George Milton
George is described as being “small and quick, dark of
face, with restless eyes and sharp, strong features.’ He is very ‘defined,’
with small, strong hands, slender arms, a thin and bony nose. The way that his
appearance is described suggests that he is intelligent and dominant, as
‘strong’ is used repeatedly. His personality is reflected in the way that his
physical traits are described. For example, George must be resourceful in order
to get himself and Lennie out of trouble repeatedly, and so being ‘small and
quick,’ not unlike how you would describe a fox, means that he is able to be
sly and sneak out of bad situations unscathed. George is a caring man, and yet
he chooses to hide this behind a rough exterior- possible for protection. This
is obvious when he shouts at Lennie as they are hiding near the Salinas River,
but then immediately retracts his original statement when Lennie says he can
leave. It is clear from this that George likes the company and deeply cares
about Lennie, but is incapable of showing that he is worried about him and so
expresses his worry through anger.
George’s relationships with characters differ. With
Lennie he has a close, intimate bond, mainly because he has looked after Lennie
for many years. As a result of this he cares about Lennie’s welfare in an
almost father-like manor. Lennie looks up to George and imitates him, again in
the way that a son may want to be like his parent. George gets on well with
Slim, who is the well-regarded worker on the farm. George is like Slim in many
aspects, as he is influential (in the case of Lennie) and has a keen sense of
reality above the levels of normal ranch workers. It is clear to see that
George is quick to trust Slim, which can be seen when he tells him about what
happened in Weed. Slim also has a mutual respect for George, and seems to
accept him almost immediately. The biggest conflicts between George and other
characters come in the forms of Curley and Curley’s wife. George dislikes
Curley from the offset because of his demeanour and the way that he insults
Lennie, and Curley dislike George because right from the start he refuses to
give Curley the respect that he thinks he deserves. Curley’s wife is not
trusted by George from the beginning, because he is able to see that her
flirtatious ways could get himself and Lennie into trouble with Curley. Because
of this, George puts up defences around her. Curley’s wife similarly does not
like George, mainly because of these defences. George straight away tells
Lennie not to fall for her flirtatious manor, which angers Curley’s wife
because he is shutting off her communication with other characters.
One of the main themes that is explored through George’s
character is loneliness. Unlike nearly every other character in OMAM, George is
the only one who is not completely alone. This is one of the main things that
sets him and Lennie apart from the other ranch workers. George is aware of
this, making numerous references to the fact that he has someone throughout the
novella. One of the main quotes about this is when he is talking to Lennie at
the Salinas River, and says “with us it ain’t like that. We got somebody to
talk to that gives a damn about us.” He also mentions this to Slim later in the
novella, when they are talking about Lennie and travelling around together.
Ultimately, though, George does end up alone in the end, when he is forced to
shoot Lennie. This just goes to prove that everyone ends up alone, even if one
of the only thinks that sets you apart is that you aren’t.
The American dream is another main theme that is explored
with George. George and Lennie have the classic ‘American Dream’ of having their
own place, not having to work hard every day and having security. They go into
minute details about this, and plan it through completely. George encourages
this, and for a while (especially when Candy offers to give them money in
return for a place in their plans) he actually believes this could happen. When
George finds out that Lennie has killed Curley’s wife, he realises that the
dream is not going to happen. This means that he has become just like all of
the other ranch workers, in that he will spend all of his time drinking and
spending all of his money on meaningless
things rather that a good life.
No comments:
Post a Comment