At the beginning of the novel we see that Lennie had killed a mouse and was carrying it in his pocket. The mouse that Lennie carries in his pocket can be seen as a representative of Lennie. A mouse is generally seen as insignificant, not important and occupies a low space amongst other animals. It is frequently reviled as being undesirable and destroying it generally causes no concern. Much the same can be said about Lennie among his own species. Unlike the others, however, Lennie values the mouse in his pocket just as George unlike the others finds much in Lennie to value. Later on in the novel, Lennie goes on to killing slims puppy accidently in a similar way that he kills the mouse with his ‘bear paws’. However the puppy’s death is more
“What you want of a dead mouse, anyways?”
“I could pet it with my thumb while we walked along,” said Lennie.
– John Steinbeck
Of Mice and Men, Chapter 1. George and Lennie. Lennie has a dead mouse in his pocket because he likes to pet soft things but doesn’t know his own strength and accidentally killed the mouse when he pet it too hard.
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