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What was Lennie's bad decision in Of Mice and Men?

Lennie makes several bad decisions throughout the course of the book.  The guys have had to relocate because of a bad decision he made in Weed.  Once on the ranch in their new jobs, he takes a puppy, which he promptly kills, and then breaks Curley’s wife’s neck.


George describes the incident in Weed when he and Lennie are waiting to go to the ranch.  Lennie wanted to feel the lady’s soft dress, and pet...

Lennie makes several bad decisions throughout the course of the book.  The guys have had to relocate because of a bad decision he made in Weed.  Once on the ranch in their new jobs, he takes a puppy, which he promptly kills, and then breaks Curley’s wife’s neck.


George describes the incident in Weed when he and Lennie are waiting to go to the ranch.  Lennie wanted to feel the lady’s soft dress, and pet it like his mouse.  Lennie likes to touch soft things, and stroke them.



"… Well, how the hell did she know you jus' wanted to feel her dress? She jerks back and you hold on like it was a mouse. She yells and we got to hide in a irrigation ditch all day with guys lookin' for us, and we got to sneak out in the dark and get outa the country. …” (Ch. 1) 



This incident haunts George and Lennie, and foreshadows trouble to come.  It makes George realize that Lennie might get into deeper trouble someday, which is why he brings it up.  Lennie just doesn’t understand, and doesn’t even really remember. 


The second serious mistake Lennie made was to touch Curley’s wife’s hair.  She wanted to talk to him because he was lonely.  You could say that Lennie made a mistake in crushing Curley’s hand, but he can’t really be blamed for that because George told him to.  However, Curley’s wife didn’t really realize how dangerous Lennie was. 


When Curley’s wife sees the dead puppy, Lennie explains how it died. 



"He was so little," said Lennie. "I was jus' playin' with him... an' he made like he's gonna bite me... an' I made like I was gonna smack him... an'... an' I done it. An' then he was dead." (Ch. 5) 



This doesn’t seem to make her cautious though.  She has no interest in a dead dog, and tells him not to worry about it because the “whole country is fulla mutts.”  She doesn’t realize that he will accidentally break her neck trying to stroke her hair.

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