The things I found ironic were...
1) One of the things I found ironic was the description of Lennie and George. Lennie is a huge man, slopping shoulders; and he walked heavily, dragging his feet a little, and his arms hung loosely by his sides. However, George is a small with strong hands, slender arms, and a tiny and bony nose. My point is, Lennie's disability makes him act like a kid but looks more like he is in the military but George is skinny but is the adult in the situation.
2) The last piece of irony that really stuck out to me was Lennie. On page 13 it says, "Lennie had avoided the bate. He had sensed his advantage." Lennie is supposed to be really stupid and act like a child but when George was trying to play him.
Even though Lennie has a disability, why could he figure out George's 'plan'?
Najaah - You bring up a great point here, and I wondered the same thing! It was definitely an ironic twist, but it was so unexpected (compared to ALLLLLLLL the other examples of Lennie being unable to challenge what George says) that I might argue that it's actually out of place. Like you said, why was he suddenly able to manipulate George when throughout this scene he was hardly able to follow what George was saying. The only way I can justify it is that sometimes children do say things to manipulate the situation to get their way, so perhaps that was what Steinbeck was going for.
ReplyDeleteWhat do you think?