"Inarticulate yearnings"

"Lennie does not represent insanity but the inarticulate and powerful yearnings of all men," Steinbeck wrote in a letter to a friend.


In other words - there is more to Lennie than meets the eye. He may seem stupid and idiotic- but Steinbeck wants us to realise that we are all like Lennie.



This quote also suggests that Lennie's ultimate strength may not even be physical, even though that is what leads to his death. Lennie's bigger problem - you could argue - is that he experiences strong emotions that he doesn't know how to express - "powerful yearning..."



Lennie went back and looked at the dead girl. The puppy lay close to her. Lennie picked it up. "I'll throw him away," he said. "It's bad enough like it is." (5.59)




Lennie looked sadly up at him. "They was so little," he said apologetically. "I’d pet ‘em, and pretty soon they bit my fingers and I pinched their heads a little and then they was dead—because they was so little. I wish’t we’d get the rabbits pretty soon, George. They ain’t so little." (1.79)

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