following arguments and examples will prove this point.
Lennie had mental problems. Although he was guilty of killing Curley’s wife, he wasn’t trying to hurt her. Not knowing his own strength should not classify him a bad person. He did not know what he was doing. In his mind, he was simply trying to get her to stop yelling. It was never his intention to hurt her. Even while he was breaking her neck, he wasn’t aware of it. He was warning her to stop yelling. That doesn’t mean he was threatening her. His exact words were: “‘Oh! Please don’t do that, George’ll be mad”’ (p.91). That is not something a murderer would be saying while killing someone. He was only interested in the rabbits; he didn’t want to get in trouble in fear of losing his privilege of tending the rabbits. If George were to walk in at that moment, Lennie would lose the only thing he ever really wanted; the rabbits. All Lennie wanted was to shut her up so that he wouldn’t get into anymore trouble. He didn’t want to kill her. He didn’t even know he killed her until it was too late. “‘But listen Curley, the poor bastard is nuts. Don’t shoot ‘im. He didn’t know what he was doin’” (p.98). George, although knowing that Lennie killed her, still knew that Lennie wouldn’t have done it on purpose. “‘Lennie never done it in meanness’” (p. 95). George was always first to stand up for Lennie. Not only because they were friends, but because George knew what Lennie was really like. No one else around them knew Lennie the way George did. George was Lennie’s best friend.
Curley is guilty of potentially causing all of the drama that happened. If Curley had not forbid his wife from talking to anyone than himself, his wife wouldn’t be in the barn alone with Lennie. If Curley had given her enough freedom to speak to anyone other than himself, she would be outside with the rest of the guys. The only reason she was so set on talking to Lennie in the first place, was that she was lonely. If she was allowed to talk to people, Lennie would’ve most likely be the last person she would go to talk to. The only reason she felt the need to talk to him was because she knew that he wouldn’t run off and tell Curley. It was Curley who caused her loneliness. “’You can talk to people, but I can’t talk to nobody but Curley. Else he gets mad’” (p. 87). She felt as though Lennie was the only person she could talk to besides Curley; most likely because he will hardly remember any of it. But the point is that if Curley had not gotten so angry and jealous of her talking to people, she would be somewhere else and none of that would have happened. “‘Listen,’ she said. ‘All the guys got a horseshoe tenement goin’ on. It’s on’y about for o’clock. None of them guys is goin’ to leave that tenement. Why can’t I talk to you? I never get to talk to nobody. I get awful lonely’” (p.86). She has to sneak around to talk to people. If Curley was a nicer person, or even less jealous, than she would be out at the horseshoe tenement with the other guys. Curley is at fault for her sneaking around. Curley is at fault for her being in the barn. Curley is at fault for all of the drama.
The last reason why Curley is guilty and Lennie is innocent is that Lennie had problems and Curley knew that. Instead of leaving him alone, Curley still insisted on picking a fight with Lennie. Even if Lennie was technically guilty of murder, Curley is guilty in a bigger sense. Curley continuously acted out in a mean manner throughout the entire book. When someone spoke to his wife, he freaked out and was just horribly mean to not only the guys, but to his wife as well. When he couldn’t find his wife, he rudely questioned all the guys, as if they were babysitting her and she got lost. When George and Lennie first showed up he was being mean to George telling him to let Lennie talk. When Lennie did talk, he was mean and threatened Lennie. Last but not least, when Lennie simply smiled, not pushed Curley or did anything bad, Curley yelled at him and started a fight, trying to look cool, but simply looking stupid. “‘Come on, ya big bastard. Get up on your feet. No son-of-a-bitch is gonna laugh at me. I’ll show ya who’s a yella’” (p.62). First off, Lennie was not laughing, he was simply smiling. He was not laughing or even smiling at Curley. Curley just wanted to take his anger out on someone. And Lennie seemed like an easy target. “Curley sat down on the floor, looking in wonder at his crushed hand” (p.64). This is a perfect line to show karma. He went after Lennie and ended up with a broken hand. Curley deserved everything he got because he did mean things to people. Looking back into the book, Lennie never did anything to purposefully be mean to someone. Thus, Curley being guilty.
The preceding arguments and examples have proven this point. Lennie is innocent and Curley is guilty in John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men. “Innocence is always unsuspicious” –Thomas C. Halliburton.
