Why did Lennie react the way he did when he killed his dog?

In part 5 of Of Mice and Men, Lennie killed his puppy. But his reaction is quite a bit different than mine or a normal dog owners would be. They probably would be sad or in shock, but Lennie was worried. Worried that if George found out he wouldn't let him tend the rabbits. He then proceeded to hide the puppy. "He scooped a little hollow and laid the puppy in it and covered it with hay, out of sight..." (85). Lennie then began to get mad, saying that George always finds out and blamed it on the dog for dying. He took the dog and threw it. "Suddenly his anger arose. 'Why do you got to get killed? You ain't so little as mice.' He picked up the pup and hurled it from him" (85). Lennie reacted in this way because all he really wanted to do was tend the rabbits, and if George learned he killed his puppy, he wouldn't get to.

Comments

  1. I really like your topic, I think that you explained it well. I agree, I would have reacted differently too. I think Lennie was stunned, Lennie didn't really care about the dog he just liked petting it. Lennie didn't want to get into trouble so he threw and berried the dog. Lennie wasn't sad about the outcome that his dog died he was just worried about the future, not being able to tend the rabbits. I think that Lennie didn't mean to kill the dog he just pet it to hard. In result George never found out that he killed his dog, so Lennie didn't care.

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