Lennie in chapter 5

In chapter 5 we get a deeper insight about Lennie's character. We find out what he is really like, how clumsy and how much he has to be treated like a young child. He has the mind of a child; but not the body! He doesn't know his own strength and what he is capable of. This is proved by the incident that happened in the barn with the young pup and Curley's wife.

Steinbeck sets the scene in the barn first with the pile of hay taking up most of the barn, however in the corner was a manger where the pups were kept. Lennie sat looking over the manger like a god, staring at a dead pup. Then famously he quotes the line "Why do you got to get killed. You ain't so little as mice. I didn't bounce you hard." This backs up the point I made previously of how Lennie doesn't know his own strength. "I didn't bounce you hard" This backs up my point of him having the mind of a child as he doesn't know how to act or treat around animals.

Soon after the incident with the pup Curley's wife then enters the barn. "She came very quietly, so that Lennie didn't see her." This shows she tries to creep up on Lennie and that she treats him like a child, also this might suggest that she is trying to take advantage of him for her own entertainment. This is how Steinbeck describes what she is wearing and looking like while in the barn. "She wore he bright cotton dress and the mules with the red ostrich feathers. Her face was made-up and the little sausage curls were all in place." She has obviously made an effort for Lennie as she is on a barn in the country side with no bars, clubs, restaurants etc. I believe that she done this to try and seduce/entice Lennie to do what she wishes. Lennie previously mentioned that he believed Curley's wife to be "purty", therefore Lennie could be recognized as gullible