Lennie

The next character that represents a section of American society in Of Mice and Men is Lennie. Lennie is the character that represents the innocent children of the era, as well as the more liberal people that did not accept the segregation against black people, such as Crooks in the story. Firstly, the childishness. The first incident of Lennie being childish is when he wants ketchup with his beans in the first chapter, fully knowing that the likelihood of George actually having ketchup for their beans was virtually nil. Even when he finds out that George does not have the requested ketchup, he still persists about how he "likes ketchup with my beans" in the same way that a child cannot take no for an answer. However, George does not get particularly angry with Lennie's persistence in the same way that adults very rarely get particularly angry with their children when they do something wrong, hence the innocence that Lennie has. Secondly, Lennie can see past skin colour and is mystified at the way Crooks is segregated against by the ranch's boss and Crooks' co-workers in the same way that many younger people are open to change, whereas the older members of society (represented by characters such as Candy) are more fixed in their ways.