In this conversation, George reveals that he hasn't always treated Lennie well, but that one near-tragic incident taught him a valuable lesson. Early in their friendship, George explains, he used to take advantage of Lennie and play jokes on him because Lennie was "too dumb even to know he had a joked played on him." Because he trusted George, Lennie would do whatever George told him to do. George found these jokes fun: "Made me seem God damn smart alongside of him."
George continues, however, to tell Slim how and why the joking came to a stop. On one occasion, George told Lennie, in front of a group of other men, to jump in the river. Lennie did so immediately, and almost drowned. George and some others had to pull him out. George finishes his story with this poignant detail:
An' he was so damn nice to me for pullin' him out. Clean forgot I told him to jump in.
After that near-tragedy, George never tricked Lennie again; instead, realizing how much power he had over Lennie, George took care to never again take advantage of him and his trust.
No comments:
Post a Comment