Lennie Small MBTI Personality Type
Personality
What personality type is Lennie Small? Lennie Small is an INFP personality type in MBTI, 9w1 - sx/sp - 962 in Enneagram, in Big 5, SEI in Socionics.
Where do you guys see Se? Is it because of Lennie's penchant to caress soft animals physically? Well, I think you should separate possible byproducts of Se from Se itself, since the byproducts could be produced by other functions as well, as in Lennie's case. I think given the stark contrast between George's practicality and Lennie always being absorbed in his own world, this behavior in Lennie's case stems more from his Fi and Si. Petting soft animals is something that he's always liked to do, and perhaps he relates to the innocence of the animals in some way (Fi). Although Lennie is said to have a "poor memory", this need not preclude Si usage, since Lennie still prefers to use specific data he's stored in the past in order to make his decisions, as opposed to George who is more present-focused. There's multiple times where Lennie follows principles instilled in him from his childhood with Aunt Clara, including criticizing George for yelling "son of a B*TCH" towards the bus driver in the beginning, and later "principles" from George too, including trying to stay vigilant about not getting into trouble or "he won't get to tend the rabbits". Lennie also repeatedly asks George to tell him his favorite story (about the dream with Lennie getting to tend rabbits in an independent farmland) in order to comfort him, this I definitely attribute to Si. Perhaps Lennie's love of handling animals in a tactile/sensory way comes from the comfort-seeking Fi-Si too. And although Lennie is strong physically, he does not know how to survive on his own in the real world. We again see Si > Se in that instead of running off and escaping to the wilderness and starting a new life after accidentally killing Curley's wife, Lennie instead remembers the exact "safe spot" George told him about at the very start of the ranch trip and waits for George there, expecting him. Another argument one could make is that even though Lennie is very strong and capable, sometimes he doesn't even realize how physically strong he is and how much damage he actually induces in reality, leading to him inadvertently killing anything he handles, first mice, then puppies, and finally Curley's wife, which is consistent with Se blindspot. There is also a stark and apparent contrast between George and Lennie with regard to how grounded in reality they are, which I attribute to George's aux Se vs Lennie's aux Ne. Lennie only thinks of his dream of "being on a nice farm and getting to tend the rabbits all day", while George recognizes the hurdles and actions they need to take in order to actualize Lennie's dream. Lennie even died while he was dreaming of the perfect farmland, as George told him to imagine that idealized future while he told the story of it to Lennie one last time, before euthanizing him. Lennie's Fi is obvious, but just to put this out here, his Fi manifests in that although he is a very strong and chunky man on the surface, on the inside, he's a soft, innocent, and kind-hearted person who doesn't mean harm to anyone, and will valiantly defend his loved ones, including George. (remember the scene with Crooks when he poses to Lennie a hypothetical for fun "what if George got harmed/was killed") Very misunderstood by everyone around him, even George himself. SIDENOTE: i kinda find it ironic/funny that Lennie's last name is "Small" yet he's such a huge man physically, but also, he's small in the sense that he is soft and weak in the world (not just in terms of personality, but also in terms of his placement in society) just like the animals he pets. I really wonder if this was intentional.
