How does Steinbeck present ideas about the good and bad in people Of Mice and Men?

Steinbeck’s ideas of the nature of good and bad is told best by a character in another of his books (The Grapes of Wrath) as “just what people do.” There is no standard definition, independent of a person’s conscious being or intention, yet there is a system that will impose its ideas on others’ actions, especially those of the innocent and helpless. An example in Of Mice and Menis Lennie, the mentally...

Steinbeck’s ideas of the nature of good and bad is told best by a character in another of his books (The Grapes of Wrath) as “just what people do.” There is no standard definition, independent of a person’s conscious being or intention, yet there is a system that will impose its ideas on others’ actions, especially those of the innocent and helpless. An example in Of Mice and Men is Lennie, the mentally handicapped companion of George. Lennie has very little notion of good and bad. He just knows what he likes. He likes to pet soft things, but he has no idea of how this affects people who see it as aggression. The petting is what Lennie does; the aggression is what people view it as. Lennie’s actions often result in death (the mice, the puppy, Curley’s wife), but this death is not seen as a crime by Lennie or George, even though they may call it a “bad thing". It is just what happens when Lennie’s actions are too overwhelming. In this context, it is the result, not the intention or the person himself, who is considered “good” or “bad".